"A two-year engagement that's lasted six," says Robin
Laidlaw of his term as president ofComputer Weekly's 500 Clubfor CIOs
and IT directors.
The heart of the club lies in its membership, the frankness of
discussions under the Chatham House Rule and the super speakers,
says Laidlaw, who steps down as president this month.
""It has been fun because of those who attend the meetings each
month. Senior people in the IT profession speak openly about their
hopes and fears with lively debates with industry peers on topics
of the day," he says.
Few interventions have been necessary, but in 2002 it was clear
the CW500 Club needed to get some sponsors involved and someone to
take charge of the meetings.
"The organisers were trying to do it all, which was not a good
recipe for control. An independent president of the club seemed the
logical solution," Laidlaw says.
Having stepped into the breach on one occasion when the
organisers were stuck on a train near Peckham, Laidlaw was the
obvious choice.
As a former British Gas CIO and board member, he had the
contacts, insights, gravitas and industry experience necessary for
the role.
Success he ascribes to the open format of the meetings and
strict avoidance of marketing pitches from sponsors.
"No whiteboards, no slide presentations - just informal talks by
leaders in the sector that rarely fail to draw questions and spark
debate," says Laidlaw.
Highlights have included discussions led by IT chiefs Nick
Gaines of BAA and Paul Coby of British Airways and headhunter Cathy
Holley, a partner at executive search specialist Boyden.
Changes
Laidlaw has seen quite a few changes during his tenure,
particularly in technology innovation, but not as much in the way
technology is sold into or managed by business organisations.
"Technology has just got so much better. It is more responsive
and reliable. Unfortunately, management has not demonstrated the
same, and neither have suppliers," he says.
This observation is based on not only the past six years as
president of the 500 Club, but almost a quarter of a century
working in IT.
The internet is one of the most significant technological
advances, says Laidlaw. It has transformed the way we do business,
enabling new ways of sharing information and selling goods.
New opportunities enabled by technology are not always
communicated well to the business, mainly because many
organisations still view IT chiefs merely as data processing
managers.
This outdated view makes it difficult for heads of IT to play a
more meaningful role in the business by demonstrating how IT can
improve processes across silos in an organisation.
Many CIOs are still prowling outside the boardroom door, says
Laidlaw. But even if they are allowed in, it is meaningless without
the overt support of the CEO to drive lateral change.
Project success
Many CIOs and business heads are also failing to realise that
massive, fully-integrated, single roll-out projects rarely, if
ever, succeed, says Laidlaw.
This has been proven by CIOs speaking at the 500 Club who had
the position and power to drive through massive projects and still
hit problems when the projects went live.
Laidlaw says the answer lies in "managing the manageable" by
taking a bite-sized approach in a common architecture that enables
the sequential integration of successive parts of an overall
application.
Another key organisational problem is the tendency of the
business to ask for changes mid-way through an IT project.
CIOs need to be able to either get the business to stick to the
original specifications or to share the risk of any changes. Most
CIOs tend to absorb the risk, but this must change, says
Laidlaw.
Sharing the risk is also an area that suppliers have failed to
address as new technologies have changed the delivery model. They
have not done much to develop risk and reward sharing approaches to
the supply model, says Laidlaw.
This is a missed opportunity to engage with IT and end-users in
a collaborative way to meet real business needs, instead of the old
quota-driven one-size-fits-all box-shifting approach.
What will not change, is Laidlaw's support for the CW500 Club.
He plans to return to being an enthusiastic back-bencher in future
discussions and debates.
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