I’m reporting from the Gartner conference in Barcelona this week where managing IT systems globally is the main theme.
CIOs are increasingly being asked to manage global IT contracts covering regional divisions.
The main challenge for CIOs is still managing supplier relationships but an emerging obstacle is gaining buy-in from regional IT managers.
This happens when a business wants to install a standard application, such as a CRM, for all territories, but where each country has its own CRM application and preferred way of working.
If CIOs are to deliver innovation through business agility they will have to work on how they sell and negotiate with business managers the world over to gain that consensus.
