David Lees, CTO at Basis Technologies, discusses how CIOs should embrace change to continue driving the evolutionary transformation of the CIO role.
A CIO’s role in modern organisations has undergone a profound transformation in recent years. Once predominantly focused on managing IT costs and infrastructure, the modern CIO now holds a far more strategic and influential role.
This pivotal shift is largely influenced by the increasing prominence of Digital Transformation at the heart of many company strategies. The rapid pace of market changes has led to a general shift in the way businesses structure themselves, which in turn has led to the evolution of the CIO role. Previously a cost centre, the CIO is now a strategic enabler for the business.
Naturally, fast-paced changes in the world of ‘digital’ kick-up a whole host of challenges, some of which fall directly at the CIO’s feet; for example, cybersecurity, data privacy, infrastructure and compliance, to name just a few.
It is perhaps because of these hurdles that CIOs form such an integral part of the wider business function, driving innovation and growth with two core objectives in mind: to achieve optimum agility and build out the company’s network of strategic partners throughout the Digital Transformation journey.
Unifying the business
For a successful Digital Transformation, the crucial first step is to develop a clear vision that aligns with all areas of the business.
This means achieving complete alignment between the technology strategy and wider business objectives. Gone are the days when tech and business objectives were separate. Now, owing to the digitally-driven nature of modern businesses, they have significantly converged and siloes are becoming less commonplace.
A key part of this alignment is therefore identifying and investing in the right technologies. Keeping abreast of the latest technical trends and advancements, and understanding how those can be applied, is vital. This requires CIOs to connect the dots between the organisation, the current solutions, the challenges and the business goals, bringing together all the right people with the right mindset for innovation.
Driving agility and experimentation
In this rapidly changing digital landscape, agility is the CIO’s new mantra. Adopting an agile mindset allows for a swift response to shifting trends and market fluctuations, ensuring businesses remain competitive and resilient. But agility alone is not enough. CIOs also need to foster a culture of experimentation and innovation, becoming catalysts in their organisations for trying new ideas and pushing boundaries.
Experimentation and innovation should be embedded into the very fabric of an organisation, becoming a continuous, iterative process rather than a one-off event. This might involve leveraging emerging technologies, exploring unconventional ideas, or even pivoting business models. Not all experiments will succeed, but that’s okay. The lessons learned from failure are sometimes the most valuable, helping to fuel more refined, innovative solutions in future iterations. If you only ever succeed, it probably means you are not taking enough risks or being bold enough in what you are trying to do. Disruption requires being bold and being bold often results in short-term setbacks.
It’s through this relentless pursuit of innovation and improvement that organisations can truly unlock the transformative potential of digital technology, creating new value for customers and staying ahead in the game. CIOs are now more than just technology leaders; they are champions of agility, experimenters at heart and the driving force behind business innovation.
Fostering internal and external collaboration
Innovation and growth don’t happen in isolation, so the responsibility does not fall to one function. You need the right participation from several parts of the business. Whether this be from within sales, marketing, product supply, or somewhere else, they all need to be an embedded part of the team.
There has to be that openness. Internal collaboration allows a team to harness the strength of diversity, so harnessing the power of people with different perspectives, ideas and experiences will provide a richer pool to help drive innovation and growth. On the other hand, a group of 10 people with the same experience and background are likely to come up with ideas that are more constrained, rehash what’s already there, or make only slight improvements to what they have done previously.
And this collaboration extends beyond the office boardroom. CIOs also identify and build the right strategic partnerships to help drive innovation and growth on the Digital Transformation journey. It’s about recognising your limitations and seeing where you could benefit from specialist resources. For example, this could mean working with startups that bring in thought-leaders and fresh perspectives. Ultimately, there’s an element of knowing when to utilise best-of-breed solutions, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel in some areas.
Measuring success
It goes without saying, CIOs and their teams will have established clear KPIs and benchmarks for success. But when you are also fostering a culture of experimentation that brings with it an element of accepting failure, the task of measuring success extends beyond the usual metrics.
As we have established, it’s important to ensure you are truly bringing a cross-functional team together, getting the right participation from across different areas of the business. Given the company-wide collaboration, there will also be a number of stakeholders involved who need to be kept up to date with progress and achievements.
A key element of this is to demonstrate the business value of technology investments. It all comes back to aligning the different sides of the business. Business value could take the form of increased efficiency, reduced costs, improved customer experience, or any other tangible benefit that aligns with the organisation’s wider objectives.
The role of the CIO has transformed from an IT cost centre to a strategic business enabler and leader, spearheading innovation and transformation to ensure their business is agile and future-proof. By embracing this evolution, CIOs can confidently steer their organisations on their Digital Transformation journeys. After all, CIOs are no longer just supporting the evolution – they are driving it.
