CIOs Fight Back

Although being responsible for the revolutionary change that has been brought about in an organization, CIOs are still not appreciated for their hand in this transformation and are rather subjugated to unfair treatment by other board officials, reports Dermot McCann of Technology Spectator.

It has been also been noticed that the CIOs are losing their significance in the boardroom and their roles have become stagnant over the past few years.CIO Magazine (2011) reported that a mere 10 percent of the CIOs are able to make it big in the corporate world as a CIO is taken for granted among all CXO roles. Moreover, 23 percent of the CIOs are fired eventually.

This arbitrary approach towards the CIOs only comes to the fore because of the nature the IT sector functions. It should be kept in mind that the IT is no longer envisaged as a cost-cutting department. In many of the organizations, it is the principle source of revenue generation. But the core functionality of IT depends on innovation for which experimentation is required.

As such, putting on the table a fixated ROI is frustrating at times for the personals involved in innovating as it doesn’t provide them with the requisite space to explore an idea to its potential. As such many of the projects lie unattended for which the CIO is made a scapegoat.

In this regard, the CIOs, in order to save their own skin, should be shrewd enough to know when to stand up to claim their prize and when to distance themselves as the situation demands, i.e. make the proactive visible and the reactive invisible.

Allow me to clarify.

A CIO must not only build a parameter but also make sure that it can be easily deciphered even by a lay-man for measuring their success. A CIO should provide a transparent data based reporting mechanism on which their performance can be fairly judged and even their achievements are given the due credit rather than to just crib on their failures. But just letting oneself be appraised doesn’t necessarily mean they can escape the unforgivable jaws of skepticism of the boardroom scavengers.

A CIO should strive to bring automation in their working environment, as much as possible as it will not only provide a solid line of focus for the workers on more strategic issues, it will also eliminate repetitive, manual tasks that take up much of the work time and force. This would be hidden from the eyes of users as a result reactive invisibility ensues.

Also introducing transparency and effective and reliable communication earns the CIOs a place in the good books of the users which is absolutely imperative as the entire dynamics of IT is based upon users and how receptive they are of the projects that takes shape on a daily basis. As such, a demographic of productive users are spawned which will ensure the longevity of the CIO.

Moreover, it has been seen that in recent times CEOs have become more benevolent in dispatching more funds than ever before to the IT department. But due to failure of meeting their empirical ambitions, constraints have been imposed on the budget allocation. This has been a hurdle for the IT in completion of many projects. But being a cost cutting department, which is the signature of the IT sector, it should utilize the saved money on the on the completion of the projects that the management is unwilling to fund rather than just handing it over to them in a platter. This will guarantee accolades for the CIOs and the management will thump their backs for adhering to the fundamental rule of a corporation-optimization of available resources.

There is a saying, “The best IT administrator is the one you never see.” Well, it is time for the CIOs to prove it wrong and come out of their shell and proudly acclaim what is rightfully theirs rather than slump on the cynicism of their colleagues. It is ‘veni, vidi, vici’ for the CIOs!