CIOs under pressure to multitask
But many admit they lack the necessary skills to make a difference in the business, says IBM study
As the pace of macroeconomic changes accelerates, IT leaders are under increasing pressure to become multitaskers - but many are struggling to meet such demands, according to research.
IBM’s chief information officer (CIO) study surveyed more than 2,500 CIOs worldwide and found that successful managers possess an array of skills needed to make a difference.
Thriving CIOs blend pairs of complementary roles, says the study, which include the vision and the pragmatism needed to make innovation real, as well as combining value creation while cutting costs and also acting as a collaborative and inspiring leader.
However, even the experienced CIOs surveyed confessed that they are strong in just one or two of the six roles identified.
“The realities facing each individual influence how that CIO can and should manage change at any given time. Many factors impact the decisions about how much emphasis to place on any single role,” says the report.
“The other factors include macroeconomic and regional conditions, industry-specific forces and various organisational characteristics, as well as the CIO’s own skills and aspirations,” it adds.
Despite the pressure coming from multiple areas, the study highlights how some CIOs are finding ways to deliver high-value projects to the business.
On the innovation front, "insightful visionaries" are able to push business and IT integration and boost CIO influence, while working under the flipside of that role as an "able pragmatist" who can enable the corporate vision and ease team working.
According to the study, CIOs spend 55 per cent of their time on innovation-related activities, while the remainder is spent on managing the existing IT estate, including mitigating enterprise risks and introducing automation to reduce business costs.
CIOs looking to excel at innovation should have a good idea of how emerging technologies can address business issues and look into offloading work to third-parties to allow time to innovate, says the study.
Leaders should also re-evaluate how collaborative and communication tools can be used to expand knowledge networks internally and externally, says the report. Implementation results should also be measured and communicated to the business – so that they understand what is being done and are also convinced and inspired.
Combining the value creation and relentless cost-cutting to raise return on investment in IT is another dual CIO role identified by the report.
Here, IT leaders looking to increase value creation should have a good understanding of how customers can be reached in new ways while driving IT standardisation to save cash and centralising infrastructure.
Advice for CIOs focusing on providing financial efficiency via IT includes considering ways to use competitors’ experiences to further optimise business and technology. The report also advises CIOs to see themselves as their own successor and list the main actions that would need to be taken to generate an increase in performance from the IT investment.
Expanding business impact of IT combines another couple of roles played by successful CIOs. In this particular area, the study stresses the importance of building strong partnerships inside and outside the business.
In order to be a collaborative business leader and an inspiring IT manager, the study also suggests that CIOs should be a role model in IT expertise – in at least one area – and be a strong proponent of skills development in the technology department.
On the business side, technology leaders should also get to know the organisation and get involved with business colleagues in non-IT projects to expand their responsibilities beyond the IT space, according to the report.
Launched today, Computing’s campaign Tomorrow’s IT Leaders will investigate the strategies businesses are adopting to nurture would-be technology leaders.
Over the next three months, we will talk to the main actors in the industry about how a leadership crisis can be avoided and also provide a career roadmap to aspiring professionals.
You can read here about how British Airways is investing in training of its senior technology team even after it needed to slash 30 per cent of its budget.
And here, you can listen to a podcast interview with Robin Young, former retail CIO at Citi and his experience in developing IT leadership during his time at the financial services giant.