Habit Number 6
Make IT user-friendly. For everyone.
This tactic may not explode with the force of strong relations with senior management, but it certainly qualifies as an effective weapon. DDS's Schafle refers to it as "technical alignment" - making it easier for business customers to use IT tools.
Schafle cites Web-based reporting as an example. In the past, the tools used to extract data to create reports, such as OLAP-type spreadsheets, were controlled by IS. Schafle made it easier for his customers by developing DDSreports.com, a tool that allows them to extract data from a repository and build their own reports in the manner that suits them. "It's their data," he says. "Our job is to protect it. That tends to align you . . . It builds rapport with customer service reps, call centre reps and account managers. [They won't have to] fear coming to IS to get information." The tool is now available to external clients.
"Selfishly it benefits IS as well," he adds. "If someone is adept at using an OLAP tool, why should I restrict them from using that kind of capability?" That kind of thinking goes a long way towards peace on earth and goodwill towards IS.
Nobody said being a CIO was easy, especially when attempting to gratify insatiable users with smaller and smaller slices of the IT pie. But by continually renewing and refreshing your relationships with the business side of the house, you can ensure that nobody goes hungry - or if they do, at least they understand why.
SIDEBAR: Risk-Taking (Still) Encouraged
Alignment doesn't have to mean you can't take chances
Don't sacrifice innovation, high returns and long-term strategy by playing too conservative a hand. CIOs face many a danger if they focus too hard on cost-cutting and short-term payback.
"I wonder whether or not they're thinking as strategically as they should be," says John Davis, president of John J Davis & Associates, a CIO recruitment company. And it's hard to argue that innovation suffers as companies cut back on investing in higher-risk IT initiatives with long-term ROI.
John Hagel, a management consultant and author of Out of the Box, says that for the past couple of years, CIOs "are becoming much more risk-averse and more resistant to new technology. At the same time, line executives are becoming more risk-taking, particularly if it's [about] near-term cost reduction opportunities."
The example Hagel cites to support his thesis revolves around Web services. He has studied about 60 deployments of Web services and found the unexpected: Of those 60, at least two-thirds were under the CIOs' radar screen.
Hagel says that business line managers, who need to cut costs themselves, fear that risk-averse CIOs might put the kibosh on their Web services requests. So to get more functionality from the systems they already have in place and connect more effectively with business partners, the business line managers are going it alone. Such deployments present a host of lost opportunities for CIOs; but there are ways CIOs can get their groove back.
"Many of the non-technology business leaders driving this are feeling very exposed. They know [Web services] is not very mature and that there are questions of security and scalability . . . so they know they are taking real risks here," says Hagel. "It would behove CIOs to become [greater] champions of this technology and collaborate with business colleagues to harness value."
Also, CIOs could be very helpful in ensuring that line executives deploy the technology in the areas that would have the highest impact for the enterprise. Finally, by proactively working with line execs, CIOs could ensure themselves a shot at developing an architecture plan that takes Web services apps into account.
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