The CIO report 6 reasons so many IT orgs fail to exceed expectations today, states that “only 36% of CEOs say that IT is effective at providing basic technology service”, and only “50% of CFOs rate the IT organization as efficient”.
These are quite damning figures and can have a direct impact on the CIO. Delivering over and above what is expected will generally improve the CIOs reputation within the wider organisation, meaning that they are more likely to be seen as a trusted advisor and invited to the top table to be involved in the discussions around innovation and transformation, rather than consigned to the business-as-usual aspects of IT. These figures suggest that a lot of CIOs have some work to do
The CIO report highlights six reasons why so many IT organisations fall short of meeting expectations, and there are a couple where a successful Enterprise Architecture team can provide the CIO with the support needed to improve their standing.
Shifting Expectations
As with most parts of an organisation in the current climate, expectations are constantly shifting. This is, perhaps, especially true of IT, where innovation and new technologies are constantly being introduced. The report gives a scenario where the CEO reads an article, or talks to a competitor CEO, about a new tact or an emerging tech they are using and wants to know, “Why aren’t we doing this?”.
As CIO, one way to ensure that you are on the front foot is to put a process in place to identify trends and your organisation’s response to them. These don’t have to be purely technology trends; they should include business focused trends as well. For example, technology focused trends might be Harnessing AI or Adapting to Greater Automation, whereas business focused trends might be Climate Change or Erosion of State Rules. At the end of the day, they are all trends which will impact the business in some way and will require potential change, some just happen to be technology driven.
The process should follow through to the creation of proposals to address the trend at the right time, it’s a case of saying we know what we would do with this trend. Having a portfolio of proposals to address these trends will ensure that your organisation remains ahead of the curve, less exposed to shifting expectations, and the CIO is seen as a trusted advisor, having a grip on future changes and ideas on how to address them, rather than an IT controller who just keeps the lights on.
See our blog – Turning Strategic Trends into Actionable Proposals – to read more about how to put such a process in place.
Legacy tech and other infrastructure challenges
The 2024 Margin PLUS study from Deloitte named legacy tech as a major reason for organisations falling short of their cost-reduction targets and as an obstacle for future achievements.
Enterprise Architects can help the CIO here by having reliable Roadmaps in place to manage and track the change from outdated, siloed tech stacks to more modern infrastructure that can support future goals. Just as important is employing storytelling techniques to ensure management are aware of the benefit this will bring to them and their organisations, rather than a series of dry, logical arguments that is unlikely to get buy in.
See our blog – Using Storytelling to engage your Organisation with Enterprise Architecture – to understand story telling guidelines.
See our blog How to succeed at Digital Transformation for some tips on how to create successful roadmaps.
Misplaced Accountability
The report highlights misplaced accountability as another reason expectation fail, and from two angles:
- Taking the rap for decisions, often shadow IT ones, made by others that have unforeseen consequences. Often IT resolve these issues for the business, but then get negative feedback even though they did not cause the problem
- Business teams taking the plaudits for delivery of a solution that, in fact, was managed in by IT
A combination of the actions highlighted for the items above can help here. If the EA team has a well-respected process in place for managing trends and change then both above issues are less likely to occur. If the EAs can engage the business teams better, then the business will use them to advise on new technologies, standards and how best to approach change. They will be less likely, therefore, to make their own decisions which cause problems, and less able to take credit for new technologies introduced, and equally, more likely to share the blame for bad decisions.
Conclusion
Enterprise Architecture teams can, therefore, be a real help to CIOs to ensure that they are seen to provide value over and above that which is expected. It does require work from the EAs to establish credibility, build relationships, and nurture trust. A well-functioning EA team should be one of the CIO’s key go-to resources