Some CIOs Asked to Manage Other Parts of the Business
CIO Insight’s great reporting uncovered another trend related to CIOs expanding their roles. Forrestor’s Alex Cullen commented on how CIOs might fit into other parts of the organization:
“We see the broader role more and more in areas like real estate management,” he says. “CIOs make really good chief operating officers for other parts of the business, because there is no more process-oriented or project management-oriented job in the organization.” Adding responsibility may not be a stepping stone to the CEO job, he adds, but it could have positive career consequences.
Process orientation and project management skills seem to be the key, along with a willingness to take on more responsibility permanently.
Should a CIO take on business departmental responsibility? Does this send a message that the CIO role is a possible stepping stone to other roles in the business?
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5 opinions for Some CIOs Asked to Manage Other Parts of the Business
Alan Wilensky
May 17, 2008 at 9:07 am
This happens all the time, when opportunities are discovered in the process of bringing new or updated IT services to an operational line process.
The CIO, nay even the IT systems person in a small / med business, is often seen as the (mistakenly or correctly) as a process expert. hey, if you can provide these solutions to automate and enable, why can’t you help with the process re engineering?
One the one hand, the subject matter expert in the department being IT enabled or upgraded is a good and bad choice to take a fresh look at process, they are too close to see the submerged issues, on the other hand, the IT dept is too concerned with tools and do-ability - the temptation to circumvent real issues for mere functionality is just too strong.
Sometimes, even often for most simple projects and processes, it all works out and gets iterated in a fine manner. Other times…no good.
that’s why we have consultants to “see the process, set metrics, and take a broad view of available solutions and tools”, if you can trust him or her.
Drafting the CIO is too easy, and no CIO wants to say, “I cant take that on”.
Bob Turek
May 17, 2008 at 10:01 am
Alan- I think you said it all with the comment “drafting the CIO is too easy”. This gets back to the CIO role and what it ought to be and the types that are successful at it- which you’ve outlined very well talking about the struggle of assigning such a person to a business role. I know it depends on the person but I do not think a CIO should be asked to be an “equal” with other execs in the business. Rather, they should be the one that gets other execs to understand enough about technology to assist the business in choosing projects. Interesting discussion. Thanks!
Bob Turek
May 19, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Alan- I thrive on examples. Even though they may not be representative of trends, maybe you can provide a couple of “real” ones to help the discussion along. Thanks.
Alan Wilensky
May 19, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Well, anecdotally, I was on a job to remove a dysfunctional SAP installation and replace with a composite web services application. I was shoulder-to-shoulder with the CIO, and my core responsibilities were to align the processes that were being stepped on by SAP to comport with the worker process requirements. I had kept my conversations with the line managers close, and CC’s these state and UI diagrams to the CIO (acting IT manager, but the same difference for the size of the client).
At one meeting, he opened his big mouth at a status meeting while the real adults (execs) were there, and commented about the number of step improvements in the processes. I almost, but not quite, winced..I knew what was coming.
He got drafted into areas that he really had no written responsibility for; and I quote one VP, “gee, that’s great Mike, maybe you can also look into these departments - they are having difficulty with their workflow and UI issues also”.
How could he refuse - he just said he knew better - rather than stating the mere results of the consulting business analyst and the vendor relations consultants. Added a good 2-3 hours per workday for at least another 6 months for the poor…sap. (SAP and sap…one leads to the other).
Bob Turek
May 20, 2008 at 12:31 am
Alan- interesting how it came down: “difficulty with workflow and UI issues”. Funny how “raw” technology like workflow translates to improve the business processes themselves- actually the responsibility of the related managers. This executive leap is definitely a constant in my ERP software experience. On the project management side this type of thinking translates to the IT manager being solely in charge of technology enablement implementations. Thanks for your excellent comments.
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