Blogs
Why does the Chief Information Officer (CIO) seem more transient within Technology firms than other Industries?
By Becky Wanta, Former CIO and Global CTO for Fortune 50+ Companies
CIO stands for Chief Information Officer (CIO) - Not Career Is Over! That said, then why does it appear that the CIO position turns over faster in Technology firms than other industries and what are the characteristics of the CIO that is going to be phenomenally successful in Technology firms changing the turnover dynamic? The purpose of this blog is to discuss the “Why” of the Turnover and the “What” to do about it to change the turnover dynamic.
Reasons for the “Why” the turnover are not unique to the Technology industry. They center on leadership and the role the Information Technology (IT) function plays within the company. In other industries, the IT function is considered an “enabler” to the company’s business and depending upon the industry ranges from a competitive advantage to a “necessary evil,” or “something you scrape off your shoe.” The positive note on being viewed within a company as a “necessary evil,” or “shoe scum,” is with the right leadership, the relationship between the business and IT function can improve significantly.
In Technology firms, the IT function is not viewed as an “enabler” or “competitive advantage” and oftentimes is viewed as an overhead expense function, relegated to “dial tone” – “Keeping the trains running.” “Healthy Tension” is normal between the IT and business functions. In Technology firms, there appears “healthy tension” also with the engineering teams and this is related to the “engineering group” being both the revenue producers and innovators; and the IT function again being pigeon-holed into a limited “value-added” role of supporting the infrastructure being available 24x7x365 which is critical for any business, but leaving a lot of capability/future revenue potential the IT function can bring to Engineering via a strong respected partnership between the two functions.
So if each function (e.g., Engineering and IT for example) in a Technology firm knows and understands their roles, than why does that mean limited longevity in these technology firms for the CIO role and what needs to happen at the CIO leadership level to change that dynamic? In other words, what are the characteristics to a successful CIO within a technology firm? There truly are four key characteristics of the CIO that will succeed within the Technology firms and industry:
The first characteristic is leadership. Leadership is about setting a clear strategy on where the IT function needs to head complete with the right people, process and technology architecture to enable the company to meet its business goals and objectives. This does not mean “If you build it – They will come!” It means designing the executable strategy to deliver business value day one, so your business support does not abrade away. This implies partnership with the business as well as clear and consistent direction/messaging and priorities with the IT talent so the IT organization is focused and executing to the plan, with the resiliency to respond to changing dynamics typical of innovative technology firms on the move that will be essential throughout the journey.
The second characteristic is partnership with the business. In technology firms, like other industries, it is not about the technology solely; but about the right foundation and strategy to deliver for the business and enable the business (engineering) functions to meet their business goals and objectives. Partnerships are “living entities” and are strengthened by delivery on commitments on time and within budget as well working collaboratively to create that “safe harbor” fail fast experimentation environment so innovation can be tested and decisions made timely ensuring the technology firm is placing its bets appropriately on those experiments which will be the “game changers” within their current and future markets. These actions of collaboration and delivery increase the “trust” between the functions and ensure the alignment and unity to common goals.
The third characteristic is communication. Communication is key to transforming the IT function from its back office expense function and lifting it to the competitive advantage and business partner. Effective communication regardless of the company’s size seems to be the one action within companies that receives the least amount of focus and therefore abrades away the support of the transformation by the essential organizational talent. Key to effective communication is keeping your messages consistent; addressing/re-affirming the WIFM (What’s In It for Me); and leverages multiple communication channels and vehicles. Communicating with your talent, much like the management of your talent, is not a “one size fits all” proposition. That said, your talent reacts differently to communication so you need to leverage multiple medians to appeal to their continued support and understanding.
The fourth characteristic is the right technology architecture foundation and strategy. This foundation needs to be standards, open-systems-based, vendor-agnostic and loosely-coupled in all layers of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnect) model. Using current terminology, the architecture should be SOA-based (Services Oriented Architecture). The SOA foundation by its design is loosely coupled and enables the most flexibility as products enter and exit the market without the need for re-engineering of the architecture to maintain its currency. SOA done right provides for both an embedded technology refresh strategy as well as the IT cultural overhaul and transformation from a long-lead time staid delivery model to a continuous delivery model , with deliveries happening 30-60-90 days. The continuous delivery model is essential for the CIO to inculcate into its IT Organization’s operating fabric as it will strengthen the business partnership, lift the morale of the IT organization, assure your continued support of the business and lift the overall performance of the IT organization in to a true high-performing team.
These are the four key characteristics of the CIO that will be successful within the Technology firms and industry. And, the theme the characteristics emphasize is the need for real Leadership. Leadership aligns the IT organization with the business; the technology strategy with the business goals and objectives; the execution of the strategy to deliver business value day on; and the transformation of IT to a valued service provider and high-performing robust, agile and flexible team.
What CTOs Can Learn From John Chambers
What CTOs Can Learn From John Chambers Don't acquire companies with a different culture, the Cisco CEO tells CTOs at the CTO Institute at Stanford by Deborah Gage August 16, 2010 What's the Cisco CEO's number one rule? Don't acquire companies with a different culture, he told a roomful of CTOs at the non-profit CTO Forum at Stanford on Friday. And don't acquire companies to squeeze headcount or cut costs. "NationsBank didn't care about culture when it acquired Bank of America," he said. "It bought geography and customer sets. I'm acquiring current leaders and current engineers and next-generation products, and you must protect them at all costs." If you don't protect them, he added, your acquisition will be a failure. He believes 90 percent of all the acquisitions companies do are failures. "As CEO, you need to do well both in the existing quarters and over the years to survive," he told the group. "Any CEO who thinks only in terms of this quarter or this year doesn't last long." CTOs and other executives who make presentations to Chambers at Cisco have to have their five- to 10-year vision, their three- to four-year strategy and their plan for execution over the next one to four quarters included in the first three slides. If they don't, they have to sit down and pay Chambers $100. "My team smiles, because while I bark pretty loud, I've never raised my voice in my 20 years at Cisco," he said, nodding toward the other Cisco employees in the room. "But this is as simple as how you prepare for meetings with customers and shareholders." One reason for the presentations to Chambers is that Chambers reorganized Cisco in 2001 after the dot-com bust to push more authority down into the company, a teamwork structure that is still being refined. Cisco survived and ultimately managed to thrive when many other companies suffered or failed, but it went through what former GE CEO Jack Welch told Chambers later was "a near-death experience." Chambers agreed. Although Cisco has grown through acquisitions and was already acquiring companies so it could move into new markets -- "market adjacencies," Chambers called them -- it hadn't made enough acquisitions to make the revenue required to carry the company through lean times. Chamber said he vowed he would never put Cisco in that position again. He also did away with Cisco's top-down, command-and-control structure because hierarchical organizations are "a thing of the past -- slow-moving, ineffective, bureaucratic, and not designed around technology and how collaborative it must be." Cisco now has 30 cross-company groups that take present and future markets into account. "I had most of the data, and I had to give the teams the chance to get the data, then offer rewards (for making decisions) -- not just money, but who gets ahead," he said, in answer to a question on how cross-company teams should work. "You've got to be direct on who has the decision responsibility, and you have to learn to budget across the group. Sometimes I say 'we're going,' and other times I say, 'I need your input.'" Chambers is 60, and Cisco's next generation of leaders will be "collaborators," he said. Cisco is already training and preparing for his eventual departure -- five to seven people, not yet chosen, who will lead the company. The one who is CEO will have the most votes. Chambers polled the CTOs in the room. If they could only choose one thing for their companies, what would it be -- innovation or operational excellence? Operational excellence won, which Chambers said was the right answer -- although the key, he added, is whether executives can do both. He also asked the CTOs whether they were more a product of their successes or challenges. Challenges won - the right answer again, Chambers said. "The biggest mistakes you can make are moving too slow or too fast," he said. "Being too early (in a market) is as bad as being too late…It's how you handle your challenges that determine who you are." CTOs and CEOs have different roles, and it took time at Cisco to work that out, Chambers said. CEOs drive costs down and productivity up while transforming the company to expand revenue and move into new markets. CTOs need to figure out how to become relevant to the key business or government objectives they work under, and how to enable technology and business and educational processes to achieve those objectives. "The number one rule in negotiations is to walk in the other person's shoes -- especially if the other person has your budget," he said. That line got a laugh from the CTOs.Why Does The CIO Seems More Transient Within Technology Firms?
Why does the Chief Information Officer (CIO) seem more transient within Technology firms than other Industries? By Becky Wanta, Former CIO and Global CTO for Fortune 50+ Companies
CIO stands for Chief Information Officer (CIO) - Not Career Is Over! That said, then why does it appear that the CIO position turns over faster in Technology firms than other industries and what are the characteristics of the CIO that is going to be phenomenally successful in Technology firms changing the turnover dynamic? The purpose of this blog is to discuss the “Why” of the Turnover and the “What” to do about it to change the turnover dynamic.
Reasons for the “Why” the turnover are not unique to the Technology industry. They center on leadership and the role the Information Technology (IT) function plays within the company. In other industries, the IT function is considered an “enabler” to the company’s business and depending upon the industry ranges from a competitive advantage to a “necessary evil,” or “something you scrape off your shoe.” The positive note on being viewed within a company as a “necessary evil,” or “shoe scum,” is with the right leadership, the relationship between the business and IT function can improve significantly.
In Technology firms, the IT function is not viewed as an “enabler” or “competitive advantage” and oftentimes is viewed as an overhead expense function, relegated to “dial tone” – “Keeping the trains running.” “Healthy Tension” is normal between the IT and business functions. In Technology firms, there appears “healthy tension” also with the engineering teams and this is related to the “engineering group” being both the revenue producers and innovators; and the IT function again being pigeon-holed into a limited “value-added” role of supporting the infrastructure being available 24x7x365 which is critical for any business, but leaving a lot of capability/future revenue potential the IT function can bring to Engineering via a strong respected partnership between the two functions.
So if each function (e.g., Engineering and IT for example) in a Technology firm knows and understands their roles, than why does that mean limited longevity in these technology firms for the CIO role and what needs to happen at the CIO leadership level to change that dynamic? In other words, what are the characteristics to a successful CIO within a technology firm? There truly are four key characteristics of the CIO that will succeed within the Technology firms and industry:
The first characteristic is leadership. Leadership is about setting a clear strategy on where the IT function needs to head complete with the right people, process and technology architecture to enable the company to meet its business goals and objectives. This does not mean “If you build it – They will come!” It means designing the executable strategy to deliver business value day one, so your business support does not abrade away. This implies partnership with the business as well as clear and consistent direction/messaging and priorities with the IT talent so the IT organization is focused and executing to the plan, with the resiliency to respond to changing dynamics typical of innovative technology firms on the move that will be essential throughout the journey.
The second characteristic is partnership with the business. In technology firms, like other industries, it is not about the technology solely; but about the right foundation and strategy to deliver for the business and enable the business (engineering) functions to meet their business goals and objectives. Partnerships are “living entities” and are strengthened by delivery on commitments on time and within budget as well working collaboratively to create that “safe harbor” fail fast experimentation environment so innovation can be tested and decisions made timely ensuring the technology firm is placing its bets appropriately on those experiments which will be the “game changers” within their current and future markets. These actions of collaboration and delivery increase the “trust” between the functions and ensure the alignment and unity to common goals.
The third characteristic is communication. Communication is key to transforming the IT function from its back office expense function and lifting it to the competitive advantage and business partner. Effective communication regardless of the company’s size seems to be the one action within companies that receives the least amount of focus and therefore abrades away the support of the transformation by the essential organizational talent. Key to effective communication is keeping your messages consistent; addressing/re-affirming the WIFM (What’s In It for Me); and leverages multiple communication channels and vehicles. Communicating with your talent, much like the management of your talent, is not a “one size fits all” proposition. That said, your talent reacts differently to communication so you need to leverage multiple medians to appeal to their continued support and understanding.
The fourth characteristic is the right technology architecture foundation and strategy. This foundation needs to be standards, open-systems-based, vendor-agnostic and loosely-coupled in all layers of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnect) model. Using current terminology, the architecture should be SOA-based (Services Oriented Architecture). The SOA foundation by its design is loosely coupled and enables the most flexibility as products enter and exit the market without the need for re-engineering of the architecture to maintain its currency. SOA done right provides for both an embedded technology refresh strategy as well as the IT cultural overhaul and transformation from a long-lead time staid delivery model to a continuous delivery model , with deliveries happening 30-60-90 days. The continuous delivery model is essential for the CIO to inculcate into its IT Organization’s operating fabric as it will strengthen the business partnership, lift the morale of the IT organization, assure your continued support of the business and lift the overall performance of the IT organization in to a true high-performing team.
These are the four key characteristics of the CIO that will be successful within the Technology firms and industry. And, the theme the characteristics emphasize is the need for real Leadership. Leadership aligns the IT organization with the business; the technology strategy with the business goals and objectives; the execution of the strategy to deliver business value day on; and the transformation of IT to a valued service provider and high-performing robust, agile and flexible team.
IT Operations Automation
Effectively managing distributed applications and infrastructure becomes exponentially more complex as increasing numbers of services and devices (and therefore inter-connections) are introduced into the production environment. This management challenge manifests itself in various ways including -
Collaborative Innovation at HP Labs
As we approach our next CTO Forum, I have been reflecting on some of the previous CTO Forum events as well as my recent discussions with various large companies in Silicon Valley. I’m struck by the amount of rhetoric as well as the demonstrated shift from innovation and execution in silos to dramatically increased collaboration. While I would have expected this shift over time with the increasing complexity of our technology, businesses and the world in general, I am surprised by how quickly large enterprises are changing the way they collaborate internally as well as externally. This increased collaboration comes in the form of significantly increased usage and emphasis on various enablers e.g. distributed teams working together “virtually” on IRC, Instant Messaging and Skype, usage of blogs, wikis and social networks, cross functional councils within enterprises, cross company technology councils, consortiums, “collaboration offices”, etc..
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