Kathy Gibson is at Gartner Symposium in Cape Town – As a CIO, how will you handle the turns that are coming to find your techqulibrium?
Tina Nunno, distinguished vice-president analyst at Gartner, points out that two-thirds of company leaders see digital and technology disruption as their main challenges.
Meanwhile, 83% of directors believe digital giants will play a huge role in their industry – either as a partner or a disrupter.
Digital initiatives are the top priority for 53% of directors – but its not clear who will lead these initiatives, with only 29% of business leaders seeing the CIO as a trusted ally. Meanwhile, 20% of directors view the CIO role as reactive and not central to the discussion.
The CIO is seen as a partner by just 46% of directors, enjoying the confidence of other leaders in the business.
Within most organisations, other leaders are shifting their own techquilibrium and becoming more technology-savvy.
“This is a dilemma and an opportunity,” says Nunno. “CEOs are working with business leaders who are more technology-savvy, while CIOs are becoming more business-savvy.”
Fusion teams, led by both technology and business leaders, as becoming the norm,
“To navigate this opportunity, decide to move to delivering value,” Nunno advises.
Half of organisations employ a process-based operating model – but what’s needed is an IT model that is value-centric.
The enterprise is demanding that IT projects deliver revenue and margin. Traditionally, IT has been a bottom line expense.
“But what is the right techqulibrium point for the IT budget? Is it an IT budget, or is it a business budget?”
IT spend should be a direct contributor to revenue, Nunno says. As companies reach techqulibrium, technology spend will come from IT and from the rest of the enterprise – a fusion budget led by the CIO and the enterprise leadership team.
More technology spend will be directly attributable to assets and products or services sold to customers.
“Work with your executive team to fund the lifecycle of digital products, and shift funding between products,” Nunno says.
“When we achieve techquilibrium, everyone wins.”