Kathy Gibson at the IDC CIO Summit, Sandton – There seems to be a disconnect between the strategic initiatives of IT and business, but it is possible for the CIO to be part of the team driving business strategies. At Afrisam the CIO is part of the executive team, which make it easier for IT to participate in business strategy from the beginning.
Louise van der Bank, CIO of Afrisam, says many CIOs receive a business strategy and try to align IT to that, rather than helping to drive it.
“What we try to do is to articulate our IT projects within the business strategies. This helps with business metrics, so when we apply for funding we know what will benefit the business,” she says.
Robert Boccia, CIO of Lion Sure, points out that CIOS are tasked with driving innovation throughout the organisation. In Lion’s case, Boccia reports to the CEO and the board, in a company is focused on innovation.
“I am also responsible for ensuring that Lion is a thought leader in using technology within the industry,” he says. “At every board meeting we talk about how we are living up to that point. And we measure ourselves against our peers and measure progress, regularly.”
As a service provider to the business, Boccia believes it is important to have regular touchpoints with the business units. At Lion Sure, sector CIOs own the business relationships with specific business units.
“They are the go-to person for those business units, they have regular monthly meetings with the business, and get involved with strategy and driving the strategy.”
This means that IT could start leading new projects that improve the business overall.
“It’s important to have people – in our case they are in the IT organisation – as a conduit to allow business engagements to happen.”
Innovation isn’t easy, but Boccia says IT is in a good position to take a lead. “Look for opportunities where you can start the flame of an idea,” he says. “We have found that IT has the opportunity to get into the driving seat.
“If you have strong leadership its easier, but you always have the opportunity to do it, to drive change within the organisation.”
Van der Bank adds that IT needs to learn how to communicate in ways the various different business units understand and appreciate.
“We try to convert the IT metrics that are important to use and translate them into metrics that are important to each specific business unit. This raises your credibility it shows that you understand what drives the business units.”
She also stresses that its vital to track promises that IT makes to the business, so ROI can be properly tracked and managed.