The CIO’s Changing Priorities: Part 1

The recent CIO Survey 2016 published by Harvey Nash & KPMG has described how the role of the CIO is changing for the better. Yet with more CIOs becoming board members, the impact of projects failing on their watch has never been more of a risk.

Based on the survey results, 34% of CIOs now report directly into the CEO. 57% now have a presence on the Executive team. This is an encouraging increase and absolutely paramount to embed IT in the company’s strategy. Bringing a new way of thinking, the CIO will help the Executive team understand emerging technology, keep them ahead of the competition as well as being involved in the fundamental decisions that will support the constant change companies are faced with.

This not only exposes their performance to the board, it brings greater responsibility and accountability to the CIO. Embracing the constant challenge of improving the project delivery success rate whilst facing imperative skill shortages, the question should be posed, ‘are you and your team really ready to deliver success?’

People Skills and Talent

64% of European CIOs report that their ability to deliver will be impacted due to the shortage of essential skills. At the same time, the growing change agenda, which demands creativity in hiring the right people, becomes extremely important. A number of roles are reported as having a skills shortage, however, due to the rapid growth of data and technology a couple of the required roles – Architects and Data analytics professionals - are at the forefront of my mind.

Big Data continue to be buzz words but to really deliver innovation and operational efficiencies, a ‘genuine’ understanding and ‘ownership’ of the company data should be top of the agenda. Before embarking on this journey, the CIO needs to build the vision that underpins the foundations for integration, the governance and the security principles before sprinting towards the big win - all the while minimising the business’ exposure to risk.

The CIO needs strong Architects and Data Analytics professionals. If they are not available to the team it is essential they are brought in to augment the existing capability. Ensuring that the communication skills match the technical ability is vital. Without the communication piece, the design and delivery phases become fractured.

When you have the vision in place, with the right team assembled - including the business representatives with ownership of the data - it’s time to turn to the quality of the data, which is of great significance because many underestimate the time and effort involved in the data quality phase. Don’t be pressured into delivery if the data lacks the quality to drive innovation. Draw up a plan to address the quality before exposing the data to the business!

In my next blog in this series on CIOs' changing priorities I will focus on the growing awareness of a skills shortage in Security and Resiliency.