So Who’s to Blame?

Posted by admin on May 5, 2008 under Leadership, Technology | Be the First to Comment

Recently, there were a couple of items published in Information Week Magazine related to the effectiveness of CIOs - or rather, lack thereof.

According to a recent Forrester survey, as reported in IW, most CEOs are satisfied with the results of their CIOs; however, this is because their expectations of the CIO are so low. Further, the areas where expectations are lowest (”in being proactive in improving processes, innovating, or effectively managing assets”) are the very areas where IT is crying the loudest about wanting to help. So, what’s going on here, and how come IT has fallen so far out of grace?

According to Laurie Orlov, author of the Forrester report, CEOs have scaled back their expectations as a result of the dot-com busts, failed system implementations and overselling results. However, consider the Chaos report issued by The Standish Group regarding the dismal results of IT projects. Do we really wonder why CEOs have such low expectations?

Now, I’m not saying that all IT organizations perform poorly - I have seen exceptional organizations and poor in my days, but the data certainly argues for improvement opportunities. Further, the trend I see in less successful organizations is that the IT staff is “IT-facing” rather than “business-facing” - they are more concerned about making the technology work than helping the business work.

What is most disturbing in this article is the fact that CIOs are taking the easy path and lowering the bar for their own organization. Based on these results, is it any wonder that there is greater emphasis on ROI, governance and fiscal accountability for technology? Is there question about why CIOs are being invited to the “table” less frequently? Is this really the direction CIOs want to go?

Orlov closes her comments with a statement that CEOs need to “educate themselves about IT and realize the more significant role that the CIO and IT can play in making their companies more efficient and innovative”. I beg to differ. It’s not the responsibility of the CIO to educate him/herself about technology - that clearly falls within the responsibility of the CIO and his/her organization. Can you imagine if we told CEOs it was their responsibility to learn finance or marketing and the role they can play?

Business is not unlike baseball or football - it’s a team sport. CEOs - if your IT organization is currently in the “penalty box”, consider ways to better engage them in supporting your efforts to move toward your strategic objectives. CIOs - teach your staff how to be more “business-facing” rather than “IT-facing”.

It’s time for CIOs to get serious about not just supporting “the business”, but to realize that without The Business, IT would not exist. Information Technology is about enabling business to excel by providing the tools (hardware/software/process) to enhance operations and competitive advantage.  It is incumbent upon every IT staffer to identify ways for their business counterparts to work more productively, and stop the blame game. You’re either part of the team, or part of the problem. Which are you?