CIO OPINION

Historically , the person who saw the importance of transforming business was the CIO . As the ‘ systems guy ’, he was tasked with finding technology to help the company get work done effectively and efficiently . He was the green light to make the traffic of Digital Transformation occur .

Over time business requirements changed and the CIO would often deliver on strategic initiatives that helped the business be more efficient , but not enable technology that the line of business leaders knew could help them do their jobs more effectively .

For example , enabling efficient cloud storage for an organisation will help save some companies thousands of dollars , but it won ’ t help line of business leaders as much as a cloud application that provides insight into a certain set of customer data , in order to retain customers longer .

As a result , the line of business leader became the red light , trying to slow down the CIO to see business needs that will benefit the business effectiveness , not just business efficiencies . The red light is crucial to make sure new technology helps the bottom line , not just operational costs .

Drivers

Red and green lights determine which drivers they will let through . In a similar vein , line of business and IT must determine which market drivers they allow into their enterprise . The driving force behind Digital Transformation is the consumerisation of technology .

Workers know what is possible and they experience the power of technology on their mobile phones . They want business applications and data to be easier to consume . They are also dealing with a deluge of data that is overwhelming in the form of instant messaging , email , reports , websites and more . Employees often know exactly what they need to be more effective at their jobs .

For example , IT has invested heavily in email over the past 25 years . Yet , for some , email is not effective . The formal nature of email makes it too long to read and hard to consume with the deluge of data they receive . So , IT invested in chat for communications .

But all that it really does is allow workers to type shorter emails that send instantaneously . As a result , some line of business leaders implemented collaboration software . This allows for the shorter messages , but added the functionality of the inclusion of documents , project management and more . And with the addition of the mobile app , it can be done from anywhere at any time . But this is still only evolutionary .

Digital Transformation would automate much of this drudgery and serve up information to make effective decisions rather than simply making communication more efficient .

Intersections

One common thread I ’ ve seen with successful Digital Transformation initiatives is that the CIO becomes a champion for the needs of the business . The CIO regularly meets with each line of business group on a regular basis to determine how to help them make their business processes more effective . I ’ ve seen employee surveys and internal research be a part of this process . The best question a CIO can ask in this process is : “ Why do you do it that way ?”

Once he can determine the need , the linear thinking of IT can be implemented , and the efficient technology put in place can be used to create effective , digitally transformed business processes . On the other side of the intersection , the line of business leader will engage with the CIO and helps to identify processes that can be digitally transformed .

They help fix broken processes and re-think processes in order to innovate how their group does business . They help the CIO to prioritise projects and offer resources for initiatives that can be effectively handled by their groups . The line of business leader will help to drive innovation . This intersection is where development and operations come together . When they are together , business processes become better , faster and much more successful .

Traffic flow

So which side should lead Digital Transformation initiatives ? The answer is both . You can ’ t have red without green . You must have both to direct the flow of market drivers through the enterprise .

CIOs and line of business leaders need to come together at the intersection of development and operations to work successfully together and lead Digital Transformation within their organisations . •

50 INTELLIGENTCIO www . intelligentcio . com