EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
HELENA NIMMO , CIO ENDAVA
Given that today just about every business is a technology business , the modern CIO needs to have a foot in both the business and technology camps . They must understand a range of perspectives , and lay out strategies that align IT investments with broader business objectives .
For major IT projects , like deployment of an ERP platform or revamp of the cybersecurity infrastructure , this focus on being an enabler of business outcomes is critical as it creates accountability and offers tangible metrics for the measurement of effectiveness .
You can effectively correlate a new automation tool to a boost in productivity . You can link marked improvements in customer satisfaction with the implementation of the right contact centre solution . You can drive down cyber insurance premiums through focused cybersecurity investments .
By clearly defining the outcomes that are intended to be achieved at the onset of a new IT project , the realworld impact of innovation can be tracked . Moreover , when shortcomings are observed , efforts can be made to identify unforeseen pitfalls , and opportunities for optimisation can be uncovered . and innovations with hefty price tags have little to no value if their usage is circumvented in favour of unauthorised alternatives – the all too familiar challenge of shadow IT .
With CIOs increasingly acting as the bridge between the business and IT functions , their effectiveness should also be measured by their ability to inspire a culture of innovation through the enterprise . The new
Innovation on the other hand is far more nebulous as its interpretation can vary significantly from one camp to the next .
wave of enterprise applications lends themselves to democratising the process of innovation .
It is no longer technology heads alone who must chart out the organisation ’ s IT roadmap . Business users must be involved , with their opinions and feedback accounted for .
Innovation on the other hand is far more nebulous as its interpretation can vary significantly from one camp to the next . The metrics for successful innovation are therefore harder to define .
But all the same , efforts must be made to quantify the impact . This could be as simple as running surveys among target user groups , or monitoring the actual utilisation of the new solution , or leveraging business intelligence and analytics tools to glean precious insight from the volumes of data generated by the systems the IT team has invested in implementing . Another metric that CIOs need to closely keep track of is utilisation . After all , even IT solutions
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