Christian McMahon - The CIO's View
GETTING UNDER THE SKIN OF THE PRESSURES & COMPLEXITIES OF THE CIO ROLE
I’m delighted to join the Gambling Commissions Digital Advisory Panel and look forward to working with the team.
The Gambling Commission regulates the gambling industry in Great Britain, including the National Lottery. The Digital Panel advises the Gambling Commission’s Board and Executive Group on the digital landscape and emerging trends which may impact on how the gambling market operates, how the Commission interact with operators and how operators interact with consumers.
After reviewing Martha Heller’s excellent last book, The CIO Paradox: Battling the Contradictions of IT Leadership back in 2012 I was delighted to be asked to review her new book entitled, Be The Business: CIOs in the New Era of IT.
The book rightly covers how technology now permeates nearly everything a company does and how regardless of industry, IT has moved much closer to (if not directly in) the revenue stream of the organisation.
Martha has an amazing network of CIOs and an innate knowledge of how their roles have evolved in the past 5 years including how many leading CIOs are dramatically re-conceptualising the role of IT and creating new IT operating models as a result. In keeping with this new era of IT, these new operating models distribute IT investment decisions, innovation, delivery, and adoption throughout the enterprise, rather than keeping those activities solely within the IT function.
Ultimately, these new IT operating models position the IT function as an internal professional services organisation that provides the company with a wide array of services including management consulting, customer experience, innovation, end-user productivity, and security.
I have long heralded the cause for CIOs to be more progressive and deeply involved in operating and driving the business forward; Actually being a part of the core team which leads and drives the business forward rather than being content just running the technology silo and ‘keeping the lights on.’ I have referred to this more commercially focused and digitally savvy role as CIO 2.0 with more focus on supporting the business, reinvigorating its use of technology, enhancing the customer experience, driving the digital initiative and enabling it to deliver its strategic growth objectives.
This book is full of practical and thought-provoking narrative on how CIOs can progress to the ‘2.0’ role in this new era of IT and each chapter resonates with illuminating quotes from leading CIOs who have been through this transition and which lend real world insight to Martha’s text.
Chapters such as Step in to the Digital Void, Turn IT Consumers in Co-investors and Becoming the ‘What’ CIO invigorate the mind and really help you shape your thoughts in to meaningful and effective strategic goals that you can carry forth in to your own organisations. This book is by no means an instructional guide on how to elevate yourself as a technology leader but gently steers you in to the key areas you need to consider, investigate and embrace to succeed in this new era of IT.
When digesting this book on first reading, it really resonated with me on how well it flowed and knitted together the journey to becoming a CIO 2.0.
On second reading, I did so with a highlighter pen and marked out large areas of text in each chapter from which I wanted to take time to further drill down in to.
I highly recommend this book and feel confident in saying that it will be a well-thumbed reference point for me that will stimulate my thoughts and interchanges with others for a long time to come.
Honoured to be recognised as a digital leader by @Cisco in the July issue of #CiscoFocus – click here to read.
I was inspired to comment about my thoughts on the CIO 2.0 role after reading an excellent article by Michael Krigsman on ZDNet entitled “CIO Survival: Digital mindset and the impact on IT” – click here to read the full article.
Michael does an excellent job of labelling the various components of a digital mindset that every CIO and IT leader must understand (see table copied in below with full original credits to Michael Krigsman).
I’ve long advocated the need for CIO’s to move forward and embrace this ‘new’ CIO 2.0 role to not only increase the value they provide to their organisations but crucially the value they provide to its customers.
The tolerance for old-school CIO’s is diminishing and companies now rightly demand more from the role.
Full original credits to Michael Krigsman
I was delighted to be asked to submit a piece to the 2015 BCS Digital Leaders e-book, which you can read on page 130 here.
As a fellow and chartered IT professional of the BCS, I think its important to contribute and add value when I can to the societies publications.
Digital Leaders is a publication written by IT professionals for IT professionals to help them influence their organisations away from using outdated practices, governance models and structures to a more cutting edge world, but without depriving people or communities.
Aimed primarily at C-level managers and senior decision makers, Digital Leaders can enhance any organisation’s IT strategy – visit bcs.org/digitalleaders for related articles and blogs.
I am very proud to have been appointed an Advisory Board Member for CIO Today Magazine and am looking forward to working with Michael and the rest of the advisory board – link to the site here.
The CIO Today UK Magazine Advisory Board is a group of volunteers whose duties are to informally advise the Editor-in-Chief (who is chair of the Advisory Board) on the editorial direction and pacing of the magazine, promote the magazine, develop themes and suggest content for each publication.
The duties of the advisory board include: Providing ideas for potential articles in the publication, acting as background sources for information, discussing industry issues, contributing articles for publication, attending virtual editorial advisory board meetings (via a private forum), acting as sources for direct quotes or indirect quotes in articles, promoting publication to readers, choosing winners of awards contests, answering questions from readers, discussing readership studies, nominating candidates for awards, discussing marketing of publication, giving interviews to promote publication, and speaking at conferences/seminars.
2014 was another challenging year for the CIO with plenty of column inches given over to debating the control and usage of technology across the enterprise with much speculation about the validity of the role itself.
Personally, I think talk of the demise of the CIO role is presumptuous though what is critical right now is that the CIO role needs to evolve with 2015 being the time to flourish and show their true worth in helping set the strategic direction of their organisation.
The CIO role is like no other in that it allows visibility across the organisation that others rarely get to achieve and those that are commercially astute with a capacity to add tangible value to the business will excel – those who are not will likely be sitting in a different chair at the start of 2016.
As a result of the recent economic turmoil and rapidity of change across the commercial landscape, many organisations are now looking for a different type of CIO or technology leader than they have in the past. They are diluting the need for a more technically focused individual to one who is able to unravel the complexity of IT, increase the accessibility to technology, and be open to new ideas with the ability to work with peers on getting the right things done.
One of the key factors in this evolutionary change in the CIO role is the need to understand and appreciate they no longer have ultimate say over what technologies are used within their organisation but they will still be held accountable for making sure it all works.
Gartner research has shown that 38% of IT spend is already outside of IT and that they expect this to reach 50% by 2017.
This is going to send a shiver down the spine of many a CIO but they must understand the diversification of technology usage and need across their organisation.
This is quite the culture shift for many who have migrated in to the CIO role from the traditional ‘lights on’ IT director role of old but this will make absolute sense for those who have the ability to evolve in to this new model which will free them up to get more involved in defining and executing the ‘big picture’ strategy.
Too long the CIO has been identified as the strategic and commercial weak link in the c-suite and not adding tangible value across the business – they must seize this opportunity to transform their role and reputation in to one that thinks collectively, understanding how best to resolve the issues that matter across the business and ultimately delivering commercial value.
The main theme and focus for many of us this year is that of how to transform in to and drive a digital business.
Naturally this is a hot topic for CIO’s and the challenge of how to implement and transform your business to a digital operating model is now top billing on the agendas of many boardrooms across the globe.
This is exactly where the CIO can step up and work with peers and key stakeholders across the business to define a strategy which is moulded around a ‘customer first’ approach where digital technologies will form the cornerstones of how your services are delivered and consumed going forward.
This will require much managing of change, process, and incumbent technology and possibly need a marked change in strategic direction – a role tailor-made for the commercially astute CIO in harness with the CMO.
The impact of digital business on industries and individual organisations cannot be underestimated and Gartner have predicted that by 2017 one in five industry leaders will have ceded their market dominance to a company founded after 2000.
This is a bold claim but one which I support as no longer can you rely on historical dominance of your sector – either embrace disruption now or start planning your burial in the corporate graveyard alongside luminaries such as Kodak and Blockbusters.
CIO’s must embrace a “Bi-Modal IT” mind-set where they simultaneously embark on the digital transformation journey whilst maintaining Business as Usual (BAU) services.
It’s no secret that the most successful CIO’s are those who are able to run the business and transform it at the same time. Many industry observers and consultants will tell you that they have witnessed more transformation in the last 3 years than in the previous 20 years combined, so this shows how important these skills are in the modern CIO.
I don’t see any lessening in this pace as the demand for new and simpler ways to consume data, information, products and solutions is only going to increase year on year as the technology and accessibility to it improves.
CIO’s will also need to start concentrating on what talent they need to bring in to their organisations this year to manage this “Bi-Modal IT” approach as the market for the best talent is already stretched and growing ever more taut.
CIO’s should help their business colleagues and the CEO think outside the box to imagine new scenarios for digital business that cross companies and industries, providing a great opportunity for CIO’s to amplify their role in the organisation.
Gone are the days where you can supply rigid corporate systems, which are only accessible on site – the corporate world has evolved and everyone wants to consume technology in different ways with previously inaccessible data being lusted after to analyse for new operational and commercial insights.
CIO’s need to help create the right mind-set and a shared understanding among key decision makers in the enterprise – to help them “get” the possibilities of digital business.
They must take a leadership role in helping their organisations change their mind-set to what’s possible – and what’s inevitable in a digital business future.
This should not be done in isolation or be detrimental to any key relationships such as that with the CMO as it’s imperative you work together and deliver the ‘right’ digital strategy for your organisation.
Get yourself in the digital driving seat and don’t become a passenger.
It’s going to be a busy year with a fair amount of turbulence, so buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Included in the British Computer Society annual IT strategy e-book which is this year focusing on Digital Leadership – click here for more info.
Featured on the HP Business Value Exchange here.
I was asked by Samsung to give my insights on the evolving role of the CIO in the age of digital disruption.
These insights have been included in a marketing piece which Samsung has released in relation to the key take aways for CIO’s coming out of this years Gartner Symposium in Barcelona.
Click here to read my insights.
Samsung Futurescape 2014
I had the pleasure of being asked to attend the Samsung ‘Future of Work’ event last week in London.
The event itself was a showcase of Samsung’s current and planned developments that they see entering the marketplace of the future.
They covered everything from wireless meeting rooms to how the worker of the future will split their work/life balance including the tools they may be using to achieve the optimal balance.
The work/life balance was an often covered theme and Samsung highlighted how their technologies and devices will enable the ‘working from anywhere’ theme but with the power of and capability of technology you would normally expect when working in an office.
The Future of Work whitepaper that was discussed at the event was created in partnership with Ovum Analysts.
It highlighted the ever-shortening bridge between personal and workplace technology preferences, with applications taking force in the world of work and up to 78% of people using their own devices for work.
Samsung’s own Business Enterprise operation research details key opportunities for employers as smartphone penetration reaches 75% of the market, and the worker-consumer relationship blurs. Continue Reading →
That’s me on the far left stool
I was delighted to be asked by Samsung to speak on a panel at their initial Samsung Business Discovery Day in St Paul’s last week – www.samsungbusinessdiscovery.com for event info and #BizDiscovery on Twitter for some soundbites from me on the panel.
You can also click here to see the full panel session on YouTube.
The panel discussed how mobile technologies are changing the role of the CIO and how the CIO can empower the business through their use.
It was a lively, stimulating and fun discussion which included a good number of live questions from the floor.
The official detail of the event was as follows:
At the Samsung Business Discovery Day we will hear how companies are putting mobile technology at the centre of their technology strategy. Leveraging new platforms based on consumer technology to add more speed and flexibility to current business operations. We will explore these new paradigms, share implementation experiences and generate dialogue and debate to help your organisation leverage the power of customer discovery in your business.
We believe that innovators in the technology or IT departments should be driving a new agenda – building business platforms that are mobile first and built on consumer technology. In this mobile first world – businesses can accelerate the adoption of technology and ensure that their employees spend more time working for and on behalf of their customers. It sparks new debate, a fresh look at the consumerisation and BYOD trends – addressing matters like enterprise security from a people centric view – allowing your employees to embrace new technology.
