Australian CIO Summit 2012: Bridging the Gap between CIO and the Board by David Ekert, Senior Consultant, Information Professionals

1. Bridging the Gap between
CIO and the Board
David Ekert
Senior Consultant
July 2012 #deciosummit

2. Questions
Any questions or feedback
during the presentation (or after)
Tweet using #deciosummit
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3. Who’s here?
• How many of you are Chief
Information Officers?
• How many of you have direct
engagement with your Board?
• How many of your CEOs come
from a CIO background?
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4. Introduction
• Board role is to develop and implement business strategy, with all that that
entails
• CIOs have a role to contribute their expertise in management of
Information and Communications Technology to support the Board
• But is that all ……..
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5. The Board Challenge
• Legal responsibility to govern • How does CIO contribute to
and ensure compliance supporting the Board to meet
• Growth – strategically and these challenges?
operationally • Is Board exposure limited to
• Sustainability budget submissions or
• Security explaining performance
problems?
• Strategy
• Maximising value while
minimising risk
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6. CIO - Now
Your technology landscape will • How do you see these?
feature some or all of: • Enablers or threats?
• Internet growth
• Cloud
• Social Media
• SAAS Is this your only landscape?
• IAAS
• Outsourcing
• Hosting
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7. The CIO Challenge
• Become more than a contract • Describe your profile
manager – Service Provider
• Become part of company – Cost Centre
strategic management – Key Contributor
• Become an input to planning, – Strategic Partner
not an output of it – Trusted Advisor
– BUSINESS MANAGER?
How does your profile compare with
that of your CFO?
YOUR challenge is to identify where you can
contribute and prove where you add value.
Here are some ideas
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8. Three Streams of Value
• Finance – value for $$ in delivery of capability
• Product delivery – as part of the supply chain
• Information and knowledge management
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9. Value for Money
• Even in outsourced • Large projects and their risk
arrangements – CIOs are in the • Higher relative risk
best position to judge VfM • Lack of company experience in
• This implies that you need to large system implementations
measure and monitor the value • Remember – you will have a
to the business of your delivery view of all company processes
arrangements
• A solid Enterprise Architecture
can support this – linking ICT
capability to business objectives
• Responsibility for EA cannot be
outsourced
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10. The Value Challenge
• Get right across VfM modelling, • Talk to the Board - “this is how
strategy and business case we deliver our technology and
development this is why this arrangement
• Understand your business and delivers value/minimises risk to
its objectives the business”.
• Understand how to identify and
measure business benefits
• Take accountability for
delivering value
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11. Product Delivery
• More and more – products are • Porter’s Value Chain model
being delivered by ICT in some • In many cases, you have moved
form from a supporting role into the
• Many of you will be part of the Value Chain
supply chain
• If you can provide ways of doing
that better, is that not a
business benefit that will make
the Board listen?
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12. Product Delivery Challenge
• Get close to the marketers • Talk to the Board – “this is how
• Explore technology and sort we are delivering our services
through the noise to provide and this is what our customers
advice on how you can enable are saying or this is how much
better delivery we have saved by doing
• Don’t jump on the fad bus business online”.
• Don’t wait to be asked!
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13. Information Management
• Perhaps the biggest challenge. • This is not about tweets and
• How to turn Data into emails
Information and then into • It is about sifting through the
Knowledge data – what’s current, relevant
• “Information Glut” – 40% of and valuable.
organisations in Australia/NZ
now suffering from this
• Economic cost estimated at $3
billion in Australia – per year
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14. Information Management
Challenge
• Capitalise on the tools and • Talk to the Board – “here’s what
technology you have to turn information that’s out there
data into knowledge about us, our industry,
competitors etc and here is why
it is important to you”
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15. Conclusions
• Many challenges for CIOs to
move beyond the back office
and into the Value Chain
• Others have done it – look at
the influence of CFOs
• CIO challenge is to get in front
of the Board
• CIO needs to become a
Business Manager
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16. Strategies for CIOs
• Network widely – your senior • You are part of the Executive
management peers can become Team – you can help drive the
your strongest advocates culture of the Executive team
• Find out from your colleagues and the business
what has worked well with the • Don’t forget your team and your
Board customers
• Write some articles in your • Always focus on business
company intranet or newsletter outcomes and benefits
– about how you are delivering • Frame your case in the context
business benefits of the organisation’s strategy,
• Honestly assess your skills and goals and objectives
where they may need
broadening
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17. Understand Board Dynamics
• Understand the Board politics • Don’t assume that you will be
• Find out about your Board the most important item on
members – what do they like Board agendas.
• It’s OK (and necessary) for you • Make sure the Board knows if
to understand the technology you are seeking approval or just
but you need to communicate to informing them of something
the Board in business terms • Make every minute of your
(and speak English). presentations count (you may
• Establish a Board sub- not have much time to capture
Committee for ICT and and keep their attention)
Information Management
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18. Finally
• You need to earn your right to
be part of the highest level of BUT THE
business management
• It’s just like selling anything else:
ACCOUNTANTS
– Identify/create the need
– Sell the benefit
HAVE DONE IT!
– Deliver!
• CIOs coming through a
technology background are not
typically good at this.
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19. Questions?
• Ask now
• Tweet using #deciosummit
• Tweet direct to @davidekert1
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20. Thank You
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