Here are ten rules that describe the new CIO. Some are following them (ask a successful CIO), but most are not. CIOs are about business use of technology, not Information Technology

1. CXO Advisor
Advise – Innovate – Change
Ten Essential Rules for CIOs
In this presentation we cover essential
rules for Chief Information Officers
Rules to make you succeed as a CIO, not
as an IT Manager, or CTO

2. 1: The CIO is a business person, not a technology person
The Enterprise CIO Forum ( www.enterprisecioforum.com ) published three
talent that make CIOs successful
 COURAGE: Because there will be many people in your organisation
(including your own department) who will resist the changes you need to
make to keep IT relevant.
 CLOUT, or influence: CIOs focus on the following things first: Business
results, business knowledge, executive relationships, business
relationships, and only 12% of the CIOs focus is on IT.
 ASTUTENESS, or cleverness and wisdom: Always in a business, not IT,
sense. You need a clever business brain, long before you need to be a
clever IT person

3. 2: Don’t do IT
We shouldn’t even call it IT anymore
 The CIOs role is not only to do with Information and Technology.
 IT doesn’t do the “I” part of IT, and the “T” part - the technology - is
commoditised, standardised, and freely available
Do ACT – Applied Competitive Technology
 APPLIED: How the technology is used in your organisation is much, much
more important that what the technology is
• Spend your time concentrating on how the technology is used
 COMPETITIVE: Look for ways in which technology can make your
organisation more competitive
• New products, markets and channels can all be delivered to your
organisation by using technologies available now
 TECHNOLOGY: The new technology rules have almost nothing to do with
what the technology is, and everything to do with architecture and
governance – how it is managed

4. 3: Technology is only a ticket to the game
You might think technology is important, and it is, but your
business thinks technology is just the ticket to the game
 Well running, stable and available technology and platforms:
• IT = electricity, plumbing, heating, desks and telephones
 They know they can’t run the business without it, but it doesn’t warrant
any special attention from them
 If you’re proud of meeting your SLAs, your business will say, “So what”.
That, to them is like someone proudly saying: “The lights work”
In the same way you cannot attend a football match without a
ticket, you do need to get the technology right
 That’s why so many companies are outsourcing – they are leaving the SLA
stuff to professionals, and focusing on business results

5. 4: You only have one customer
The business is IT’s customer. What rubbish!
The definition of a customer:
 Someone who pays for the products and services you provide (not
internal transfers, or budget grabs)
 Customers have the right to buy goods and services elsewhere, if they
don’t like your price or service (or just because they feel like a change)
 The service provider has the right to “fire” the customer
• If a customer becomes un-economic, are late payers, or just too much
trouble
 None of the above is true of “internal customers”
Focus on your organisation’s (external) customers
 If you satisfy them, you won’t have to worry about your “internal”
customers – they’ll be making too much money through you to complain
 Adhere to Commandment Three – you do need to provide good internal
services

6. 5: Always try to say “Yes”
Most CIOs are so far behind in providing for business
requirements, and so stuck on
security, governance, architecture, and budget issues, that they
cannot see their way to providing new services. They say no
 Business executives can get IT from anywhere
Change your mind-set
 Anything is possible, and available - figure out how to provide it
 Find a solution in the Cloud and source it for the business (or they will)
Use “Proof of Concept” tools
 Say yes to your business demands, and undertake a proof of concept
exercise
 You can only have two results:
• It works - motivate for the funds
• It doesn’t work – you’ve proved why the concept should not go ahead

7. 6: Change at the speed of business
Think Gartner Group’s: “Pace Layer Model”
Transaction layer:
 70% of IT lies in transaction systems. (These are your ERP systems). They
specialise in processing very many transactions as quickly, safely and
efficiently as possible
 They are not good at customised changes specific to your business
 We make the mistake of customising them:
• Difficult to upgrade, expensive to maintain and slow to keep up with
business demands
 Change the transaction layer annually
More on rule 6

8. 6: Change at the speed of business
Gartner Group: “Pace Layer Model
Innovation layer:
 Do your changes here, with APIs (Application Programming Interfaces)
into your systems of record
 Need an Agile platform to do so, but that’s just another architectural
detail
 Change your innovation layer monthly
More on rule 6

9. 6: Change at the speed of business
Gartner Group: “Pace Layer Model
Differentiation layer:
 This layer is unique to your organisation. We call it the “delta” or
difference layer
• Proof of Concept layer
• Once the product or service has been proven, you can move it into the “innovation”
layer
 Change your differentiation layer weekly
If you think about computing in these three layers, you can start
to change at the speed of business

10. 7: You have no strategy
Don’t wait until the business produces a strategy, then develop
the IT strategy in response to this
 But you need courage, influence, and cleverness (See Rule One) to make
a proper IT strategy happen
You need to follow the rules to make this work





Seen as a business person
Not fixated on technology
Focused on the (external) customer
Solutions orientated (say yes)
IT can change quickly
Develop the business strategy which encompasses IT
 You still need an IT plan to make it happen

11. 8: Be involved in business
CIOs have to be business people first, and IT people second
 CIOs only need to know enough about technology not to be fooled by IT
salespeople and technologists
How much business do you really know?
 More than most
•
•
•
•
•
Business processes
Information
Technological trends can make or break your business
Project management
NB: You have a view across the entire business that no-one else except
the CEO can see
Involved in business
 When were you last on the factory floor, go with a salesman on a sales
call, in the warehouse, or on a delivery truck?
 Set aside two or three days a week to be in the business
Your exclusive perspectives and business knowledge is not only useful,
but unique.

12. 9: Money is a political number – it’s not real
You just don’t have the budget to follow these rules? No, not true!
What money really is
 Only invented as a common form of exchange. It’s not real
 It is a measure of the value of exchange
 Can buy whatever you want with money, not being confined to the
exchange product the customer has
In business money is even less real.
 Decision makers use money:
• To evaluate the worth of something
• To signify how important they themselves are
 They ask :
• “Will this make me look good? Can I benefit?
• If the answer is yes, they concern themselves with finding the funds
needed to support the CIO
We’ve seen CIO’s get 50% more than their IT budget just by focusing
on the personal agendas of the decision makers, and by guaranteeing
and driving benefits

13. 10: Do it to yourself before someone does it to you
If you don’t change yourself and your department, prepare to
have it changed for you!
Modern IT trends threaten traditional IT
 (See my other slideshare at
http://www.slideshare.net/TerryWhite01/trends-that-threaten-itdepartments-and-cios)
Your business can and will:
 Outsource
 Go straight to the cloud
 Use their own devices and applications
They know more about IT than you believe
They are focused on business results, and will bypass you, or
even fire you if you don’t help them with this single-minded
focus

14. Summary
Central theme:
 CIOs are business people
 Technology is just a way to get things done
 CIOs need to drive the changing role of IT to something radically
different in their business

15. THE NEW CIO: COURAGE, CLOUT, INTELLIGENCE