The answer to aligning IT with the business is to enlist the assistance of C-suite colleagues via an IT steering group.
The newly appointed CIO of a Fortune 500 business meets with all C-level executives in the CEO’s office. At the meet-and-greet, after stating that he is looking forward to scheduling one-on-ones with everyone to share their ideas on the IT department, he observes a degree of apathy among the attendees.
After the meeting, he sits down with the CEO and inquires about her assessment of IT’s performance to date. She asserts without reservation that she was responsible for the shift in IT leadership. The department was not in sync with the business, and all of her vice presidents informed her that IT was not generating the systems necessary for the firm’s success.
She says, “I never hear that sales isn’t selling the correct items or that manufacturing isn’t producing the appropriate things. Why is it that IT is invariably misaligned with the business?”
She, along with every other C-level executive the CIO meets with over the following several weeks, expresses their expectation that he would be better able to evaluate the company’s IT requirements and design the solutions required to achieve its objectives.
What steps should the CIO take to resolve this issue? How would you act?
Following decades of experience in IT leadership, I have discovered just two answers to the hypothetical CIO’s dilemma: Interview every department’s decision-maker to determine each department’s needs, or form an IT steering committee (ITSC) comprised of all the CEO’s direct subordinates in order to develop an agreement on the IT priorities necessary to achieve the company’s objectives.
CIOs who choose to handle IT on their own should pick the first option. My proposal, however, is that you adopt the ITSC, as the first way will not guarantee that you appropriately handle the most essential company concerns.
There are several methods to establish an ITSC, but to begin, you and your committee members must work continually on a strategic plan until the planning group can finish an authorized, immediate one-year plan for all departments.
Finally, using this one-year plan, each department must evaluate what resources are required to achieve its objectives, a process that should involve talks with IT to identify what is required.
The seeking department should be responsible for examining these criteria with IT and senior department heads to identify initial time and cost estimates and projected return on investment.
Now that these plans have been given to the ITSC, the committee, which is comprised of all direct reports of the CEO or COO to ensure that all departments are represented, assesses if the systems sought represent the company’s requirements and the required speed. By doing so, the committee can assess if the current personnel level is adequate or if additional resources are necessary to achieve the set objectives.