The Newbie CIO

A newbie CIO was feeling very excited and thrilled to have made the grade and become a CIO, a dream he had cherished and worked towards for some time now. He had sought coaching from many senior CIOs and acted upon most of the advice received from various quarters. He was a good and consistent performer as IT manager having received accolades for emerging stars from various publications who track rising talent. I congratulated him on his new assignment along with others who celebrated his success.

Close to a year since the new assignment, he connected again wanting to meet; a request to which I agreed considering it had been some time since we had connected. I had not heard anything about his success or challenges from him or common industry friends. So we planned catch up over a meal in the near future. He mentioned the need to discuss a few issues which he was struggling with. That raised my curiosity and wondered how he had fared in his new assignment.

He had started well with understanding of business, industry, and company culture. He helped his team to a cohesive state dismantling silos and focusing on deliverables. Fixing IT came easily to him as he was responsible for the same portfolio earlier. He met functional leaders to understand their expectations from IT and how IT could contribute to their success. Based on this he created a plan which was accepted with a caveat that each project will require respective business owners to agree to and fund.

Undeterred, he started working on what he believed should be the first priority, customer service. The marketing head listened to the proposition and declined the project stating no need for disruption in an already growing market. My friend attempted to reason it out without success and in the face of push backs, approached the CEO for help only to be told to find a way to align the marketing team if the project were to succeed. After pushing for many weeks he realized that their low risk appetite would not get him what he wanted.

He targeted supply chain optimization which would reduce inventory levels and improve profitability. This time he created a financial model based on his understanding of the situation and presented to the functional head who dispassionately looked at the presentation and said he will revert back. Weeks became months with no revert despite gentle nudges and follow-up. So he confronted the issue and was asked to back off in no uncertain terms. He was disheartened and sought answers from his peers.

The organization was run by the close group of confidantes of the owner for many years. They had a monopolistic market and continued to grow at a fast track pace which was the envy of others in the same industry and outside. There was no growth or efficiency pressure with healthy margins and cash situation. As an unlisted company there was no market pressure to go beyond what they had achieved. The founder owner chairman benevolently asked the CIO to take it easy and not rush into things.

After his initial success, he was expecting a carte-blanche and what he got was a conditional approval where he had to sweat for each and every project and still remain challenged. He was struggling to break the shackles and do what he believed he was capable of. He had given up trying and was feeling a sense of purposelessness. He could have walked away to find a new opportunity but was worried lest the new one also leave him with no recourse. And the fact that as a first time CIO he had hardly spent any time and needed to show some results.

I did not have the context of the function heads, but I did know a bit about the CIO and his personality. Interrogation revealed that he was pushing his solution without listening or connecting; his enthusiasm blinded him from observing that he never connected with the business teams as he was so immersed in technology and solution design. Full of himself, in his eyes he had made the transition, in reality he was still some steps away. I left him with a mirror and hoped that he would start listening.

My offer for help stayed suspended in the air, I left feeling sad for him.

CIOs beware, CIOs rejoice

The hall was brimming with people, hardly a seat empty and many standing with their back to the wall. Safe capacity of the premises was pegged at 5000; if there were more, no one paid heed. The session was to be broadcast live and streaming media on screens across the venue. It was not a show on how to get rich quick, nor the speakers had a magic formula on how to lose weight, the speakers were global IT industry icons and leaders who draw crowds when they get on stage with their charisma and speeches.

The audience comprised of CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, in fact CXOs across countries, industries, global and local companies, big and small; many were accompanied by rising stars from their teams. It was a big event spread over 4 days that makes it one of the largest. Partners, system integrators and consulting companies invest their time and money annually to network with customers, solicit new ones and also hear about new offerings that typically get announced in such events. As a bonus, you get to see what competition is up to.

We got off to a great start with a few announcements and partnerships between past adversaries which was a significant milestone that helped the industry and customers. The star speaker did not show up, but most stayed put. The session however took a direction that had many in the audience surprised. The collective energy level suddenly dropped and to bring up the intellectual level in the room, many started playing with their smartphones. A few dozed off which was quite expected, but there were many who listened attentively and took notes.

The speakers had started explaining the step by step process on how to provision a virtual server on the cloud with various options; how to migrate from one platform to another, how to upgrade a few technology components, and how to benefit from the new offerings. The people awake and taking notes were not all IT folks, a large number were users with no technical background or past experience in technology. Were they trying to help their IT folks back home or had a sudden urge to learn cloud server management ?

I met some of them post the session and many more during the evening drinks seeking to unravel the mystery behind their new found love for an IT back office activity which is mostly outsourced. What motivated them to take active interest in something that many CIOs shy away from. I cannot say that the answer surprised me, what did was the extended outcome. The context determines how you view an event and its impact. What would happen when users start provisioning IT infrastructure and services themselves ?

Typical response, how can we allow them to do that ? It’s our job ! They do not know technology, they don’t understand the interdependencies and lack the skills; they should stick to what they know best and come to us when they need something. The IT Relationship Managers will understand the holistic big picture and then get the stuff done. There have been so many instances when they bought some solutions and came running to us when something broke or the project had challenges which were out of their league.

Alternate view, it is good that they are getting into self-service. With interfaces getting idiot proof and general awareness improving, there is no reason for them not to do it. Most of these tasks are easily done by anyone. It takes away a chore from us and gives us time to focus on what matters. Some of the IT team can now move to other value added activities. We are always there in case something was to fail or require deeper expertise or require escalation with the service provider or integration with other solutions.

Which view do you endorse ? The first believes that technology should remain within the IT domain and IT will service requests or provision based on project requirements. The alternate view encourages giving up and offers independence to everyone. The federated model with adequate controls does not necessarily free up many IT resources but creates a perception of self-reliance. Applicability of the model is dependent on enterprise IT maturity and partnership between business, IT and vendors.