CIO’s Goal Not Green

Recently CIOs have been dealing with an array of challenges. It seems that the ‘green issue’ has been dropping down the CIOs list of priorities with spending caps hampering any green ambitions, due in part to the evolving nature of the CIO role. At last it seems that the CEO is becoming aware of the cost savings that can be involved in turning to the CIO. At the CIO US summit (hosted by GDS International) business leaders from companies such as Dr Pepper Snapple Group INC, Adecco Group NA, JP Morgan Chase and DHL Express US agreed that by aligning the correct goals with broader cost cutting initiatives money could be saved.

The attendees wanted to discuss sustaining transformation within their company. They believe that to succeed in today’s fast-evolving and increasingly complex global environment technology strategy must be driven by business innovation and new service solutions.

“Today’s CIO needs to manage complex IT transformations or major shifts in strategy and explain how those directly benefit the business.” Christine Kincaid – SVP Security Global Strategy, Citigroup

Christine went on to discuss how keeping strategic business compliance, privacy and security on a roadmap can further complicate a company’s plan, resulting in higher costs in delivery complexity as you layer the requirements from inside your IT organization and outside sources such as legal, regulatory oversight groups and shareholders. Executives are having to take a hard look at their IT spends as the economy continues to squeeze business and consumers alike.

It is evident that the job of a CIO is to navigate their way through opinion experts, industry hype and an avalanche of white paper reports without falling victim to unnecessary risks, all the while having to explain and justify spending their budget, as well as the direct results of that spend.

It is now the job of the CIO to speak out they must understand the language of business and step out of the shadow of the back office in order to change business direction. This ‘new’ CIO understands that if a company refuses to transform they will lose out to competition in an economy where technological advancement is a given. Business now depends on technology and in many cases the CIO is now in the position to take a leadership role ensuring they internalize the processes for success.

Like this article? Get the RSS feed:

blog comments powered by Disqus