Elevating the role of the CIO - Part 1 of 2

What is Your Management System - Wired Magazine

Have you ever wondered how an organization adds new value and manages their business? How does a management team come together and exert their will on an organization so their commitment to the Board is achieved? How do they deliver increased revenue, launch new products, lower operating costs, integrate new sales channels, improve customer service, innovative solutions that create competitive advantage?

For a publicly held company, we see the financial results of these efforts via annual reports, quarterly filings, and the classic measure of stock valuation. We measure the delivery of incremental value long after it has been created within the company. So, how does the management team build the new value? There are many actions and decisions required to build a new value chain (e.g. agree on product design, service offerings, market entry strategies, etc.). The value opportunity is unveiled when the product, sales channel, or new value is deployed to the public. Often there are months, even years of work that leads up to the new creation of value. The value is created minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, and ultimately, month by month.

In the area of value creation where technology is a key driver, how does a CIO and their team contribute to this value? How do they manage their business?

Wired Magazine recently published an article that explores this question in greater detail and offers a challenge to the CIO's of companies to build a more standardized management system. The article is available here.

In summary, the role of the CIO must mature in the coming months and years to create a more consistent and transferable management system for their companies. CIO's need to manage technology like a business. In doing so, they will elevate themselves amongst their peers and in turn create more customer, competitive, employee, and shareholder (CCES) value.

In part 2 of this article, we'll explore how CIO's can unlock their relationship with their board of directors and up-level their positional ability to generate CCES value.

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