Technology continues to become increasingly complex and important. In almost all sectors, not keeping pace with the technology in the market is detrimental to an organization’s success. In the midst of all that are Chief Information Officers (CIOs) who’re in charge of managing IT to deliver outcomes. And right now is the worst time to be a CIO of average capabilities. Gone are the days when CIOs could simply manage the IT department and call it a day. To drive a company’s success, CIOs now need to leverage technology and create value. To do this, they need to move away from a functional role to a strategic leader and bring about a tech transformation in the company.
How to Bring About a Tech Transformation
Before a CIO understands their role as a strategic leader, it is important to understand technological transformation itself. Mostly, they’re implemented in a disjointed manner across the IT department. This leads to under-delivery and time stalls. To come to terms with the scope of the transformation itself, the CIO first needs to think in these 3 directions.
Reimagine the role of tech
This includes establishing technology as an innovation and business partner to deliver a tech-driven strategy for conducting business. Tech-enabled products and services and their integration into management across the business are some of its examples. By doing this, the first step in the digital transformation of a business will be complete.
Redefine delivery of tech
By embracing agile, technology can be delivered in a smooth and customized manner. Improving IT services by integrating with next-gen technologies like SAAS, cloud, and automation will help improve the overall delivery of IT services. This can be improved by developing partnerships with other tech firms and segregating workers into small teams built around top engineers.
Prepare for the Future
Technological advancement is still rapid. Innovations enter the market every day. To keep pace with it, CIOs need to implement a flexible approach in their IT upgrades. By using a flexible architecture that is capable of integrating with future upgrades, the IT department will be future-proofed.
How to be a Transformative CIO
A transformative CIO needs the appropriate skill set and capabilities to turn the IT into a driver of value. Here are some of the surefire ways through which a CIO can be the harbinger of digital change.
Be a business leader
To generate value through IT, a CIO will need to understand business strategy. Top IT companies know this. This is why their CIO will be far more involved in shaping business strategies than others. CIOs who upgrade themselves for this tend to learn their business inside out.
The best CIOs go beyond their means to get involved in business strategy. They invest their time and effort in gaining an in-depth understanding of their business. By doing this, they’ll be able to take charge of initiatives that have a business impact. Such initiatives allow CIOs to develop an understanding of the business implications of tech through first-hand experience.
Be the agent of change
A technological transformation is not about shoving cloud services or IT solutions down the throat of workers. It’s about integrating the smallest task with technology effectively to improve performance. By partnering with other business leaders from IT companies, organizations can work towards common goals through mutual responsibility.
Gaining support from the higher-ups for a digital transformation not only involves explaining how but also why. For instance, executives can see the cloud as a cost-saving opportunity. But by making them understand the full range of cloud benefits, the CIO can help unlock new revenue models and services.
Be on the lookout for talent
The skill gap among teams is one of the top obstacles to a successful tech transformation. A CIO will need to focus on the recruitment of top talent and their retention. It can only be implemented by recruiting talented workers who understand the technology. This calls for specific attention to the recruitment process from the CIO.
It is also equally important to keep good workers. Hiring them doesn’t matter if you can’t keep them. The best CIOs thus need to be diverse so that their talent can advance in their area. For instance, by letting a top-class software engineer advance while coding instead of forcing them into a management role.
Be a cultural revolutionary
A top CIO will build a true community. Pay matters, but validation also does. The best people want to go where they feel valued and necessary. By providing engineers with more autonomy and reducing managers, a camaraderie among workers is built.
Promoting collaboration across various teams is also a crucial factor in a successful transformation. It is up to the CIO to enable opportunities for collaboration. The best CIO will ensure that collaboration is the norm instead of an exception.
Be a tech translator
Executives are often wary of undergoing tech transformation. Previous experiences have proven expensive, and nobody is eager to undergo it again. To address this, CIOs need to play an active role and intimate the role of these technologies to the executives. Be sure to make their implications clear and precise.
Most decisions regarding tech are not scrutinized. A good CIO will not settle for that and instead articulate how a solution will solve the problem. All the while having alternative approaches in tow.
Rapyder for Digital Transformation
Rapyder is a global AWS consulting partner that deals with cloud computing services. We can help transform business through our cloud implementation and management services for businesses. Transform your business for the future with Rapyder with services like DevOps, cloud migration, and automation. At Rapyder, we believe in providing our customers with complete solutions to their problems. Be a part of the future with our secure, scalable, and reliable solutions.
Conclusion
Despite the pressing need for a full digital transformation, almost 79% of all organizations are stuck in the initial stages. And while legitimate factors delay the process, a good CIO is capable of overcoming all these problems to expand and transform IT into the core driver of value in a business. In an ever-increasing technology driver world, the role of a CIO is no longer a simple one. They’re legitimate contenders to lead business and, just like everything else, need to transform and pick up the role of a strategic leader.
