Fernando Thompson

Above all: human creatively in new technologies almost always build better opportunities for life improvements.

The business of the IT organization/area is technology, and the business of the CIO is the business of the enterprise, we make decisions in a realm of strategy, customer value creation and cost and performance management, or looking for outsourcing to realize a return on investments.

The CIO must become more strategically focused aligning the specific needs of the enterprise, considering internal and external customers, for instance:

• Aligning information technology with evolving business needs and devising IT strategies that mesh with enterprise strategy

• Designing and maintaining an enterprise architecture that reflects and enables enterprise architecture that reflects and enables enterprise strategy

• Organizing, motivating, and managing IT organizations to focus on agile strategy execution and deliver consistently outstanding performance.

• Strategic cost management practices for IT Finance that transparently reveal the operational costs of IT services to the CIO and IT customers

• Strategic performance management practices that align the work of the IT organization with enterprise strategy

• Customer relationship management practices that reflect enterprise strategy as the build value for internal and external IT customers

• Carefully selected outsourcing relationships managed according to enterprise strategy

• Calculating and managing for continuous improvement for the return on investments of tangible and intangible IT resources

• Harnessing the technology resources to drive the relationship between IT strategy and enterprise strategy.

• Always evaluating new projects from inception through implementation.

• Timeline detailed descriptions surveys, requests for information, requests for proposal site visits, contract negotiation outsourcing relationship management

At the same time the CIO need to assure the enterprise systems infrastructure is operating correctly and efficiently 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to continually evolve and enhance that infrastructure so that it remains properly aligned and able to deliver what the enterprise needs to drive its evolving business strategy.

CIOs who effectively collaborate with other executives to reap those rewards for their enterprises are indispensable players on any senior management team.

As a matter of fact, it is useless to discuss IT strategy without simultaneously discussing business operations strategy.

Good strategy stars with asking the right questions. Strategy is the result you get from answering the questions you ask:

• What can IT do to enable my enterprise to accomplish its goals?
• What business initiatives are planned over what time period?
• What operating capabilities does the enterprise need to successfully carry out these initiatives?
• What is the conceptual design of the IT systems infrastructure that will enable the enterprise to possess the operating capabilities it needs?
• How can the existing IT infrastructure best be leveraged to meet enterprise needs?

Defining the IT Strategy:

To define your IT strategy, begin by listing a set of desired performance criteria that IT should meet in order to enable the enterprise to accomplish it goals.

1. – Financial perspective – what financial measures do we want IT to achieve?

2. – Customer Perspective – what do external and internal customers want from IT?

3.- Business Perspective – what business processes must we excel at to accomplish the company´s goals?

4. – Learning Perspective – how do we continue to learn and improve our ability to accomplish our goals?

Ask the question, “What seems currently impossible, but if it could be done, would dramatically change the way we do business?”

Systems can be used to increase revenue or decrease costs increase revenue by:

• Creating new distribution channels

• Erecting barriers to entry by competitors

• Reducing customers ability to substitute another product for your product

• Helping the company anticipate and respond quickly to market demands

Decrease costs by:

• Improving product quality

• Increasing productions rates

• Decreasing productions and operating costs

And please remember, a system is always people, process, and technology – not just technology.

The executive sponsors on the business side need to remain actively involved with the project in an oversight and advisory role throughout the project´s life cycle. If no senior managers take an interest in this role, are not really that important to the strategy in the context of the CIO´s two main responsibilities?

Strategy, tactics, goals, objectives, missions and milestones.

BUSINESS VISION this is a statement of the company´s purpose, why it exists, what it aspires to. The business vision of the company is articulated by a set of goals that define what the company will strive for and where the company will invest its resources.

GOAL (OR MISSION) – A goal is a qualitative statement that describes a state of affairs or an accomplishment necessary for the business to become what it wants to become.

STRATEGY –“the deliberate application of means to achieve business vision goal-related ends”.

OBJECTIVE (OR MILESTONE) an objective must be quantitative specific, measurable achievement necessary to accomplish a goal.

PLAN –A plan is a non-repetitive set of tasks that leads to the achievement of a new objective.

TACTICS –the execution and control of actions needed to carry out the business strategies and achieve objectives. Tactics effectively coordinate people, process, and technology to achieve objectives.

TECHNIQUES –Is a systematic procedure by which a task is accomplished.

Business or people believe the strategy is flawed and doubt that the goals can be accomplished. In either case, you as the CIO should be aware of this. If that is the case, change your goals or your strategy if you want to remain part of senior management in your enterprise.

Strategy is a way of getting from here to there. IT strategy formulation process has a sequence of four steps to:

1. Map out the big picture
2. Decide how to get from here to there
3. Act effectively to manage risk
4. Evaluate changes

Remember that systems are people, procedures, and technology.

The best system designs follow all seven guidelines:

1. Align systems projects with business goals. For any systems development project to be a success it must directly support the company to achieve one or more of its goals.

2. Use systems to change the competitive landscape. Put yourself in your customer´s shoes think what would “surprise and delight” your customers. Find ways dramatic cost savings or productivity increases. As long as you are able to do something of value that your competitors cannot, you have an advantage.

3. Leverage the strengths of existing systems.
Build new systems on the strengths of older systems

4. Use the simplest combination of technology and business procedures to achieve as many different objectives as possible.

5. Structure the design so as to provide flexibility in the development sequence used to create the system.

6. Do not try to build a system with a level of complexity that exceeds the organization´s capabilities.

7. Do not renew a project using the same organizational approach or the same system design after it has once failed. Re –doubled hard work and effort are an inadequate response for ensuring the success of a project after it has once failed.

The strategic use of IT resulted increased sales revenues enabling the company to enter several new markets reduce operating expenses provided the productivity needed.

Resourcefulness demands that the CIO work more efficiently and take new approaches. Sustainable creativity requires the discipline.

Now, the joke of this blog:

A jealous woman asks her husband: – “With how many women have you slept?”

And he says: “Only with you”, because the other does not give me sleep!”

 
See you soon!