The Evolution Of CIO And IT Challenges

[stephenmann]

I recently did a presentation to some colleagues on what I perceived to be the current CIO challenges and trends and, in doing so, I created a list of things based on what I was hearing, seeing, and reading about. But a list of CIO challenges seemed too one-dimensional, particularly in light of my view that CIO, or IT, priorities have changed little over the last 5 years — what I call the "aspiration to action gap" — you can read about it here.

But the CIO challenges, IMO, have changed dramatically — which is odd if the IT priorities haven't. And they still fit into three high-level "challenge groupings" I imagined-up whilst working at Forrester (although I appreciate that we can all be limited by our own imaginations):

1. Increased business scrutiny.
2. Increased business and customer expectations.
3. Increased business and IT complexity.

The Evolution Of CIO and IT Challenges

In the end I decided it would be fun to not only show the current challenges but also how they have evolved over time. And please remember that this is purely my opinion — no statistics were harmed in writing this blog.

The * denotes that the previous challenge is still relevant.

Increased Business Scrutiny

1. Do more with less > Deliver more with less* > Reduce costs AND improve service (although see #2)
2. Reduce costs* > Improve efficiency* > Demonstrate business value
3. We need governance > We need better governance* > Help, we need governance

Increased Business & IT Complexity

1. Achieve IT to Business alignment > Understand more about the business* > Be part of business operations
2. Manage technology domains > Manage IT services* > Manage multi-supplier sourcing scenarios (which includes outsourcing, SaaS, and cloud)
3. "Command and control" IT > Business function IT development > "Shadow IT" (especially "unsanctioned" cloud adoption)
4. "Keep the lights on" > Innovation* > Support growth and competitive advantage (increase the 20 in the 80:20 spend profile)
5. Technology complexity and opportunity: Mainframe > Client server > Web, mobile, social, "Big Data," cloud, and BYOD
6. Build IT infrastructure > Maintain legacy infrastructure* > Source third-party infrastructure services
7. Build applications* > Application rationalization* > Build mobile apps
8. Skill shortages > People shortages* > New skill shortages (to manage services) and embracing the rise of automation
9. One song remains the same: Security > Security > Security

And I deliberately moved the first four bullets to the top of the list to highlight the importance of IT management challenges over IT.

Increased Business & Customer Expectations

1. Customer satisfaction > User experience > Service experience (consumerization)
2. CIO role: IT visionary > Infrastructure custodian > IT/CIO relevancy/irrelevancy based on what they do now and plan for later
3. Need for IT > Need for more IT* > Need for speed (agility)
4. Support multi-site operations > Support global operations > Support anytime, anyplace, anywhere operations (mobility)
5. Knowledge retention > Knowledge management* > Knowledge exploitation, community, and collaboration

So that's my list and, like Marmite you might love it or loathe it. But I believe it's healthy to put your opinions "out there" whether they are fully formed (that's my polite way of saying that we are not always correct) or not.

Finally, if you are at the 2014 HDI Conference in Orlando this week and fancy a chat, look out for a chubby Englishman most-likely holding a treasure chest by the ServiceNow booth (BTW it's not me in the photo).