Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »
June 17, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM U.S./ET (GMT-4)
Larry Bonfante, CIO of the U.S. Tennis Association, will discuss the skills and approaches that your rising IT leaders must learn to be effective in an executive capacity.
How to Handle Your New CEO: Managing Turnover at the Top
June 18, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM U.S./Eastern (GMT-4)
Turbulent times have increased turnover at the top. Find out what Council CIOs have done to "break in" new CEOs—build relationships, set expectations, educate on the role of IT.
Mid-Market CIO Panel: Tips and Techniques for Improving Vendor Relationships
July 15, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM U.S./Eastern (GMT-4)
We'll highlight relationship priorities and best practices identified in a Council study, and we'll interact with a CIO panel on the approaches they've used to improve strategic vendor partnerships.
Executive Competencies Assessment Tool
Assess Your Business Leadership Skills with the Council's new benchmarking tool. Rate yourself in change leadership, strategy, customer focus and more.
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May 12, 2008 — CIO —
IT alignment is important, but it's nothing without IT governance. Instituting effective IT governance means sharing ownership of IT initiatives with other CXOs—without that your program will fail.
Also read, 5 Tips on IT Alignment That Can Generate Profit by Richard L. Routh.
When CIOs are asked to list the most significant challenges they face, it often looks like this:
If the above list looks something like the challenges you face, there's good news. All that can be overcome simply by instituting effective IT governance. Many CIOs, once they learn how to do IT alignment, are then hampered by their attempts to get the full cooperation of the other CXOs—thereby stifling or at least stunting the potential effectiveness of a good IT alignment plan. (Also read Recipe for Good Governance. Or listen to the podcast by Peter Weill at MIT's Sloan School of Management.)
There are several different paradigms for IT governance; four are detailed below—it's up to you to decide which of them is best for you and your company. (More models are detailed here.) Each is effective to one extent or another under the right circumstances. But what you'll have to remember as you consider each of the different approaches to IT governance is that the primary function of any effective IT governance is to share ownership of IT initiatives with other CXOs. You might be very meticulous about dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's in the way you carry out the steps of your IT governance process, but if you don't end up sharing ownership of IT initiatives with the other CXOs, your IT governance program will be ineffective. And on the other hand, you may be sloppy and imprecise about how you execute your IT governance program, but if you end up getting the other CXOs to share ownership with you for all your major IT initiatives, then your IT governance program will be very successful. (Need a little more information on IT governance? Read ABC: An Introduction to IT Governance.)
The single most important indicator of IT governance success is the extent to which the other CXOs share ownership of IT initiatives with you!
So...what does "share ownership of IT initiatives" mean? It boils down to getting the other CXOs involved in making IT resource allocation decisions. Then they will no longer view you or treat you as the lone executive over all IT technology, but they will come to see themselves as your teammates in helping you to oversee at least all things strategic about IT. No, they won't get involved in the day-to-day operations and maintenance of the IT infrastructure—nor would they ever want to do that. They are quite happy to leave all those operational details (and headaches) to the "IT people." But they will learn to value their involvement in making decisions about what new IT initiatives are being pursued by the company, and they will become involved in helping to ensure the successful development, implementation and operation of strategically important IT systems.