How to Partner With the Business
Reshape IT culture to partner strategically with the business
CIO — While some CEOs recognize the expanding role that the IT organization must play as a partner in creating new value, there are still too many companies where IT is perceived as a nonstrategic service provider or cost center. So how can CIOs change this perception and break down the internal boundary separating IT from the rest of the business?
CIO Executive Council members at Quest Diagnostics, Medco Health Solutions and YRC Worldwide have gone beyond the basics of alignment and banning techno-speak to reshape the IT culture, refocus on the end customer and reallocate funding to drive business. They offer the following advice.
Shift your spending. At $6.7 billion Quest Diagnostics, CIO Mary Hall Gregg met with her CEO three years ago to set a target for IT's budget that would focus on strategic growth rather than keep-the-lights-on maintenance. Today, she and her team are in the process of more than doubling the percentage of budget allocated to business-growth initiatives.
I took a select group of leaders from the IT organization to brainstorm what the vision for the department should be. I didn't just take my direct reports; I handpicked people that I thought would contribute most to the work. This also worked to my advantage in creating a bit of buzz around the initiative within the department. Output from the initial meeting included a strategic vision of the IT function five years out and a list of specific actions to engage others in meeting these goals.
We created four "vision teams," each with 10 to 12 participants and different focus areas. The first was charged with creating transparency through metrics and value demonstrations. The second was to improve success and progress of maintenance projects. The third was to drive effectiveness through a centralized PMO, and the fourth was tasked with eliminating bureaucracy and redundancy through process redesign.
I picked leaders for the teams and meet with each quarterly. Some of their deliverables so far have included a balanced scorecard of IT metrics, a new IT PMO and improved programming practices.
-Mary Hall Gregg
One project that boosted bottom-line growth was the launch of an online appointment scheduling system for blood testing, which got a positive response from customers. Ultimately, increased patient satisfaction translates into physician and insurance plan satisfaction, and that helps the bottom line, says Gregg. "Continually increasing the percentage of IT work that is earmarked for new product development is an annual goal in IT," she says.
