Trending Trouble

Why is it that CIOs, at large, seem to be being driven by what is an agenda dictated and driven by business, where the IT department is required to hop to it and execute?

I’ve seen Indian CIOs and organizations reacting to changing economic realities in myriad ways—with some IT departments turning into profit-centers to others actually getting involved with new product development to even CIOs taking on roles beyond IT. I also believe though that this thrust toward the strategic and the bid to be an indistinguishable part of an organization’s DNA is limited to pockets of excellence and not a widespread phenomenon. I guess that’s why a group of CIOs the other day were more than intrigued when I told them that CIO Research suggested that the IT leader role in many organizations had actually become less strategic over the past year.  Interestingly, this trend is running concurrent to the role of IT and what it can achieve, being taken more seriously by managements. Why is it that CIOs, at large, seem to be being driven by what is an agenda dictated and driven by business, where the IT department is required to hop to it and execute? Is it that IT leaders have been listening to so many voices off late telling them to be more aligned to business needs and realities that they have forgotten that they are business executives as well and are responsible for taking a business goal and driving an enterprise IT strategy around it? In the rush to roll out more and more projects in shorter and shorter time cycles is IT’s role seen as being more of a valued service provider and less as a key differentiator? That last question worries me no end. Five years ago, joint research by CIO Magazine and IIM-Bangalore had indicated three possible paths to the evolution of the CIO role: •    The role would continue to grow in stature till it assumed the role of an internal consultant; or, •    If the role truly became strategic the organization would see it fit to pull in someone with a business background to head IT; or, •    Lines of business would become so tech-savvy, that IT would lapse into executing tasks. I wonder if that third nightmare vision is indeed coming true. What do you think?