IT Must Partner and Adapt to Deliver Business Value

The role and responsibilities of today’s CIO are evolving thanks to a myriad of new business trends and technologies. Increased demand for smartphones, tablets and wearable devices in the workplace brings along with it new challenges, such as managing BYOD devices and mitigating shadow IT. The deployment of SaaS-based tools is booming, and with it comes challenges related to security and convergence with other trends such as big data. Additionally, the workplace of the future demands a more mobile and social enterprise.

The times they are a-changin’, indeed. Particularly if you find yourself in an enterprise’s IT department. 

It has been IT’s (often thankless) job to research, deploy and integrate new technologies into the workplace. At the same time, CIOs are charged with lowering costs.

So how will CIOs meet increasingly complex technology needs across an enterprise while cutting costs? Partnership and adaptation.

Partner with LOB leaders to deliver value

Technology isn’t so mysterious anymore. Leaders at all levels and across all departments are tech-savvy, and they’re bringing that knowledge to bear in their lines of business. The SaaS model has revolutionized productivity within departments. As long as they’ve got power, internet, and bandwidth, they can deploy and manage their own cloud applications without going through IT.

Finance, HR, Marketing, and Operations are allocating increasing percentages of their budgets to technology as those business leaders increasingly experiment with and drive technology projects to meet their departmental objectives.

Leverage expertise in other departments

Quite frankly, IT doesn’t necessarily have the skills required to properly marry the people and technology within other departments. Those LOBs leaders, however, have the background and experience to know what their people need and how best to deploy software solutions to empower productivity.

CIOs must position themselves as partners to other department leaders in order to continue to deliver value and contribute to the company’s strategic growth.

Embrace new responsibilities

The changing IT landscape has blurred functional boundaries, with CIOs taking on more non-IT responsibilities. According to Corporate Executive Board’s IT Budget Benchmark, nearly 60% of CIOs now own at least one non-IT functional area, such as procurement. Some CIOs are wisely embracing a new business-focused role and are working closely with top management to drive business innovation and develop business strategies.

IT professionals are no strangers to challenge and change. The ones who can partner with other business leaders and adapt will be the ones who truly add value to their company.

For more analysis of trends impacting collaboration and technology throughout the enterprise, download our free eBook “The Future of Business Collaboration” today.