Why CIOs Must Spearhead the Digital Charge
Many businesses haven’t defined their expectations of digital leaders, and CIOs are expected to create a responsible digital framework.
Gartner defines digital business as business created using digital assets and/or capabilities; digital products, services and/or customer experiences; and/or business conducted through digital channels and communities.
Digital business leadership includes: championing digital business innovation, facilitating the digital business strategy, conceiving of and overseeing business innovation programs, driving change to one-size-fits-all enterprise processes, including governance and procurement, spearheading enterprise culture change in support of flipping to digital
Digital engine development responsibilities: Develop a bimodal IT capability to enable digital business. Industrialize innovation prototypes. Renovate the IT core to enable digital business. Develop, acquire, source and retain digital talent. Lead the transformation from IT governance to enterprise digital governance.
Digital IT leadership responsibilities include: Developing business acumen. Becoming digitally savvy. Promoting and harmonizing operator (linear), innovator (non-linear) and guardian (leadership) subcultures. Clarifying the CIO leadership role for digital
What must I communicate to the IT department regarding its role in digital business? How do I keep core IT functioning, but find the time, budget and mindshare to focus on digital? How do we embed agility into the core? How will our IT asset footprint change?
How do the IT organization and my skill sets need to change? What about IT partners? How can I help the enterprise balance innovation and the need for industrialization and resiliency? What information technologies should be addressed to support digital?
What does digital mean for our business? What role will IT and I play? What process changes are needed to sustain and grow innovation? How can the enterprise introduce new technologies and business models while accepting risk?
Stake out your responsibilities for digital. Promote and harmonize with linear IT, nonlinear IT and leadership. Create a digital business strategy to address scope. Develop a bimodal IT capability to address speed, innovation and vendor issues. Renovate the IT core to address infrastructure and operations. Develop, acquire, source and retain talent