Planning the Future State of IT

How much of the company's overall budget is given to the IT department for maintenance of current systems and how much is allocated to developing new technologies? What sort of policies, if any, are in place to manage the reallocation of resources when emerging technologies call for a drastic change in business processes and models? Are current systems and policies in line with the organization's current goals and adaptable for those in the future? How are projects categorized and prioritized, if at all, in the company? These are all critical questions that a CIO must deliver on when planning for the future of the IT department in their company.

It can be tiresome and strenuous trying to allocate resources effectively and in the most productive manner for the company. The IT department is a very unique breed, so-to-speak, when speaking in terms of business units. Technical employees tend to seek solitude, work best when operating on their own terms, and speak a language, or several, that are mere jargon to senior managers, CEOs, and even some CIOs (McKeen, J. D., & Smith, H. A., 2012). As the Adventures of an IT Leader (2009) novel illustrates, even relatively technical CIOs such as Barton are not all that well-versed in specific programming and software development topics. They tend to be more business and management oriented, and even project managers who were technically adept at one point in their career may have lost touch with the direction the industry has went in the past ten of fifteen years of their career.

It is imperative for IT project managers and CIOs to have faculties in place that promote cooperative learning in the sense that they are able to exchange business and management sense to their technical staff while learning about programming capabilities and limitations, and the current state of technologies from them in return (McKeen, J. D., & Smith, H. A., 2012). This type of collaboration can help to create more business and customer value from IT projects as well as help to take advantage of potential opportunities for future development. With a better understanding of the current state of technology and where the market is headed, the CIO is better able to identify current system shortcomings relative to their competition and quickly rectify the disparity if present.

Generally speaking, IT staff will have different priorities (security, scalability, competitive functionalities, organization and accuracy of data) than other business units who are focused more on the return on investment of particular business units as well as the all important "bottom-line" (McKeen, J. D., & Smith, H. A., 2012). Without appropriate policies and organizational structure in place to promote coordination between departments, an organization will not maximize the use of their resources and could potentially diverge from the organization's goals or worse, fall behind the competitive curve trying to manage internal errors and miscommunication (McKeen, J. D., & Smith, H. A., 2012).

I cannot stress enough how quickly things evolve in IT; knowing this inevitability should warrant the CIO's attention to keep a flexible organizational structure and to keep updated on the current happenings inside and outside of the company. The competition and news and be a great source and reference for where the market is headed, but there is no information more valuable than that from your own customers. Customers have opinions, some valid, others not so much in terms of profitability; nonetheless, customer surveys with the purpose of determining how the operate with your systems, how they like your services, and what they think could be changed can be invaluable information for determining future plans for a company. 

This excerpt from Philips Electronics (2016) website shows how they value customer's opinions:

The reason why Philips has become one of the world’s most dynamic, agile and entrepreneurial companies is because we listen, engage and learn.

It’s what we call Deep Customer Insight (DCI) and it’s why food mixers in Russia come with a unique attachment that dices and cubes vegetables with utter precision in a fraction of the time usually needed for their salads. That kitchen skill is unique in Russian culture so we adapted our product to suit them. It’s also why the same kitchen gadget that makes soup in France will extract milk from soy beans in China, why a different cutting approach for men’s shavers is used in Africa than in Western Europe – because it suits an African’s skin better and reduces irritation.

This takes the old adage "the customer knows best" and presents it in a literal sense. Knowing how your customer uses your products or services helps a firm market their products and services more appropriately for the target demographic (McKeen, J. D., & Smith, H. A., 2012). Customer insight can help identify what your company might be missing to get that competitive edge we all seek, and the beauty of customer insight is if research is conducted in-house, the results are unique and your competitor does not have that insight.

As I said, it may be tiresome trying to keep up with technology and the burden of making future altering decisions for a company can carry enough pressure to paralyze a CIO. However, taking the necessary precautions, identifying potential threats, and seizing opportunities will be an ongoing learning process for a CIO. 

Austin, R. D., Nolan, R. L., & O'Donnell, S. (2009). The adventures of an IT leader. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.

McKeen, J. D., & Smith, H. A. (2012). IT strategy: Issues and practices. Boston: Prentice Hall.