This is not exactly the role you wanted but someone’s gotta do it.
IT Strategy is like a nose. Everybody needs one. But does every organization have one?
Unfortunately, some of the largest organizations in some of the most developed and technologically advanced countries do not have an IT Strategy. Nothing documented. Nothing communicated. Nothing discussed. Nothing followed.
Everybody is marching to some drum that nobody hears but everybody follows. So everyone is marching to a drumbeat of their own liking. Some are vigorously chasing their tails. Some others have loudly proclaimed “the last thing we need is strategy!”
The result? Chaos. Anarchy. Disorder.
Well, not quite. Things with IT manifest themselves in failed projects. It is very hard to pin the blame for lousy implementation on the lack of an IT Strategy. So, no one misses an IT Strategy. Just looks for a new CIO when a string of failed implementations are unbearable.
So, the cycle of sub par IT value persists with no champions of IT Strategy.
Some have conveniently fooled themselves into thinking that they have an IT Strategy. They have a document, you see. Some top tier consulting firm charged them a truckload of money, “interviewed” them, took them out to dinner while they were in town and gave them a document. The path to salvation – with pretty charts and graphs and all – lies on someone’s shelf gathering dust. What action, if any, was taken as a result? When was it last updated?
The next time a consultant is called in is when a new CIO takes over or the current one – that would be you – wants to get a project approved or show progress or something not quite the reason to have an IT Strategy.
So the “quantum” IT Strategy perpetuates and the cycle of sub par IT value persists with no end in sight.
There are many variations to this theme but I hope you get the point. I know you do because you are probably living it – caught up and unable to get out.
IT Strategy is a continuous process that needs a “champion”. This champion is someone with a vested interest in having an IT Strategy and making sure it is implemented – someone whose career depends on it. This champion will then work to get everybody together to create an IT Strategy and live by it. This champion will clear hurdles and make sure internal politics does not trump shareholder value.
That someone is NOT the CIO, it is the CEO. IT is an item on the CEO’s agenda. They delegate it to the CIO. Till this simple thing is evident to the boards – theoretically the CEO’s collective bosses – this nasty situation will continue.
In the interim, you the CIO, can play the important role you currently are – that of IT Scapegoat.
