What does a CIO do during the day? Most employees know what they do during the day. Fewer know how to achieve what is expected of them. Knowing why you do what you do in context - not many do.

So to the title of this post. Why a CIO is needed in your management team - what is the role of a CIO in an organization and what value can they create? There are countless shelf meters of literature you can explore on the subject and this article does not intend to summarize everything for you in an appetizing quick dish. However, it may add a couple of perspectives "on top" with arguments to the above statement. Information Technology (IT) and Information Systems (IS) are tools for efficiency and quality but not ends in themselves. There are good and bad tools and the outcome often depends on who manages them. It is important to know what they are for and why they are needed - some IT investments need to be justified in that perspective.

CIO or IT manager - what's the difference?

The role of a CIO differs from that of an IT manager in that the latter is fully operational and is responsible for the execution against requirements of what exists, both functional and non-functional, for efficiency and quality, for what works and what does not. There is always room for gradual improvement and hopefully not too much fire-fighting. As an industry matures and competitors catch up and overtake it, resulting in falling margins, it is high time to stop and think. Is a change of some kind required? Should we continue or expand into new markets and complement with another offer? How are our products and services actually performing? What is expected next from our customers and market? What drives their needs now and in the long term? What opportunities do we have to meet them? Where do our capabilities stand? However, if you ask all these questions at the same time, it is usually too late! Turnover and margins will continue to fall and focusing on efficiency will consign you to an uncertain future with a shrinking bottom line. Innovation should be constant and work as a process as it is a key factor for continued success with growth, or 'new growth' if you like. Most people can define a company's success - sales are efficient, they have a product/service portfolio with good demand, they keep costs low, etc. However, what creates the conditions for sustained success is more difficult. Here we come to the initial questions "what, how and why"! Being able to answer the question "why" is important. It creates conviction in what you do, what you believe in, what leads to change and creates value. This inspires people but also needs to be communicated - from the inside out. In other words, it's about leadership. So, what is the role of a CIO in this context?

The role of the CIO in digitalization

There is a constant acceleration of technological development. It is difficult to keep up with and adopt technology and, where relevant, make it useful for existing activities. It can also create new conditions and completely new opportunities if applied correctly. Digitization is not only an opportunity for development but also new business through the creation of new services and products. Digitization often relates to terms and phenomena such as AI, Data Science, ML, Big Data, Cloud, IoT, Mobility, etc. Digitization is pervasive regardless of industry and sector. Digitization stands for change of the existing but also innovation based on the existing. New expressions can thus be created in areas such as the distribution and consumption of a company's services and products. A prerequisite for effective digitization is order and orderliness in the business. Systems are often not inherently forgiving. Processes that govern what and how we do things must be supported by these systems. Information is consumed but also created in the processes and needs to be managed by the systems. Dependencies between processes and their information set the pace of operations. Knowing and starting from how things are right now is the basis for all change. Well, at least a controlled change. When it comes to effective digitalization, being in control is a prerequisite.

At Anchor, we work with the Business Model Generation method and the 2c8 tool to analyze and visualize the business architecture. Photo: Dan Sone

A CIO understands both the business and the enterprise architecture

The business landscape of processes, information and systems on a supporting infrastructure is for most companies very complex. It is made up of old and new, quick but also thoughtful adjustments, previous employees' efforts and solutions, etc. For the possibility to, here and now, on each individual occasion, jointly understand the prerequisite for changes, the landscape needs to be visualized. The landscape embraces what, how and why things need to happen and what dependencies exist. It creates a shared understanding and momentum. All too often, a CIO has a technical and/or business degree and has held roles as an Enterprise Architect (or worked closely with one) which is a prerequisite. A forward-thinking CIO is also happy to look a little further afield and embrace the customer processes in which their own services and products are consumed, and the answer to 'why' we do what we do becomes fairly complete. A CIO is forward-looking and business-oriented, supporting the business with ideas and the conditions for change. If we also add a dimension of understanding of what drives the customer's industry, what problems and challenges they have and face, we are "spot on" in the ability to realize values and then find it easier to jointly see the motive for necessary changes. But it also needs to be communicated internally. A CIO (or CDO) has the task of developing plans for change based on digitalization and guiding the business through it. A CIO should be able to answer questions that often start with "Why... ?". This ability to drive and lead change creates loyalty among employees but also among customers, which guarantees long-term success!

Want to know more about how we see the CIO role and how we deliver it as a service?