Are you a "Turnaround" CIO?

When I started to think about it all, I realize that everybody knows about a turnaround CEO. There are many successful turnaround CEOs and much is talked about them. It also is widely said and accepted that a turnaround CEO needs to have a clear action plan and goals, a realistic timeline, and support of the company's board and senior management team and all of this needs to be accomplished by financial results in terms of greater market share, larger profits and a higher stock price or perhaps all three. 

But then is there something as a turnaround CIO? If yes, how would you define a turnaround CIO? How is the turnaround CIO different than the traditional CIO? What are the expectations from the turnaround CIO? 

Sometimes in your career, you may have been lucky enough to replace a sitting CIO and given an mandate to fix something that is not right in the IT department or fix a business critical IT application or to fix that business impacting IT project. Now, in this situation the CIO is expected to turnaround and fix what is not right and also accomplish greater customer satisfaction whilst deliver more with less. If you are doing that or are mandated to do that then know for certain that you have now morphs into turnaround CIO. The mandate is simple - Fix It!! 

It is easy said than done, because as a CIO, one is typically used to:

• Running and Managing IT Efficiently and Effectively
• Managing CXO expectations
• Driving Innovation and Growth while managing costs 
• Proving the Strategic Value of IT
• Developing the next line of IT Leaders

As a turnaround CIO, one needs to do things additionally and differently. A turnaround CIO is well qualified and comes to the table with demonstrated skills and accomplishments. It is a clear different mind-set required to a turnaround CIO - a much more then what CIOs are traditionally use to. Additionally, the turnaround CIO needs to also look at what is available on the plate and then... 

• Identify a low-hanging but pain causing fruit and quickly fix it
• Identify what really drives the business and what the business needs are and focus on and align IT solutions to meet them first
• Choose the right, proven and best technologies that meets the business needs, solves an organizational problem quickly
• Concentrate on increasing Internal Customer Satisfaction
• Take a look at the IT Team and promote and keep these who can deliver the quick results, ease out the laggards

A turnaround CIO always needs to remember that then what s/he does not have is - time, because for an organization which is struggling, time is money. There is no room for errors and mistakes for a turnaround CIO and it is safe not to use experimental technologies and systems.  

Right... so you know it all, so what is the big deal? But have you thought about it in this matter... perhaps no, do you think and consider yourselves as turnaround CIO if this is exactly what you have done it before? Like there are CEOs and turnaround CEOs (so called "specialist problem fixers"), why can't here also be CIOs and turnaround CIOs? 

One thing is clear - irrespective to whether you are a traditional CIO or a turnaround CIO, it is  needs to be remembered that that technology impacts most employees and the hence the tolerance for the CIO failure and mistakes is far less than other executive disciplines particularly in bad times and so a CIO has to be always on his toes and alert.

CIO and the Data Dilemma

Traditionally, CIOs were considered to be experts in managing "structured data" - data generated by the ERP and CRM Systems and all systems which have a database structure of certain data fields. CIOs know how to deploy analytic tools around this structured data to derive, and extract meaningful business critical information and serve value to the business to be able to take "correct" and "decisive" business decisions. Also, CIOs know how to plan and manage and maintain their IT Infrastructure and Storage to manage this "structured data". 

So, it all seemed like pretty smooth and sound sailing so far!! One could fairly estimate the volume growth in the "structured data" based on some trend analysis of data growth in an enterprise over a period of couple of quarters / years. All one did was based on the expected volume data growth you provisioned / bought / deployed the necessary storage boxes / storage arrays. Overall, it was a cool and peaceful life for the CIOs!!

Then came the proliferation of mobile devices of all kinds and the availability of "rich" content business information and data generated by all sorts of embedded systems. This has literally made the CIOs throw away all the estimates on data growth and the storage infrastructure out of the window. The CIOs started calling data as "unstructured" for the simple reason that this deluge of information could not be classified, categorized and managed using the traditional Relationship Database Management Systems of their times. It called for the CIOs to look at the entire enterprise generation and management of information in a completed new way. 

Newer technologies like - server virtualization, virtualized desktop environment and cloud computing added to this complexity. Now, the CIOs had to take a relook at the storage architecture because - the servers were virtualized and VDI is also gaining acceptance in enterprises but the I/O piece i.e. the data storage devices still are not as robust as required, not intelligent and not as flexible as a CIO may desire. Technology solutions such flash-based drives or solid-state disks are options available, but the CAPEX costs are high in deployment of these options. Even if some CIOs managed to control and plan for the "unstructured" data deluge, there was another problem. Over a period of time, CIOs had ended up deploying storage solutions by multiple vendors and these solutions do not talk to each other. There were and still are issues on interoperability and interconnectivity of  these storage solutions deployed. 

The other problem faced by CIOs at large was that the "backup and archiving" window started becoming longer and more time consuming. So, the solution deployed were - deduplication and compression technologies. So CIOs, deployed technologies around disk-to-disk-to-tape backup solutions, others storage snapshots based solutions. All of these had their fair share of successes and failures.

Another challenge that CIOs had and still have is that, whenever a CIO buys a server, the server comes with its own hard disk drives. These internal server disks never get used as traditionally CIOs have been trained to use an external shared common data storage - the SAN box. 

So, what next? How do CIOs manage this ever growing, complex data dilemma? Does a CIO invest more on newer storage technologies or explore alternatives to explore and make maximum use of the existing storage infrastructure? I believe, as a CIO, one needs to choose the second option - make maximum use of existing storage infrastructure. The strategy could be - 

• look what you have,
• analyse and categorize the data
• move "hot" data on Solid State Disks (SSD) / Flash Drives, if you already have it or purchase when you do a storage refresh / additional purchase decision
• use the full capacity of existing tiers
• look at solutions around deduplication

In fact, storage virtualization and consolidation are emerging to lead the race herein and effective to simply storage management, reduce administrative costs and improve cycle times. CIOs could also look at cloud from a data protection - backup and archiving and disaster recovery mechanisms. It is very clear that in the future, the enterprise storage architecture and its deployment is expected to gain paramount importance for ensuring agility, performance and reliability and for the CIOs to be able to respond faster to business needs for new applications, improve service levels and improve the performance of the data center and reduce costs.

Today, CIOs need to accept and understand that the refresh cycles on enterprise storage are going to shorten and there will be a need for taking a relook at the enterprise storage architecture sooner than before.

Before Changing the CIO Agenda... Get the House in Order...

Though it is my personal view, I belief a CIO is a custodian of all that encompasses information in an organisation; information in all its forms and formats; systems that store, manage, retrieve, safeguard the organisational information; CIO is an analyst who is suppose to understand and guide the organisation on its journey to understand how technology fits into and aligns itself with business strategy.

So, the CIO's role is clearly changing. The advent of mobility, social networking, cloud computing, big data and -  do-it yourself easy applications is only accelerating the need to embark on this journey to change / journet to transform. The CIOs need to change their priorities.

It is said that there is a need for CIOs to look outward from the customer perspective and more importantly from a business-product standpoint of view. To do that the CIO needs to engage with customers to see how they can improve the customer's environment. There is a clear need to align Business and IT Spanning across the entire Customer Life Cycle. This is easier said than done.

As step one, the CIOs need to understand that before looking outwards, they need to get their "IT house in order" i.e to say that CIOs need to get the "basics in the right place". A CIO could take a 4 step approach to "put / get" his / her IT House in Order and is a given.

• Get the Basics Right
• Build on the Basics
• Concentrate on Quality of Service (QoS) and Building Partnerships
• Measure the KPIs and more importantly Publish the KPI Results

The above will help the CIO establish his / her credentials within the organization. The CIO needs to think of IT Services and run them as a "Business", treat the internal users as "customers" and partner with the "customers" to understand business. So, this is the transformation of the CIO role into a "Business Service Manager" role.

Also, traditionally, CIOs have always adopted the path - develop systems solution for business needs. Systems development is always a step-by-step approach, change management is done through software releases / patches creating a ever-existing gap between the business needs and systems. In this fast changing business environment, this will have to change, CIOs will need to think ahead of the business needs and will need to find innovative solution and remain ahead of the curve. In doing so, the CIOs will need to image possibilities, visualize end results and then create pathways to get to the desired; the CIOs will need to be strategic and develop their capabilities through gap assessment, training and a process to communicate with the organization.

It is also important that executive management in organization understand that a CIO with his/ her understanding of systems / technology and the overall business and the business environment it operates in is well poised to participate in the "strategy formulating" process with the CEO, CFO and the Senior Management of an organization; because as Ankush Chopra (Ph. D, Asst. Prof of Strategy at Babson College (U.S.A)) said at the CIO Summit in Pune recently - strategy without systems and /or systems without strategy both yield - no results.

Strategy without Systems and / or Systems without Strategy result in failures of the Critical Business Initiatives that are expected to bring about Business Transformation. It is at this point the blame games start and most of the times a CIO faces himself / herself at the receiving end of the argument without either party really understanding the root cause of the discomfort on not delivering a successful project. 

What defines a CIO?

Yes. The question is what defines a CIO? what does the CIO really mean? Is it just a title that you have "arrived" or does it mean something much more.

Most of the executive management attempts to define the CIO as - a technical person who is suppose to keep the "lights on", a person responsible for the information technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals. The CIO is that person who fixes information systems in an organisation when they break down, sombody who "keeps things running". Now, it maybe a just a perception but it is predominately a very popular perception, at least in India.

The above argument is further strengthen by the fact that when looking for / recruiting a new CIO, organisations perceive that it is best to recruit at least an engineering graduate as a CIO because it is perhaps pereived that s/he can fix the information systems faster and quicker when they break down. But, I believe this is a myth. Does the CIO really himself / herself fix the issue or is the CIO responsible for "getting it fixed"? If the CIO fixes the issue himself /herself then the person is not a CIO but just a technical person, an issue fixer. If the CIO is responsible for "is getting the issue fixed" then the CIO needs to a manager of resources to fix the issue and not otherwise. The CIO needs to be an effective and efficient manager who should know how to get work done from young and smart technical people and an effective and efficient manager need not be an engineering graduate. The timely resolution of the break down and more its importantly its management is the point that is needs to be considered rather than otherwise. A CIO needs to delegate technical decisions to employees more familiar with details.

If the CIO is not a technical person then what is the CIO? Though it is my personal view, I belief a CIO is a custodian of all that encompasses information in an organisation; information in all its forms and formats; systems that store, manage, retrieve, safeguard the organisational information; CIO is an analyst who is suppose to understand and guide the organisation on its journey to understand how technology fits into and aligns itself with business strategy. 

So as a CIO, one needs to sufficiently engage in learning the business and attempting to align the technology strategy with the business strategy and not focus too much on implementing the latest technology. There needs to be a correlation and link between acquisition of a technology and the solution to a business problem. CIOs need to think business processes, work on business integration, work with the business leaders in helping them achieve their goals and objectives. 

It is also about management. A effective CIO is somebody who manages information, its flow and availability within and outside an organisation through technology; manages and maintains good and cohesive relationships with peers in business withn an organization and outside the organisation; somebody who manages people and team effectively; manages to "get it fixed" and keeps the "lights on" within pre-defined costs and overheads; and manages "expectations".

With the CIO's understanding of business processes and ability to understand the technology fit and its alignment with business startegy, the CIO can actually be a business strategist and a key partner to the CEO and the other executive management.

A Learning Experience during an ERP Implementation Project

An ERP Implementation always has its challenges and learning. Most CIOs get it correct with varied degree of success from the business perspective.

Here's one just learning experience during the SAP Implementation at a Large Infrastructure Company with multiple verticals in my career that it is very important to document the existing “as-is” Business Processes and then use the ERP Product to drive Business Process Transformation and document “to-be” Business Processes. Other critical factors for a successful ERP Project are –

• Creating & Managing the Supporting IT Infrastructure & Network,
• Project  Planning & Management,
• Ensure Minimize Code Changes / Customization,
• Adoption of Business Processes as defined in ERP Product,
• A Dedicated Project Team & End-User Training, and
• Effective Organizational Change Management & Communication

Also, there have been a few other learning too that a ERP Implementation – 

• needs a long-term commitment and support of the Top Management,
• the implementation approach could be - "Big Bang" or "Phased" approach and each approach has its own pro and cons, but primarily both work if the Project Management is effectively managed and handled,
• is a major "Change Management" exercise impacting the Business and should be effectively used as a "Transformation Tool" for the Best Practices and Business Process Planning,
• the Actual Business Benefits start coming in only after the use of ERP product purely as a "Transaction Capturing System" for the initial few months and the Top Management needs to be patient during this critical phase of the Project.

CIO - An Generalist or Specialist

Generalist is what I vote for. Vertical specific Business Knowledge can be acquired when the CIO as a Business person works with the Business. In my view, the basics / fundamentals are the same across all Businesses - the make, store, market, sell processes do not really change. Yes, there maybe industry specific tweaking for these Business processes which could be unique to specific industries.

 Furthermore, with the use of standardized ERP / CRM software products used to automate Business processes in the industry / vertical, it is the nomenclature / business terms used that change but the basic engine and technicalities on which the ERP / CRM / any Standardized application product run remains the same. Yes, there could be industry / vertical software products needed to automate certain unique Business Processes, but that is the Challenge and an Generalist with experience across verticals / industry can easily acquire the Business Knowledge.

Also, every company claims to have UNIQUE Business Processes that distinguishes them from peers in the same industry so even if one is a specialist there is a learning curve, some may call it "settling down period" / "first 90 days" etc., but the fact is that it exists. I would agree to the fact that for a Specialist the learning curve would be shorter compared to the Generalist but that does not mean that is cannot be acquired by the Generalist if he / her puts his / her mind to it.

The CIO is a Business person first and then a technology person, if this is the approach then it does not really matter if one is a Generalist or Specialist.