As businesses depend more and more on technology to drive innovation, IT is being asked to rethink the way it supports the company. How does the business currently understand the role of your IT organization? According to Gartner analyst Leigh McMullen, CIOs need to reposition IT from a process and technology organization to a service-focused organization that promises agility, responsiveness, and innovation.
The front office, in particular, presents an exciting white space for IT to demonstrate a positive impact on business differentiation and effectiveness. IT leaders can make inroads here by forming strong relationships with the lines of business most responsible for the business’ mission or revenue generation, explains McMullen in this video.
Forward-looking CIOs build a foundation for this transformation with more sophisticated automation and other efficiency measures, freeing up bandwidth for them to build the relationships necessary for a service-focused IT strategy. “If your attention is focused on operating the enterprise and keeping the lights on, you’ll never be able to give these new growth opportunities the focus they require,” McMullen says.
How do you carve out time for long-term strategy and transformation? What steps will you take in 2014 to free up more of your attention to focus on innovation and business drivers?
