In “The Real Business Of IT: How CIOs Create and Communicate Value”, Hunter & Westerman outline “…a proven process leading CIOs have used to transform the executive team’s perception of IT from cost generator to value creator.”
The book offers specific examples, models and hands-on tools that illustrate how CIOs can increase ITs impact on the business. But it’s one thing for IT organizations to create value and quite another for the CIO to effectively and successfully communicate to the executive team and the enterprise the value IT delivers.
“We have heard many CIOs lament that they never get the chance to engage the executive team in discussing ITs potential as a strategic weapon, or, when they do, no one listens.”
I liked the examples presented throughout the book and found the “Virtuous Cycle” to be a very helpful tool – and I think other CIOs and IT leaders will, too. The authors do a good job breaking the virtuous cycle down into bite-sized chunks (I’m paraphrasing here):
- Needs identification
- Identifying sources of value for IT and aligning them with needs
- Assessing and selecting IT investments
- Integrating technology, improving BPR, and managing organizational change
Measuring the benefits, or value delivered, of IT gets serious coverage and I enjoyed “The CIO-plus” chapter very much. I know plenty of CIO-plus execs and Hunter & Westerman are right on; the CIO-plus is the kind of IT leader whose stature and influence, both inside and outside the organization, are comparable to those of any other executive. Eric Brown and I called this particular CIO “The Futureproof CIO” in our January 2010 Cutter IT Journal article.
“The CIO-plus role is the reward at the end of a long journey. It starts with years of remembering that it’s not about IT but about business performance, because business performance is the language of IT value.”
“The Real Business Of IT” is the real-deal and a must-read for anyone leading an IT organization today or seriously considering the role in the future. It’s a 200 page crash course in the mindset and skills today’s IT leaders need if they have any hope of effectively communicating the value of IT to their peers in any organization.
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