CIO Challenges
Top 10 Key Issues for CIOs to Manage
What should be on your agenda this year? A CIO-focused blend of business and technology issues that will help you increase business and customer value.
1. Budget Cuts & Higher ROI
Which means maximising the utilisation of existing resources - manpower, technology assets, infrastructure, etc. "Do more with less, is the motto"
Identify areas of opportunity
...within the organisation for cost reduction and value generation, and work on both with a focused approach. Adopt simple practices to generate quick wins and create visibility for IT.
How can Intergence help you?
We work with clients to evaluate opportunities for quick wins and operational efficiencies. For example, more effective utilisation of existing bandwidth and network optimisation in place of network upgrades (hardware and bandwidth), to underpin continued business application performance without significant investment. Prudence is the watchword!
External Links
Doing more with less: CIOs disclose their plans
CIO Agenda 2009: The business and technology priorities on IT chiefs' minds this year
The Challenging Economy
To see how some of your peers are tackling those challenges, check out another great piece called "How CIOs Are Setting IT Strategy Amid Economic Uncertainty".
2. Keeping operating costs in check without compromising on Customer Facing Innovation and Quality
While being challenged with budget reductions, the organisation still needs to function with quality and customers being top priority, and maybe even the primary performance metrics for the IT department.
How can Intergence help you
Getting the most out of your infrastructure can be tricky at the best of times. With the current resourcing challenges managing and troubleshooting difficult problems can be time consuming and costly.
Intergence provides a comprehensive suite of managed services - both onsite and remote - to complement your existing infrastructure requirements whilst driving down costs.
Click here for more on Managed Services
External links
Two articles that offer significant insights into this concept are this blog post introducing "The New Age of Innovation", and a revealing look inside one of the top consumer brands in the world in "Coca-Cola's CIO Talks Innovation".
3. Retention, Training & Re-skilling of internal talent in the organisation
With a freeze on hiring almost everywhere, identify talent within the organisation and groom it for use in IT / user areas. Strengthen People Management and Leadership Skills for yourself as well.
How can Intergence help you
Many of our consulting engagements involve close interworking with client teams, and a significant amount of knowledge transfer during a transition phase, to ensure clients obtain maximum benefits in terms of up-skilling their own teams
External Link
Stay Strategic Leader: here are a couple of pieces that will offer some ideas of what you should be doing, "Tomorrow's CIO: The Qualifications," and what you should definitely not be doing, "Two Flavors of CIO, Each Leaving An Aftertaste".
4. Establish and assess partnership with strategic vendors and service providers
With a focus on co-creation of value in a collaborative manner. Examine current contracts and renegotiate wherever possible, or factor in “value addition” to get more from the same contract.
How can Intergence help you
We provide a consultative approach, which assesses the existing situation to advise the best mix of technologies to achieve defined business goals. Intergence have on occasions been retained to manage the vendor evaluation and selection process for our clients, particularly in newer technology areas such as unified communications.
5. Infrastructure Management
Extending the lifecycle of the investments made by the organisation. Try to identify the assets that can be used with some refurbishing and deploy. As they say - "Drops of water make an ocean".
How can Intergence help you
Redeployment, repositioning, repurposing and refurbishment of existing assets can enable infrastructure performance to be significantly improved without incurring considerable additional cost. Intergence have helped several clients to get more value from their existing telephony PBX infrastructure. By identifying opportunities for selective VoIP deployments and working with the client’s PBX vendor, we optimised the configuration of the existing PBX as opposed to replacing with a new model, delivering operational savings in telephony costs as well as capex avoidance by deferring the PBX upgrade.
6. Create a focused approach for Corporate Governance, Risk Management and Corporate Information Security
With cyber crimes on the rise and likely to pose a bigger challenge in 2009, it is time to undertake a rigorous assessment and fortify the security.
Moreover, Corporate Governance and managing Risk and Compliance are going to be even stronger imperatives for the coming year.
How can Intergence help you
Intergence help clients to implement an Information Security Management System (ISMS), by identifing the objectives for an Information Security Organisation structure within the business. We then undertake an audit and inventory of the information assets to be covered by an ISMS and determine their approach to assessing and managing risks in the IT environment. Once an ISMS is in place, it becomes very much easier to satisfy both senior management and any external auditors or stakeholders that an effective approach to IT governance is pervasive throughout the business.
7. Virtualisation and Consolidation
This should be taken up with a clear focus and strategy; the benefits can be tremendous, but deployment has to be carefully planned and implemented to ensure expectations are met.
How can Intergence help you
Intergence enable clients to take a considered approach to virtualisation. Over the course of a month or so, we assess and document the current state environment, infrastructure and application landscape. We then provide a report which identifies genuine savings opportunities and RoI (return on investment) having taken account the actual client environment as opposed to the ‘typical scenario’ approach adopted by many RoI tools. With this approach, we have helped clients generate budget approval for the entire Virtualisation programme in advance, enabling them to deploy with confidence and keeping the CFO happy at the same time!
External link
Regardless of the tremendous benefits of vritualisation, CIOs did not or could not make a strong case to the CEO and other executives about the business value virtualisation can offer. Here is an analysis on this must-solve 2009 problem with "Does Management Get Virtualization?".
8. Green Computing
While a lot of attention around this issue was centred on the dubious claims of saving the planet, many companies devised excellent approaches to lowering energy consumption, reducing costs, and doing a better job with recycling - all good business practices.
How can Intergence help you
Our Data Centre consulting services enable the rapid identification of duplicative hardware, inefficiencies in lighting, power and cooling system designs, all in the name of simplifying Data Centre design and operation whilst reducing system and energy wastage.
9. IT enabling the organisation, to drive operational and process efficiencies
This is an "age old" statement, but particularly relevant in challenging times. Being able to identify areas where manual or duplicate working is being carried out and proactively using IT to reduce costs is an important consideration.
How can Intergence help you
Intergence works with client teams to evaluate opportunities for leveraging IT to support business processes and workflows. A good example is in the area of Unified Communications solutions, where there are often opportunities to redesign and rework process flows and working practices to improve productivity and drive down costs.
External Link
Attacking The 80/20 Ratio: you're going to face an ugly 2009 with little or no money available for innovation, and that inability to push the company forward will, sadly, enhance the stereotype of you and your team as a cost centre that impedes progress rather than accelerating it. In that context, we're happy to provide a richly detailed account for how to make it happen with Chris Murphy's superb "HP Goes All In With IT Transformation".
10. Cloud Computing- will it happen?
Cloud computing or "Utility computing" as it is sometimes known, has caught the attention of the media and the business community alike. Like all new technology shifts there is a lot of hype and misinformation. Cloud computing has the potential to save companies money and help you concentrate on your business, as opposed to running a Data Centre.
How can Intergence help you
Intergence can help formulate your strategy towards cloud computing, advising on the advantages and pitfalls of service migration into the cloud. We have the skills and knowledge with Intergence to help you gain the maximum benefit from this technology.
External Link
Above the clouds This is a really informative link on the whole subject of Cloud computing and the benefits and drawbacks of this approach. http://berkeleyclouds.blogspot.com
So that's our list of things to keep you CIOs busy in 2009. If it's any solace to you, we here at Intergence Systems will be able to follow your concerns and highlight new challenges we are observing through Peter’s Blog, as well as sharing the perspectives we hear from you and your peers as you attempt to change how the world thinks, works, plays, learns, communicates, and views itself.
