The role of the CIO has grown at a rapid pace in recent years, highlighted by the fact that a Forbes study suggests that boards want these individuals to play a more strategic role in charting a business’ future. However, despite this boost, many Chief Information Officers still seem to do an awful lot of questioning over their role on the board. And, it turns out, perhaps with good reason. A study by Brocade, an American technology firm, found that many UK based CIOs struggle to work effectively with their counterparts on the board. But why are they failing to do so, and why is it so important for the C-Suite to ‘get along’?
The Brocade CIO survey found some concerning results, not least that 82% of CIOs fear for their job security at some level (which may also explain why many are questioning their roles). However, perhaps more intriguingly, the research found that other UK board members aren’t working effectively with their CIO colleagues. Over a quarter of professionals in these roles reported poor relationships with senior business figures, whilst 32% said the same about their rapport with CEOs and CMOs. In addition, well over a third of UK CIOs said they had a poor connection with their business’ CFO. So why is this breakdown in communication taking place?
One reason some commentators have given for this disconnect amongst senior figures over the years is that CIOs are still too ingrained in their use of ‘technobabble’. Most professionals in these positions have worked their way up through the IT ranks and are used to working alongside like-minded individuals who will understand when they may stray off into the realms of ‘techy’ language. However, other board members generally aren’t as well versed as CIOs in this particular dialect and are instead looking for data and facts that show a positive impact on their organisation’s bottom line. Executive teams actively look to CIOs and other IT leaders to demonstrate and explain the potential value of technology for the company, but they often end up with a stream of information that offers little value to them and results in a lack of understanding of the value of the technology at their fingertips. Obviously, the less tech savvy members of boards also need to do considerably more to grasp the potential of the technology they’re using, but CIOs are the ones doing the convincing and they need to lead the conversation.
But why should senior board members be so interested in collaboration? While challenging other colleagues can be an effective way of achieving results, more can be gained from working together and pushing in the same direction. Unfortunately – and you won’t need me to tell you – this doesn’t always happen, but it really should. Quite simply, the business world has changed from what it once was and firms’ internal operations are now considerably more integrated than they previously were. The finance department isn’t siloed away from marketing, for example, and marketing certainly isn’t kept separate from IT. In fact, it could be argued that CMOs are increasingly treading on the toes of CIOs. What this means is that businesses now require their different functions to be much more joined up and interconnected than they ever have been and this has to be led from the top. In the past, many departments may have gained little from integrating with IT, however now the growth of technology has meant that there are clear benefits from increased collaboration and the CIO has to take the reins and lead this drive.
Interestingly, this board level discord seems to be largely limited to the UK, as research has found that just 8% of global CMOs have difficulty working with their CIO (32% in the UK) while only 15% of global CFOs experience this issue. It’s difficult to see how UK firms are doing anything particularly differently to businesses across the globe, but perhaps the issue is that organisations in other countries simply buy into the idea of collaboration more than us Brits?
Whatever the reason, boards of UK firms need to take a hint from our neighbours and get CIOs, CFOs, CMOs and other board members on the same page and working together. It’s not 1999 anymore and IT isn’t the big scary monster that’s coming to take your job. As we’re all now well aware, technology can massively benefit a firm in a huge number of ways and should be embraced by other departments, rather than being pushed away. It’s obviously not all the responsibility of the CIO to convince board members of the value of collaboration, but they’re the individuals who are driving the conversation. It’s up to these professionals to change their ways, copy their overseas counterparts and begin to speak to language of the business. By doing so, and explaining the benefits of their work clearly and in a dialect that resonates with them, it’s likely that other board members may be more interested in working together, which can only benefit UK firms.
