According to research by KPMG, 61% CIOs report that IT leaders are more influential as a result of the pandemic crisis. Given how the nature of connectivity and remote work forces has drastically and acutely changed, this isn’t much of a surprise. Steve Otto, ex-NASA employee and current CTO at The R&A, reflects on the changes he’s seen in technology leadership in the recent past and says that successful CIOs are becoming more like business generalists, rather than people who just push IT for IT’s sake.
“Next-generation IT leadership is about more than just technology – it’s about operational change and engagement with stakeholders and engagement with the business. I think successful modern IT leadership is about generalists with enthusiasm and communication.”
I couldn’t agree with Steve more. For more than a decade, I’ve not considered myself in the CIO role as a technologist working to solve business challenges, but as a businessman that has a subject matter expertise in the application of technology to solve business problems. There is a big difference in the mindset that these two options provide. Like any CEO, I have no time for technology for technology’s sake. Similarly, I want to leverage the best tools and processes to drive top- and bottom-line growth for my organization while building a strong and satisfying employee culture. More so today than ever before, the tools and processes required to succeed in this endeavor are founded in new and innovative technology. Here’s some stats from Forbes to chew on…
- 70% of companies either have a digital transformation strategy in place or are working on one.
- Executives say the top benefits of digital transformation are improved operational efficiency (40%), faster time to market (36%) and the ability to meet customer expectations (35%).
- 60% of companies that have undergone a digital transformation have created new business models.
- Only 7% of companies have fully implemented their digital transformations.
- 27% of companies say digital transformation is a matter of survival.