The New Year provides natural encouragement for us to take on new challenges. If your 2015 includes tackling any of the following, then read on for tips from other CIOs who have been there and done that:
- Engaging on social media
- Helping the business better understand technology
- Being better about saying "thank you"
- Building more credibility with business peers
- Finding a happy balance between work and life
- Getting started with DevOps
- Engaging with your Millenial talent
- Learning more about the business
- Enhancing customer experience
1. On using social media for engagement
"I find joy and learn a lot when I’m listening to the views of others. For any C-level executive, my question to you is: what could you learn from cultivating a more active and engaged social media community online?" David Bray, CIO, U.S. Federal Communications Commission
2. On educating the C-Suite about technology
"The CIO shouldn’t be the only person at your organization responsible for figuring out innovation or technology. That’s something that should rest on the shoulders of the entire C-Suite. Staying abreast of technology trends must be part of the C-Suite agenda." John Marcante, CIO, Vanguard
3. On the importance of "Thank You"
"A simple 'thank you' can go a long way. ... Besides helping everyone feel appreciated for their hard work, it also helps build mini champions for the IT department out among all the campuses and departments we serve. It allows me to kill poisoned seeds before they ever sprout. In fact, what happens is these simple gestures engage an entire community around an IT project, which helps build communities of practice. And that leads to true cultural change within the organization. Curt Carver, Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer, Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.
4. On earning credibility
"Building credibility with your business partners is the first step. And while there are probably several approaches you can take, I believe you get there by starting with good old-fashioned listening." Paul Brady, CIO and VP of Information Technology, Arbella Insurance
5. On maintaining work-life balance
"A key lesson is that when you hire the right people and trust them to do what you hire them to do, and you give them not only responsibility and accountability but the leeway to do their job and do it well, you will attract better people. And it’s those better people who help you strike the right work-life balance." Tim Elkins, CIO, PrimeLending
6. On the importance of cloud for DevOps
"When you look at DevOps and bringing agility into the organization, the cloud strategy is important. This strategy will equip your IT organization with the tools they need to be responsive to the business and at the same time equip the business with tools to be self sufficient." Cynthia Stoddard, CIO, NetApp
7. On basic ways to get started with cloud
"Look at the cloud as an opportunity to shed non-core business functions, whether that’s running your email, phone, or call management systems or perhaps your business social tools. For most businesses, those are necessary functions that have to run right, but IT doesn’t add any particular value by running them in-house." Lee Congdon, CIO, Red Hat
8. On tapping Millenial talent for innovative ideas
"At GE Energy, I’ve built an innovation team of about 14 early-career employees who advise me on simple things they believe we should and shouldn’t do. The team serves as a forum where members come up with real solutions for nagging problems. A lot of their ideas don’t take a whole lot of money to do. They just need to be empowered to go do it." Venki Rao, CIO, GE Energy
9. On understanding the business
"That’s because being a CIO today is really about being the guardian of the enterprise business process. In fact, if you’re looking to succeed in any technology-driven executive position today, you’ve got to get your head very deep into the business process side of it. Whatever you do should always be about understanding the business first, then applying technology second." Brian Beams, CIO, Pharmavite
10. On enhancing customer experiences
"Applying the technology and process changes to make customers' desires a reality is highly rewarding. That's one reason why I believe we in IT need to do more to educate our stakeholders about what’s possible. An analogy I recently heard is that we have to lay more track in front of the locomotive of the business as it accelerates. Every company has a tremendous wealth of information about customers. The struggle – and the opportunity – is to use technology to turn that information into customer experiences that build sales." Rick Roy, CIO, CUNA Mutual Group
