Lisa Davis, chief information officer of Georgetown University, emphasizes the importance of understanding IT business needs and building relationships with the C-Suite.
Watch the video or read the transcript below.
"I think CIOs today, we all must become Enterprisers because technology must serve the business. We must be customer-centric, at universities, we are student-centric. Understanding that experience and how we help drive business outcomes, so that our organizations and companies can be successful. No longer can IT be considered back-office, or a service provider, or a cost center."
How is the role of the CIO changing?
"The role of the CIO of the future, I think, is becoming even more critical to accompany success. I think with the disruption occurring in technologies today, consumerization, I think that the C-Suites recognize that the CIO must be at the table. They must be a partner and the CIOs must lead a lot of these discussions whether its in analytics and big data, whether it's in digital, mobile, cloud technologies — the role of that individual driving, leveraging technology to move the business forward and help meet those business outcomes is more critical than it's ever been before."
How are you partnering with internal stakeholders?
"It starts with an initial conversation, of frank, open and honest about what we are doing well from an IT perspective and what we are not doing well. And really sitting down and listening to what the issues are that they are struggling with. And figuring out together, how best to leverage technology to assist them.
Those initial conversations are understanding what is on their mind, what they are thinking of IT and then you can continue to develop that relationship so that you learn their business. Because the more you learn their business, the more you can help figure out how technology can best meet their needs, and best serve them in a multitude of different ways. So I think you continue to nurture that relationship and that relationship is then based on trust. It's based on honesty. It's based on a mutual collaboration that continues to build so when there is a problem, or they have a concern or they're not sure where to turn or how to leverage a technology, they automatically pick up the phone or send an email and they say, 'Lisa, I have a problem, how can you help me?'
And when they start to initiate and are proactive in reaching out to IT, because they know that you'll be a partner that will help them solve their problems, then I think you have really reached a point where the relationship is working and the relationship has matured. It takes time and it's an investment of time but as a CIO, frankly that's where I think we should spend the bulk of our time. It's not understanding what the business is doing, how technology can serve that business, but creating those relationships at the C-Suite level and with our senior business leaders so they are comfortable reaching out to you, and that you are working in partnership to really drive the business forward."
Lisa Davis is Vice President for Information Services and CIO at Georgetown University. Prior to being recruited to Georgetown University, Ms. Davis served in various technology leadership roles during her 26-year career in the federal government. Most recently she was Assistant Director of IT and CIO of the U.S. Marshals Service.
