In this week's edition of news for IT pros, we've rounded up advice for CIOs partnering with the business to drive innovation throughout their organizations.
Organizing for innovation
As all businesses across all industries are increasingly faced with transforming into digital-driven organizations, some are taking the “innovation incubator” approach, developing innovation testing grounds in various pockets of the company. But Ron Miller points out in TechCrunch that isolating innovation could lead to scenarios in which “those fledgling ideas would very likely be sucked up into the vacuum of existing business policies where they get lost forever in a haze of bureaucratic negativity.” He makes the case that organizations must think about the bigger picture and embed innovation into all aspects of the business from ground up.
If organizations are wondering how to do this effectively, Forbes contributor Daniel Newman has a column this week on micro-innovation. He says, “Organizations that encourage employees to constantly innovate and try new digital tactics and developmental approaches may fail a few times, but they’re more likely to develop sustainable successes over time that competitors may never mirror.” He also offers five actions organizations can take to inspire a workplace culture that is open to micro-innovation.
State of the CIO
CIO Magazine released its 15th annual State of the CIO report, which revealed – not surprisingly – it's complicated. A recap of the results states that “88 percent of you told us that your role is becoming increasingly challenging and 71 percent of you said it’s difficult to strike the right balance between innovation and operational efficiency and security.”
In another recent survey of CIOs, Deloitte concluded that IT leaders generally fall into three categories in response to these challenges: trusted operator, change instigator, and business co-creator. “The best CIOs can adapt to the needs of the environment they operate in and change with the times,” said Karen Mazer, U.S. CIO program lead at Deloitte Consulting LLP.
But what if their environment is constantly changing? In a CIO article, Sharon Florentine says IT leaders should focus on two things to better cope with rapid evolution: collaboration and user satisfaction.
More news for CIOs
CIOs Are Full of It: Security Is Not a Top Priority [CIO-Today]
Monsanto CIO Jim Swanson Leads A Digital Revolution Of The World's Oldest Industry [Forbes]
