By Stan Gibson
There is a divide – a schism -- between CIOs who see themselves as “digital strategists,” and “traditional CIOs,” according to CIO magazine’s State of the CIO 2014 survey of 722 top corporate IT execs.
The survey findings seem at first glance to suggest there is little middle ground. Either you have a bright, exciting future implementing new technologies to give your company a strategic advantage, or you’re consigned to dull, care taking duties for systems that are out-of-date – the best you can do is keep the lights on and costs down.
But read the article to the end and you discover it does not have to be either-or. After all, the systems you install today as part of that exciting new project will be legacy systems in just a few years. They’ll need savvy, economical maintenance. If all your time and energy is consumed pursuing the next big thing, you won’t be able to provide that.
To be a successful CIO, you really need both skills – vision and basic managerial competence. For example, Mike Heim, the CIO of Whirlpool, is implementing an exciting “Internet-of-Things” strategy that will enable household appliances to communicate with homeowners through sensors. At the same time, he has to phase out the corporate implementation of Windows XP. For Heim, it’s not either-or; it’s both.
If you cannot execute the small, dull things well, you won’t have budget or at least as important -- the corporate credibility – to embark on that big data project. After all, it will have to be brought in on time and on budget, or your future will be in jeopardy.
So I’ll end with this note: don’t let anyone tell you that basic competence is for losers. It’s the easy-to-overlook foundation upon which all else is built.
Stan Gibson is Senior Managing Editor of IDG Enterprise Custom Solutions Group.