How to take control of your digital development

How to develop as a digital CIOAs advancing digital technologies rapidly transform the world of business, it is important for CIOs to think carefully about how they themselves are developing in the role. CIOs must get themselves digital-ready — prepared to act as IT leaders, driving business change as well as operational efficiency.

But for CIOs to give themselves time to lead on strategy and innovation — without risking standards in the core IT service — they must strike a tricky balance. CIOs must plan carefully to ensure they have the time and resources they need to make themselves digital leaders.

Being a truly digital CIO also means working beyond IT, building relationships with the front office. Research for a recent EY report, Born to be digital: how leading CIOs are preparing for a digital transformation, reveals that a key factor that differentiates those leading in IT-intensive industries is that they have a stronger than typical relationship with their CMO. But for CIOs to make the most of this relationship they need to make a consistent effort and must develop new skills.

There are many different aspects that CIOs must consider if they are to make the most of their companies’ digital transformations. But, as Born to be digital illustrates, for those who get this right, there will be substantial benefits in terms of increased strategic role and job satisfaction.

Uwe Michael Mueller, EMEIA Advisory Performance Improvement Leader and Michael Golz, CIO of SAP US discuss the traits needed to move forward as a digital CIO.

For tips, tricks and insight to help you get ahead, read the new CIO’s bag of tricks blog cioblog.ey.com.

Find out more about the CIO program at ey.com/cio.

How to get digital-readyThe role of the CIO is being transformed by the rapid development of new technologies. CIOs are running just to keep up, as new digital business models are being created every day. Digital technologies — social media, the cloud, big data and mobile — have fundamentally changed how consumers interact with companies across all sectors. Many services that once relied on a conversation, a phone call or a visit to the high street have now moved online.

To keep up with the ever-increasing pace of technological change, CIOs must transform themselves. Recent EY research has discovered the key characteristics and competencies that leading digital-ready CIOs have developed so that they can thrive in this new environment.

To make sure that you thrive in the digital revolution, there are six characteristics you’ll need to show:

• You can set out and execute a strategic vision for digital.

• You are always looking to innovate — in processes, products or even the business model.

• You can develop relationships across the business to help create growth.

• You have the skills to sell your vision to the whole company.

• You can handle strategy and innovation, not just operations and infrastructure.

• You have the courage to take risks on emerging technologies.

Read more: cioblog.ey.com/2014/02/03/how-to-get-digital-ready/

How to balance the needs of the front and back officesCIOs are increasingly being called upon to step out from the background to transform the front office. Companies are looking to CIOs for digital innovations that will bring growth to the whole organization. But many CIOs find that they are too swamped in the day-to-day running of IT to really contribute.

What the most successful CIOs are doing is balancing their priorities: they make the decisions that mean that, while the functional side of IT is covered, they have enough time to develop the digital strategies and innovations that transform businesses.

To help get that balance right, take these six key steps:

• Get the basics of delivering a cost-effective and efficient IT service right

• Learn when to delegate — don’t micromanage every project

• Commit more time for transformational projects

• Proactively look for chances to innovate — even in core IT functions

• Consider using cloud services to free up time for innovation and strategy

• Direct savings in operational IT toward innovations in the front office

Read more: cioblog.ey.com/2014/02/10/how-to-balance/

How to ensure the CIO-CMO relationship keeps blossomingCIOs and CMOs have not always had a great deal of time for each other. But with the vast amount of data now available — from social, mobile and other digital interactions — a closer CIO-CMO relationship can be of huge benefit to their business.

CIOs can offer marketing unprecedented opportunities to increase their understanding of who their customers are, how they behave and where they can be reached. And, furthermore, CMOs are coming to realize that technology and data hold the key to measuring the ROI for all of marketing’s activities.

To make the most of this relationship, here is a list of six actions than CIOs need to take:

• Ensure IT puts itself at the center of marketing’s transformation

• Develop a genuine interest and understanding in what marketing is doing

• Communicate in a way that can be understood by the whole business, not just IT

• Create platforms that marketing can build on

• Focus on creating successful small projects quickly and then build upon them

• Keep consulting with the CMO throughout the process

Read more: cioblog.ey.com/2014/02/17/cio-cmo-relationship/

The digital revolution is making this an exciting, but also a challenging, time to be a CIO. Core IT competencies will always be in demand but, for ambitious professionals, they are no longer enough. To get the most from digital, CIOs must step out of their comfort zone and get involved in new and unfamiliar areas — and this will require careful planning and considerable courage.

But for those who do succeed at digital, the rewards are substantial. As EY’s Born to be digital study makes clear, digital is enabling IT leaders to win greater influence, heightened job satisfaction and, increasingly, a seat at the executive table.

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