The Evolving Role of the CIO

Where it’s been; where it’s going!

Lee W. Crump, CIO & Group Vice President

Rollins, Inc.

Rollins, Inc. (Paid political announcement)

• 112 years old

• World’s Largest & Best Pest Control Company

• 1.3 Billion in annual revenue

• Holding Company; 8 pest control companies

• 500+ Branch locations

• 10,000 + employees

– 1000+ Sales people

– 4000+ Service Technicians

The CIO Evolution • The 1970’s

– Data Processing Managers

– Glass room; computer operations, custom code all developed internally

– Accounting functions; we reported to Finance

– Technology Expertise

The CIO Evolution • The 1980’s

– Director of I.T.

– Still reported to Finance in most cases

– Personal Computers breaking the glass room

– Packages were being developed now

– We had to add Project Management to our areas of expertise

The CIO Evolution

• The 1990’s

– CIO

– Reporting to the CEO or COO

– Technology is evolving; networks are now

affordable, and distributed processing is prevalent

– Outsourcing is the hot button

– Now we need expertise in Vendor Management

The CIO Evolution

• The 2000’s

– Still the CIO

– Reporting to the CEO

– It’s all about the Web

– Mobility becoming viable

– Expertise in Process Improvement

The CIO Evolution

• The 2010’s

– Still the CIO

– Reporting to the CEO

– Digital Marketing

– Consumerization of IT

– Expertise in Innovation

The CIO Paradox • (w/ thanks to Martha Heller)

• What other CXX position touches as much of the

business?

• What other CXX (or any) position is required to

adapt, change, and innovate while being

required to support and keep running every

decision of the last 15 (or more) years?

The CIO Paradox • Marketing??

– Can you imagine the CMO, with a flat budget, being required to keep running all the campaigns from the last 15 years?

• Accounting??

– The CFO still does things the same way they did in 15th century Venice (albeit with systems we have provided them)

The CIO Paradox • Our technology paradigm now evolves every 18 months

– Unfortunately, so do most CIO’s

• Successes are business successes; failures are I.T. failures

• We have many, many successes every day, but they are taken for granted and expected.

• Our few failures are shouted out to the world.

• “Blaming business failures on IT is the last refuge of a scoundrel”

The CIO Evolution • What got us here won’t keep us here!!!

• Beyond today?? – Darwin’s Theory: Survival dependent on ability to

adapt and change; not about “survival of the fittest”.

– We will become a “Technology Broker” • Partnering with the business and moving IT into the

business.

– Develop Strategy; require oversight to insure consistency of technology direction & fit

– Give up staff; become a consultancy • Primarily to Marketing, Sales & Operations

How do we adapt and change (and survive) • Gartner says: By 2017 the CMO IT budget

will exceed the CIO IT budget.

• IT budgets are decreasing as a % of revenue while CMO budgets are increasing. – Where do you think CEO’s prefer to invest?

– CMO’s are driving cross-functional teams to utilize Social Media; they aren’t waiting to use what IT gives them.

It’s all about Marketing & Sales • We are entering an age of technology disruption

unlike anything we have ever seen – Business models are being destroyed more quickly

than ever before

– Look at your teens and people in their 20’s • Your new customers

– They carry phones, but don’t use them to talk

– They want everything on line and it is all about data

– It is the iAge!

It’s all about Marketing & Sales • Become best friends with your CMO; don’t be viewed as

obstructionist. – Included, they are your partner. Excluded, they are your judge!

– It is where the action will be

– It is where the money will be

• Communicate effectively with the Executive team to share the paradox you face as CIO – the need to keep legacy systems alive and working

– The increasing TCO of legacy systems

– The futility of piling current technology on top of obsolete technology

– Complex interfaces & antiquated architecture

– Stop the madness!

The Burning Platform

• Your best friend if it doesn’t kill you!

• The pain of change….. – Bury yourself in the business; identify the critical

systems

– Determine and communicate their TCO and threat of outage

– Get the business executives on your side by getting on their side

• Be sure you understand the business strategy

Innovation:

• Per Jeff DeGraff, a professor at the University of Michigan

• Stop researching & start doing

• Planning is important, but learning from experience is more important

• The exact opposite of what made us successful in the past!

• Get ready for change on a huge scale !

Innovation:

• Innovation isn’t waiting until you can do a “big

bang”

• It is a whole bunch of very rapid baby-steps

• Innovation is spending time with your customers

to see what they are having to work around.

• What is annoying them?

• Stop their pain

Innovation:

• The seven deadly sins according to Professor DeGraff:

• 1. Believing you can see the future

– Make smaller, wider & more frequent bets

• 2. Choosing Big over Fast

– Pick up your pace & don’t be afraid to fail

• Fail fast; fix fast; deliver fast

Innovation: • The seven deadly sins:

• 3. Mistaking your managers for Innovators – They aren’t; find and encourage the “Deviants”.

– Your managers will always opt for small, incremental change.

• 4. Having more ambition than capability – Base your strategy on what you know you can do

successfully

– Small quick successes will bring capability! – Celebrate the incremental progress.

Innovation:

• The seven deadly sins:

• 5. Starting at the center and moving out – Instead, work from the outside in; start at the edges

and move back to the center.

• 6. Listening to the wrong customers

– Follow the customers that move first; the change has already happened.

– You just don’t know it yet!

Innovation:

• The seven deadly sins:

• 7. Failing to connect the dots – Educate your leaders and peers about the pace of change

– The need to re-act quickly; big change in small steps.

• Tips: – Make sure the person you are pitching is open to new

ideas

– Don’t provide a “polished & finished” pitch

• You aren’t that smart!

• You need to inspire involvement and expansion

• Polished invites critique; not involvement

Survey data; food for thought: • CEO Survey by IBM (bi-annual)

– Technology is the number 1 external force impacting their organizations.

– They expect technology to drive the most change in their organizations in the next 3-5 years

• This was number 6 in 2004; has moved up every 2 years since and is now number 1

• They are ranking it higher than people skills, market factors, economic factors, regulation, globalization, geopolitical,and environment.

– Over 50% say that Social Media will be the primary form of engaging with their customers 5 years from now.

Survey data; food for thought:

• CEO Survey by IBM (bi-annual)

– CEO’s are tackling disruptive innovation

• They aren’t implementing more efficient

operations; they are creating brand new ones

– The three Leadership Traits they seek in their

Direct Reports:

• 61%: Customer Obsession

• 60%: Inspirational Leadership

• 58%: Leadership Teaming

Survey data; food for thought:

• CMO Survey by IBM (bi-annual)

– CMO Critical Priorities matched CEO priorities

exactly.

• Do yours?

– CMO “Game-Changers”

• The Data Explosion

• Social Media

• Proliferation of devices and channels

• Shifting Consumer Demographics

Survey data; food for thought: • CMO Survey by IBM (bi-annual)

– The “out-performer” companies are focused on understanding individuals; not just markets

• Customer intimacy is crucial and the CEO’s and the CMO’s both know it.

• Business success in this century will depend on that intimacy

• It will be about relationships; not about transactions

• Belief and behavior from the eyes of the customer will be critical

Survey data; food for thought:

• CMO Survey by IBM (bi-annual)

– CMO’s are drowning in data

• They need information

• Marketing and IT need to not just collect the right

information, they need to:

– Make sure the right people have access

– Make sure it can be properly analyzed

– Make sure the right decisions can be made

based on the data

Survey data; food for thought: • CMO Survey by IBM (bi-annual)

– Key areas CIO’s can provide value to the CMO:

• Lead, Invest, Engage

• Increase customer loyalty

• Digital technology will be (if it isn’t already) the most important channel to interact with customers and attract new ones.

– What’s in it for you? • Survival!