8 ways the CIO can transform the IT department – and survive

Logicalis is currently examining the shift from technology-focused to services-led IT through its third Global Survey ‘CIO Pressures and Priorities’. Joanne Nelson, VP of International Market for Logicalis Group identifies eight ways a CIO can transform the IT department.

Consumerisation of technology means it is available to everybody, not just specialists. Cloud technology has shifted the focus from hardware to the services being delivered. This combination has led to an expectation of instant gratification and great user experience, which is now achieved by buying technology ‘as a service’.

Quite simply users can purchase and use technology before the ink on the contract is dry and this is the driver behind the explosion of Software as a Service (SaaS). 

The threat to IT

The IT department cannot compete with the rapid adoption of cloud technologies and is often slow to react in comparison.

If IT can’t deliver what line-of-business users and managers need to do their jobs, they’ll turn elsewhere. Cue shadow IT and the relegation of IT to the backroom.

In response, CIOs need to take steps to ensure they remain relevant in their organisations as they transform into what Logicalis refers to as (SDE). One way to do this is to transform IT into a service provider in its own right – the internal enterprise service provider. If IT can make the transition to fully supporting an SDE, for instance by developing and maintaining a portfolio of quick-to-provision IT services, its relevance will increase significantly.

Defining service

The table below illustrates how the Service Defined Enterprise differs from its technology-defined counterpart:

Every organisation is different, and will progress along individual transformations at different speeds and with differing transformation priorities.

Making the change

Logicalis has identified eight ways in which the IT department will need to adapt and work to satisfy the SDE agenda:

1. Focus on delivering a 360° user experience – IT Experience Management
2. Move from managing technology to offering a well-defined service portfolio
3. Sell itself to the organisation based on service, value and business case differentiation
4. Adopt pre-validated architectures as the first choice for internal IT architectures
5. Embrace IT automation to drive IT and business agility
6. Transition staff from being experts in technology management to best practice exponents of service delivery and user experience
7. Focus on KPIs that demonstrate delivery of business agility and improved user experiences
8. Be confident to look externally-first for solutions and services providers for the majority of their business IT needs

Ultimately, for the CIO and the IT department, supporting the Service Defined Enterprise could be more than a plan for the future. It could be a plan for survival.

We’d like to get your insights in this year’s Logicalis Global Insights Research. Your responses form part of a global study, now in its third year. This research benchmarks how ‘aligned’ IT is with the business across 16 countries and looks at the various aspects of IT’s transformation from cost centre to business enabler.

Complete the CIO Pressures & Priorities Survey below. We’ll send you a copy of the report, which will be published in October 2015.

Interested in reading the results of previous surveys? Click here

You may also be interested in downloading our complimentary whitepaper: ‘Why every CEO wants to lead a Service Defined Enterprise – and why the CIO needs to make it happen’.