Veteran CIO Sue Bergamo offers essential tips for IT leaders to get back to financial responsibility and show the business that IT can deliver on crucial goals.

Let’s face it—the economy is just starting to show signs of recovery, albeit slowly. The job market is still tough for millions of individuals and most companies have had a horrific couple of years.

It’s probably safe to assume that most CEOs are spending their nights either worrying about how to show growth in their company or how to hold onto their jobs. While it hasn’t been a banner year for most companies, and considering the amount of movement in the CIO ranks, it looks like a good many of us had as difficult a year as our bosses.

Many CEOs have come up through the ranks of sales or finance and are programmed to focus on these departments first. MBA programs don’t teach technology concepts to budding entrepreneurs, so it’s not surprising that these individuals don’t completely understand what IT does for the organization. CEOs do understand that IT provides the services to run the business through various software applications that reside on costly devices—but coupled with the fact that CIOs periodically have to ask for more budget money outside of the normal fiscal cycle, it’s no wonder why IT has to fight our way into the boardroom.

Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with many CEOs whose primary concern has been growing the business and in enhancing shareholder value. CEOs typically view IT as an area that is not fiscally responsible and doesn’t produce a “tangible product” that can drive revenue. Instead, IT is seen as a department that continues to spend a considerable amount without producing any income. As one CEO stated to me: “IT is not a part of the business.”

While statements such as this are prevalent in many companies, without an IT department, most companies simply would not run.

With so much responsibility for the ongoing operation of a company resting on IT’s shoulders, instead of belaboring the woes of the past few years and our lack of budgets, new technology and projects, the time is right for CIOs to help the business in growing the company by focusing more on our fiscal responsibilities.

In speaking with CIOs, many of us do not see helping to increase revenues as a part of our jobs. But to help in these trying times, each of us needs to find opportunities to manage our budgets more effectively and be viewed as a major contributor within the overall organization. In part, having fiscal responsibility ensures that we are negotiating the best deals on products, contracts and services, as well as reducing expenses wherever feasible.

CIOs can take part in contributing to their organization’s fiscal needs by following a few guiding principles:

1. Delivering results on-time and on-budget by using a consistent and structured methodology within all IT initiatives. Focusing on the effective delivery of products and services ensures that new or enhanced client-centric needs are available to the marketplace when promised, and can help to protect against another competitor’s leverage within the industry.

2. Developing relationships with business leaders to understand constraints within the business or with existing technologies. These relationships also help in the design of critical features and new products that eventually will be sold by the company.

3. Having the perception as someone who looks for ways to save money. Areas of concentration should include a revamping of business processes that are known pain-points, an annual review of maintenance contracts, and an up-to-date portfolio inventory to aid in negotiating ongoing product and service fees.

4. Making appropriate decisions to spend wisely in implementing technology, based on business need or as a way to decrease ongoing costs. With an appropriate ROI, technologies such as cloud computing, virtualization and SOA-based architectures can all help to decrease IT cost structures.

5. Being a leader when gaps in products or services are identified and needed in your company’s portfolio. IT organizations should have ongoing discussions with the product management area and participate in the creation of products or services.

As a consultant, I’ve been brought into many organizations where there is a perception that IT hasn’t been as fiscally fit as needed. By following the above basic principles, CIOs and their organizations can make headway in changing their image by keeping their promises, and in following fiscal guidelines.

Sue Bergamo is the CIO of BTE Consulting, providing executive services in the areas of application delivery, operations, technology strategy, transformational services and portfolio planning.  She can be reached at suebergamo@yahoo.com. 

Back to Workforce News