At your company, does IT see itself as a service provider, business unit partner, or innovation driver? How do leaders in other departments view IT? In the eyes of the boss, what is the positioning of IT? In the past year, as the CIO of the enterprise, did you know which applications or new technologies need to be gradually introduced to be replaced or upgraded, and which applications need to be introduced to meet the growing development of the enterprise business needs?
Technology and market forces are changing the competitive landscape for businesses
What caused such a radical shift in the competitive arena? By far, CEOs believe technology and market factors are the most influential of the many external forces impacting their business. The vast majority of senior managers agree on the importance of technology, but they are increasingly uncertain about its impact. On the one hand, top managers want more opportunities to develop better products and services, take advantage of more efficient production techniques and more sustainable energy sources. On the other hand, top managers are desperately trying to deal with a "technological shock", and doing so carries a very high risk.
Rethinking past IT concepts
The enterprise IT department has always been seen as the cost center and business and internal enabler of the enterprise, rather than a creator of competitive advantage for the enterprise. Even now, the vast majority of enterprises still maintain these traditional concepts - IT is irrelevant, IT is only a tool or service provider to improve efficiency. Such notions are further exacerbated and deepened by typical IT project budgets and traditional IT management models. The results of IT projects are often handed over to IT operations to manage, so people who manage projects have no motivation to think about their design decisions. There may be long-term consequences, but there is a great incentive to deliver as many functions as possible within the time usually constrained by the business department or a system or application that can be used by the business department immediately, but leads to system operation, requirements changes, deployments And the complexity of monitoring increases.
Today's enterprise IT departments face a variety of powerful and conflicting forces. The CIO's first priority is to keep existing business-critical systems functioning, even as they become outdated and increasingly complex. At the same time there is growing pressure to improve the efficiency and speed of application systems and the delivery of new requirements and capabilities. Reducing system complexity and replacing existing legacy systems requires human and financial investment, however, investment usually comes in the form of large projects over several years, but these IT projects are often seen as bottomless costs by the CEO or top management Changes in personnel or work focus often go unresolved, or end up being an unfinished project. The status and reputation of IT in the enterprise are becoming more and more passive, and the pressure resistance is getting worse and worse. The increasing demand for change and the fragile IT foundation together further reduce the delivery capacity of IT. Ultimately, because IT has traditionally been seen as a cost center of the enterprise, it continues to face pressure to improve efficiency, and in the end it becomes a cost-cutting effort for the enterprise, a vicious circle.
In times of upheaval
Competitors are becoming more elusive and the pace of change is increasing, and CIOs need to study the situation more broadly and in depth. Technological advancements are changing the way we connect with each other, disrupting the status quo and causing a sea change in the market landscape. Industries are converging, creating new opportunities and threats like never before. How can CIOs survive this period of upheaval? Most CIOs have recognized that as many companies continue to apply their expertise to other industries, the previously clear business lines have become increasingly blurred, which will continue to generate new convergence, gradually subverting the traditional IT business field.
What to do: smart and agile, collaborative innovation
How can CIOs prepare for a world where industries are converging, competition is increasing, and innovation is rapidly changing? While he cannot ignore risk management, there are many other priorities that are also very urgent. CIOs need to focus on three goals: improving the intelligence and insight of the enterprise, digitizing the front office, and enhancing the skills of the IT department. These three goals are closely related.
First, to create a differentiated experience to meet customer needs, it is necessary to listen to customers and reflect their needs in new products and services.
Second, be able to provide marketing and sales with the right analytical, digital, and social tools to help them understand their customers’ needs and build stronger relationships with them.
Third, building an IT function that fosters innovation requires deep technical expertise and business intelligence.
IT departments' decisions about infrastructure are no longer limited to technology, but have become a core component of an enterprise's business strategy and a key factor in gaining market advantage. CIOs are more focused on building partnerships and leveraging the full potential of technological advancements. Few businesses can "single-handedly" deliver all the products, services and experiences that customers demand. While companies cannot achieve this goal alone, they can do so through collaboration. By working together, companies can innovate faster and expand the market reach of their products and services without taking all the risk alone.
Establishing external partnerships can have an important impact on CIOs, as today's business success depends not only on having strong internal IT capabilities, but also on partnering with other entities. Members of the ecosystem can use different operating platforms, but all platforms must be integrated, and the type and amount of data that can be shared by each member must be clearly defined. In addition, strict control systems must be established to ensure the confidentiality of critical data. . In addition, many of the demands on the infrastructure will originate outside the corporate firewall, and assessing and managing hundreds or even thousands of external users can be a daunting challenge.
Most forward-thinking CIOs also frequently rotate roles, exposing employees to the responsibilities of project managers and business analysts, which can bridge the gap between software developers and business managers and eliminate bureaucracy within the organization.
End
Today's product development cycles are getting shorter and shorter. If we want our business to remain competitive in a highly competitive market, the IT department of the business needs to be a partner that the business can rely on, not simply or passively. A cost center that receives requirements or system development. Accordingly, IT needs to achieve higher, faster and more stable delivery results while ensuring the reduction of IT costs, the complexity of the existing enterprise IT environment, and the large number of planned and unplanned requirements to keep the original legacy systems running. The completed DevOps work is the biggest obstacle preventing the IT department from achieving the above goals.
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