advice for the new cio

Drive Your Business

Advice for the New CIOLeveraging IT to drive business

2 ©2016 WGroup. ThinkWGroup.com

ForewordThe new CIO works in a disrupted, digital world and must leverage new, rapidly

changing ways of delivering IT services to drive business goals. These services have

to be focused on driving the business strategies, while optimizing delivery quality

and cost. The disruption factor can be immense if “going digital” will not accelerate

business growth, enhance a competitive market position, or create differentiation. By

leveraging resources, relationships, and innovative technology, new CIOs can overcome

the challenges of the office and form the foundation for a successful tenure.

Dual challenges

New executive leader failure rate consistently ranges from 40 to 50%. The dual challenges

for new CIOs are justifying your new role and justifying the business value of IT. Running

IT is a business, and IT should be run as a business. New CIO’s have to embrace this

concept and understand the skills and requirements needed to be successful.

ThinkWGroup.com


What’s covered in this briefing?This guide was designed to help current and future CIOs understand their place

in the business world today and learn new strategies to handle issues related to

security, correcting business and IT alignment issues, governance, XaaS, and

strategic initiatives. It will help new CIOs achieve success in their first 90 days and

lead IT transformation to help build the foundation of a winning organization.

First 90 days

We’ll give a step-by-step breakdown

of what new CIOs need to know for

their first 90 days and beyond.

Early wins

Securing early wins is critical to building

relationships and securing your role in the

organization. We’ll offer some suggestions

for key targets in the first days on the job.

Challenges

The first months of a CIO’s tenure are

often the most challenging. We’ll cover

some of the most common issues and

strategies for dealing with them.

CIO-to-CIO advice

Throughout the briefing, we’ll feature advice

from leading CIOs about how they overcame

challenges and helped meet business needs.

ThinkWGroup.com


CIO-to-CIO advice: Timeline for a new CIOThe first 90 days on the job for a new CIO set the precedent for your tenure. You

must gain a clear understanding of the state of the company and IT, meet and

build relationships with the team, and develop strategies to leverage resources

to drive business and deliver more efficient and secure IT service.

This timeline will provide you with an overview of best practices for this critical early stage.

Days 1 – 45The first days on any high level executive job

will inevitably be filled with countless meetings,

strategic consultations, and other measures to

help orient the new executive. By taking advantage

of this early period, and using it to build stronger

relationships with the team and craft your

directive for the future of IT in the company, you

can help ensure the success of your tenure.

ThinkWGroup.com


Communicate1

Key QuestionsWhat are the top security concerns

in the IT organization?

What are employee thoughts about company policies, such as BYOD?

What are the current structures of governance in IT? Are they thought to be effective?

Whose needs do they not address? What are different players’ optimal spending priorities?

• Communicate early and often.

• Start by talking with peers and IT staff to understand the landscape and begin building

connections.

• Meet and hash out early priorities with the board, CEO, COO, CFO, and other business leaders.

• Ask questions. Talk to employees, colleagues, and business leaders to learn how the business is

functioning, what needs to be done, and where the business is headed.

• Listen. The first month should be primarily focused on learning about the company and its people.

• Share your goals and communicate who you are.

• Communicate priorities in a 30-day outreach plan.

What has been outsourced to XaaS? What would be further outsourced?

What is the state of office relationships? Who is well liked? Who is respected?

Who are the underperformers?

Where is IT misaligned with overarching business goals?

ThinkWGroup.com


Evaluate talent2

Build relationships3

• Find out who is underperforming.

• Find out who has high potential and why.

• Create a strategy to nurture talent and replace underperforming individuals.

• Identify immediate concerns and challenges for business partners.

• Find quick fixes that can help form the foundation for mutually beneficial relationships.

• Talk to business leaders to gain a better understanding of the business’s strategic direction.

• Determine which department carries the most weight in the organization. This will help you

understand the company’s culture and where to focus your efforts.

• Identify those who will help you advance your priorities (and those who will get in your way).

ThinkWGroup.com


Assess and make goals4

• Conduct a full IT assessment and use it to develop a comprehensive strategy.

• Evaluate security in IT. What are the weak points?

• How is the organization using cloud technology?

• Identify areas where XaaS could provide benefits.

• Is IT aligned with business strategies?

• Establish clear KPIs for yourself and your team aligned with your priorities.

ThinkWGroup.com


Open communication is key at every stage.

Days 1 – 45After you are oriented and have a solid footing as CIO,

it’s time to start expanding on the foundation you have

laid and implement plans of a greater scope.

Communicate1

Assess2

• Keep channels of communication open.

• Continually reiterate your goals and strategies to business

leaders and employees

• Look for outside perspectives to gain greater insight into the

company’s state and future.

• Prioritize critical or at-risk areas for assessment.

• Rapidly engage sourcing to meet gaps.

• Set up VMO to help manage vendors and fill out the needs of the

organization.

• Conduct high-level assessments across all areas. Which areas

are assessed will depend on organization type, health, and

perceived maturity level.

ThinkWGroup.com


Act on talent evaluations3

• Identify talent acquisitions that need to be made and positions that need to be eliminated.

• Get the support of employees and leaders first.

• Take steps to begin restructuring the organization.

• Act quickly, respectfully, and decisively while restructuring.

• Promote the changes as a positive for the company and recognize the contributions of

effective employees.

• Continue to fix simple problems quickly and maintain your role as an effective leader.

ThinkWGroup.com


After day 90As you continue the work started in the first 90 days, it is critical that you keep paying

attention to how the business is changing and what impact your actions are having. Don’t

be afraid to pivot or readjust your plans to better fit the business needs of the organization.

Communicate1

Assess2

It’s important to continually assess your progress – to keep your actions in line with your initiatives.

• Maintain and nurture the relationships you have built.

• Continue to ask questions and learn about new opportunities.

• Look for problems or concerns that need to be addressed.

• Keep assessing your progress toward goals and the

effectiveness of your initiatives.

• Socialize your finding and solicit support from business

partners.

• Evaluate supplier performance and identify those that

are providing your organization the greatest value.

• Evaluate how your plan fits in with your risk-mitigation

strategies and its impact against the existing workload.

• Don’t be afraid to reevaluate goals and plans.

ThinkWGroup.com


Develop long-term goals3• Develop a remediation strategy and investment plan.

• Formulate a strategic link between internal technology and business strategy.

• Facilitate key business drivers of success.

• Compare all activities to predefined metrics to judge success and reevaluate as necessary.

ThinkWGroup.com


Start with short-term improvements that will have a positive, measurable impact on the business.

In your first months as CIO, it is critical to rack up early wins to solidify the respect of

your team and build relationships with colleagues. Don’t start by reengineering all back-

end systems and completely restructuring the workplace. Save more substantial projects

for when you have built relationships and formed a solid foundation. In the early days of

your tenure, you should be focused on the simple solutions that will provide real, quickly

attainable value for the company. These victories will help cement your place in the

organization and give you the foundation you need to implement long-term plans.

CIO-to-CIO advice: Early wins

Make a plan of attack• Start by making a list of short-term service improvements that will have a measurable

impact on the business.

• Identify critical IT policies and develop guidance for the business in key areas, including

data security, cloud, and vendor management.

• Look for low-hanging fruit first. Easy victories will build relationships quickly.

• Communicate with employees and business leaders to identify their problems.

• There was usually a reason why your predecessor was replaced. Look for the problems

they left behind.

ThinkWGroup.com


Get help

Build relationships

• Find a VP of infrastructure and operations. They can help you address day-to-day issues

and deal with noise distracting you from your strategic role.

• Finding effective talent can solve critical tactical problems, make operations run more

smoothly, and, above all, send the message that you are serious about delivering on the

promise of IT.

• Find executives in IT and other departments who can straddle the border between IT and other

business areas. They will be your ambassadors.

• Contacts in other departments can work with IT to deliver on service demand and provide early

wins for the CIO.

ThinkWGroup.com


As a new CIO, it is critical that you understand the

culture of the IT organization and how to effectively

influence change. In order to overcome difficulties

and carry out long-term strategies, you must establish

your own credibility and provide IT leadership that

impacts real, positive change in the organization.

CIO-to-CIO advice: Overcoming challenges

Observe

Assess

• The best leaders don’t change the entire organization

before they truly understand it.

• Be patient. Take time to observe first hand how the business operates.

• Gain a point of reference by which to discuss problems and strategies in a relevant way

and implement more effective solutions.

• Outdated and misaligned IT strategies can cause inefficiency and unhappiness in the

organization.

• Look for deficiencies in security, vendor management, and business alignment.

• Regularly assess the progress and success of projects to revise strategies and set a

better course for the organization.

ThinkWGroup.com


Improve service performance

Balance demands

Fill talent deficiencies

• Delivering secure, effective services is at the core of IT’s mission, but many CIOs face

underperforming infrastructure and suppliers.

• Review the service -delivery model and assess supplier constraints.

• Initiate a routine process of developing service-improvement plans tied to personal

objectives and SLAs.

• Maintaining the day-to-day operations of the business while meeting increasing demands

for new applications and services can be difficult.

• Use what you have learned from talking to people within the company to better

understand the business’s needs.

• Create an executive governance committee composed of IT and business leadership to

mutually prioritize these demands and ensure that efforts are being best allocated to meet

the needs created by shifts in business and peak periods.

• In your first months as CIO, you will find areas where your organization lacks the

necessary skills or leadership to maximize productivity, creativity, and efficiency.

• Establish key consultancy partnerships for guidance and to help fill temporary gaps in the

resource plan while seeking long-term talent.

ThinkWGroup.com


CIO-to-CIO advice: Five key tips for the new CIO

Listen1

Understand2

• Spend your first 45 days listening, paying close attention to the

organization’s state of operations.

• Truly strive to understand what the IT organization is saying and

what the business is saying.

• It is imperative to gain a firm grasp of the cultural dynamic at the

firm.

• What are the nuances?

• Where are the power bases?

• How are decisions being made, formally and informally?

• Try to understand issues from all sides.

• Gain insight into your employees’, colleagues’, and the executive suite’s perceptions of

what is and is not working.

• Are there easy things that can be fixed quickly that will make a significant difference?

ThinkWGroup.com


Learn3

Consider risk4

Make sure you are building your strategy in a way that is aligned with where the business is headed.

• Communicate with the executive group and find out how they want to see IT function from

a business standpoint.

• Determine if the business wants to be a real partner with IT. This allows you to shape the

direction of your organization and processes moving forward.

• Build your strategy in a way that is aligned with where the business is headed by

adhering to that message and direction.

• In a strategic partnership, the cost profile, talent profile, and operating models

are different. Organize in a way to limit conflict and maximize empowerment and

accountability.

• What risks are the technology organization creating?

• Understand these risks and how to mitigate or eliminate them.

• What investment options are open to you?

• How are these perceived and balanced with other competing aspects?

• Consider how risk is affecting decisions and potential consequences. Use this insight to

make more informed decisions.

ThinkWGroup.com


Changing structure and talent 5

• Don’t change the organization just because you are new.

• Look for ways to enhance functional, operational, and strategic engagement models.

• Organization structure should create clear lines of accountability for both technology and

business engagement.

• There should be constant transparency and process efficiency to meet operational

requirements, create empowered teams, and build collaborative partnerships.

• Fostering a positive technology culture enhances the culture of the broader business and

maximizes the strengths of the individual and teams.

ThinkWGroup.com


Being a great CIO is about listening, forming business connections,

and finding great talent. New CIOs must take on security concerns,

governance issues, the adoption of XaaS, and aligning business and IT

interests in order to drive business goals and achieve success.

Conclusion

Specific Challenges

Fixing inherited systems and services that are problematic for the business.

Updating outdated systems so that they can provide more complete

capabilities for the business.

Handling important projects that have fallen behind schedule

or have run over budget.

Restructuring the team to better meet your goals and fixing problems

with employees who have a history of performance issues.

The ability to handle these issues while

adhering to solid business strategies is

what separates a successful CIO from

one of the many who are replaced in their

first year. By taking the time to understand

these challenges and learn the strategies

that make a CIO successful, you can

help ensure that your efforts will drive

growth in the business and secure your

position as a vital part of the company.

ThinkWGroup.com

Drive Your Business

Founded in 2004, WGroup is a technology management consulting firm that provides Strategy,

Management and Execution Services to optimize business performance, minimize cost and create

value. Our consultants have years of experience both as industry executives and trusted advisors

to help clients think through complicated and pressing challenges to drive their business forward.

Visit us at www.thinkwgroup.com or give us a call at (610) 854-2700 to learn how we can help you.

150 N Radnor Chester Road Radnor, PA 19087

610-854-2700

ThinkWGroup.com

www.thinkwgroup.com

ThinkWGroup.com

advice for the new cio

Technology