The Many Ways That CIOs Can Show Business Value
The role of the CIO is currently in a difficult position; without being able to prove that a CIO deserves to keep his job, the chances of keeping that job declines immensely. There is no question that a great CIO will always be needed in big companies, but they always have to show business value as part of their jobs.
The easiest way to prove to a company that having a Chief Infotech Officer is important is to establish a link between the IT system’s performance, and profits. This can be anything from the efficiency of contacting customers about the latest sales using a database service, to updated security measures that help customers feel like their money is safe with your company.
Involving your CEO’s, as well as other major staff members in information technology-related decision making is a great way to prove your business value to the company. Showing CEO’s testimonials from other businesses who bought similar upgrades could make a huge difference in how much business value is demonstrated. Talking about ideas on how to fuse information technology with sales, customer relations, and every other aspect of the business will prove to CEO’s that a great CIO can (and will) add business value to every aspect of the business.
Of course, there is qualitative evidence, and then there is quantitative evidence. Both are necessary to show the business value of great IT. Performance metrics, or quantified measurements of an employee’s performance, can also aid in adding business value to a CIO. After all, if you had an employee who proved that after establishing a new server, product purchases increased 20%, you’d want to keep that employee. Showing charts that explain the increase of efficiency that a department would experience after a good revamping done by a CIO also will create business value. A good example of this is, “Our computers are now running 15% faster after we upgraded to the latest version of Oracle.”
Smart CIO’s will also illustrate their business value by putting together annual or monthly reports which say in detail the results of the latest IT investments. Explaining why every update was done, what processes were redone, and the overall effect of these changes can make the difference between a company that keeps a CIO and a company that fires the CIO. Few people will realize how much effort keeping a good IT system takes to keep, and showing the business value of keeping a CIO on staff will be a cinch once they see the full effects of all these small changes in a cumulative way.
CIO’s that are in high-demand will also establish formal ways to quantify progress on their IT projects. A good way to add to this methodology is to compare your company’s IT abilities to the work of other CIO’s in similar companies. Explaining what you can do to gain a new competitive edge is one of the most important ways a CIO can demonstrate business value to a CEO. Besides, CEO’s are always interested in learning how to get an edge in the business, and if a CIO has a way on how to be better than the next, CEO’s will listen.
The CIO who will go above and beyond his job title, and his area of expertise, in order to contribute to the success of the company will always be hired. Excellent CIO’s are the ones who volunteer to help in IT newsletters, fixing printers, and even programming new apps will be in high demand in any field. As long as CIO’s show their ability to help in all walks of life, they will always be a much-needed employee, no matter how bad the economy gets.
If you need guidance in your IT Staffing needs, CNG Technologies understands how to contact the people with the right skill-set and personality for your company. C&G Technologies I.T. Staffing can be contacted at (949) 681-8167.