How much business value is added by your IT division?

You are the consumer of IT services in your organization. How do you ensure you get the maximum business value from them? Of course, it is second nature to think of IT adding lot of value. But, how do you see it? It is likely that you get a set of huge reports from the CIO showing metrics and other related things, most of them almost always green. Have you taken time to sit down with them and ask them to explain why there are important metrics and how they relate to you?

There are the three broad dimensions in terms of adding business value:

• Speed of delivery
• Quality of delivery
• Customer experience (# options, # value added services, Ease of operating a channel, Omni-channel, service offerings etc.)

If your IT is to become a value-added partner to business, it should:

• Assure the business that security is not compromised, the applicable regulatory changes are adhered to and ensure there is a plan B always in terms of disaster recovery. This is the bottom-most layer and a sine qua non today.
• Promote innovation and be a true partner to business.

 It is the latter that we are discussing in this article. Here are some pointers to get around this:

Pointer #1: If you don’t question and understand your IT’s output,

your customer will do so in no time consequently leading to more costs. Do not accept metrics or any report from IT without a sitting. Good metrics, however good they are, do not tell much about business. High uptime of an ATM is good. Imagine the loss of ATM for a minute on an important occasion like boxing day. If your IT team is able to resolve all the issues within the agreed time (SLA – Service Level Agreement), very good. By themselves, all these metrics may not mean much. Do not be afraid to dig deeper and learn further. At the end, you as well as the IT must be convinced there is merit behind the metrics. Usually, the clue is to have a few meaningful metrics that can be directly or indirectly correlated to your or business KPIs.

Pointer #2: Whenever you have a meeting with IT, are you getting inundated with technical mumbo-jumbo too often? Perhaps, there is a problem. It is not uncommon today for everyone to exhibit how “digitally aligned” they are. This is ok to start with. If someone, from IT, including a thorough-bred architect cannot explain in plain English whatever proposals they are acting on and their corresponding business benefits, chances are that they require more meetings to unravel the mystery.

Pointer #3: Before you can question the IT, have you spent time with them articulating your business goals and priorities? Have you taken them into confidence? Do they know your KPPs? Do they know the direction you are planning to take? Do they understand where you are trying to invest? Share with them transparently. Make them understand what you are doing. If you change your priorities, let them know.

Pointer #4: Leave the management of the IT to the CIOs and do not get into too much nitty-gritties. Giving them the required freedom is essential. At the same time, do not allow yourself to be outmanoeuvred by the CIO that the IT reports are bound to be voluminous as the IT is outsourced to many vendors. The last thing, you want to be afraid of is the fact that there are n vendors supporting your IT portfolio. Whether your IT is insourced or outsourced doesn’t eliminate the need for your IT to present a single view to you. Demand from them.

Pointer #5: We should use IT and technology to see how they can add value to the business process. IT can be a great enabler to open new channels. They can help you to cut costs. If you happen to call them only when you have a break-down or an irate customer, perhaps you are not making use of IT to the full extent. Remember, in today’s world, more strategies are designed keeping IT in mind. The more they participate and the more freedom they have, the better they can come up with alternatives. But agree with them upfront on the “definition of success” for each important business initiative.

How can a CEO redisover his/her role and reposition?

Whatever it is, a CEO represents the highest ranking official executive of an organization. There are some things that have not changed over time when it comes to their responsibilities. They are:

• Stand up and own things w.r.to their organizations
• Lead, direct and execute at a high level
• Set up the vision and spell out the core principles
• Understand the market, company’s position and competitors.

In today’s context of a well-established start-up eco-system, companies spring up freely. On the shoulders of the young CEOs, are stacked heaps of responsibilities. These, coupled with expectations from shareholders and market, can pull the CEOs in multiple directions and push them into an abyss. Digital ways and abundance of technology are to be accorded respect and negotiated.

What are the areas to watch out for the CEOs?

• Do not deviate from the core principles. An organization has something in its DNA. The DNA can be adapted but not completely mutated. Stick to the DNA. It is the CEO’s responsibility to fit the pieces of vision, mission, direction value, core principles, strategy etc. Your speech and actions must communicate this unswerving faith in your DNA. JPMorgan Chase stands by “Exceptional Client Service and Operational Excellence.”

• You can be successful both ways i.e. you can choose to be the public face of the company or stay behind the scenes. It is not necessary for every CEO to be like Mark Zuckerberg! Many CEOs have quietly gone about their work in the background shunning publicity.

• Markets and the investors can be unforgiving. They are quick to pounce on you and pass judgement. It is said that many CEOs live quarter to quarter! This is where your vision, your demands from the key shareholders and board and your bringing together the elements can help you navigate smoothly. Guidances and interaction with public should be managed effectively.

• Focus on learning, skilling, reskilling and development continuously. Fall in love with your employees first. The erstwhile CEO of HCL Technologies Mr Vineet Nayar practised this and shared his experiment in a book titled “Employees First and Customer Second.” Many companies like GM, Dunkin’ Donuts promoted their HR leaders into CEO positions. This is generally unheard of where it is commonplace to think of CEOs from marketing or finance. Spending time on building a dream team is the most daunting task of a CEO. One of Udemy’s (a MOOC provider) advertisements says that 42% of employees consider learning and development as a key factor before taking up a job.

• Quit acting like a COO. Many CEOs find pleasure staying in their cabins throughout the day, conducting internal reviews, pouring over the operation records with a magnifying glass and coming out with possible cost cutting measures. Does this sound familiar? If a CEO’s time goes more into the above activities, the organization has a massive problem. A CEO, who doesn’t revel in building business networks with its key customers, vendors and suppliers, will not add much value. The CEO cannot succeed in all but one who doesn’t even try stands little chance of chartering his organization. Many sales teams, out of compulsion, take their CEOs to a meeting that is moving towards closure. Some do out of compulsion knowing very well that there is no incremental value coming out from the CEOs. Some others do not hesitate to reach out to their CEOs and use their time wisely in specific areas! A CEO can lose a deal but not the value arising out of the associated network!

• When you move from an entrepreneur of a start-up to a CEO as your company grows in size, remember to reposition. This involves giving up certain responsibilities and learning to take additional things. For example, you can no longer be involved in all decisions of the organization like painting on the wall to hiring every employee. You may no longer remember every one’s name. Don’t be surprised if you get a LinkedIn request from a seemingly unknown person who happens to work in your company. Similarly, you may not be the one involved in meeting all your clients. Learn to give up in order to grow. Think of the movie “The Intern” starring Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro.

• Finally, the CEO should aspire to be the CMO (Chief Motivational Officer)! 

Here is one metric that can be applied to the CEOs from whom you want to learn a few things. Every CEO may be part of many conferences and meetings. Take the WEF (World Economic Forum) for example. It is not uncommon for many unheard of CEOs buying space there and setting up a stall. Instead, find out how many leading universities have invited the CEO to deliver their valedictory or convocation address. There is something in that! Standing up before graduates and having the guts to share some life lessons means something. And the icing on the cake is that such invitations cannot be bought easily. Leave it to the universities to do the due diligence and you enjoy learning from their choice!