Alignment of IT and Business

Discuss about the CIO Attributes in IT Industry for Information and Management.

Chief information officer (CIO) of an organization is defined as the top level executive of information technology. This position was emerged in 1980s and intended to reflect that CIO should be on the board of corporate managers (Chun, and Mooney, 2009). Being at the top most position they are responsible for every decision of information technology system of the organization. This responsibility requires some fundamental attributes to be considered for CIO of an organization. In this report different attributes of CIO roles in an organization are described briefly (Carter, Grover, and Thatcher, 2011). These roles and attributes being fundamental are essential to have by a CIO working in any organization. When it comes to the real life evidences, Craig Wishart CIO of KPMG, leading the Digital Services of the firm. This report explains the role and attributes of Craig as an example for the understanding of fundamental attributes of a CIO in any organization.

The idea to align business and IT is persistent and pervasive challenge to the CEOs of organization for more than 30 years. In many studies researchers have studied this alignment from various perspectives. Studies after analysing global survey responses of 1,659 IT executives have confirmed that this alignment of IT and Business is top management concern (Weill, and Woerner, 2013). Organization’s digital transformation relies on effective implementation of IT and CIO of the organization is the leader with such credibility to implements such digital initiatives (Gerow, Grover, and Thatcher, 2012). In this way CIO must concentrate on achieving the goals and objectives of the organization rather than that of the available technology. This states that CIO of an organization need not to be expert only in information technology but he or she must also be understood that how an effective implementation of IT can enhance the business. This requires them to collaborate and communicate effectively with non-IT executives as well.

Mr. Craig has joined KPMG as new chief information office by replacing Anthony Stevens. Craig leads Digital Services of the firm in the new role of chief digital officer created by the firm (KPMG, 2016). Craig has an experience of leading large scale business transformations, service operations, and implementation of cloud services. Before this he was appointed as CIO and CTO of UXC Limited where he has worked for ICT functions of the company. Prior to this he has worked at various IT executive positions in ANZ Bank, Telstra, Sensis, and Rio Tinto. Craig is also an advisory board member of CIO executive council of New Zealand/ Australia. This much experience is much beneficial to the organization as experience is most required for the understanding of roles of CIO in an organization (Connolly, 2016).

Craig Wishart as CIO of KPMG

CIO of an organization is the key person for all the IT initiative implementations that enhances the organization business. CIO must have some of basic attitudes towards the organization that are essential to make a good business for the organization. Some of these fundamental attributes are as

• Time management
• Flexibility
• Education of IT in business context
• Manage the IT budgets projects efficiently, Define, update and implement the IT strategy (Johnson, and Lederer, 2010).

Time is referred to a continuous and indefinite process of events that are irreversibly succeeding from past through the present and will finally lead to the future. Time is crucial to provide opportunities to human being so that they can think of their situation, status, environment, and make and create change to the existing system to make them more effective and efficient (Lawry, and Waddell, 2008). In quality measurement time management is an important component to measure timing of various events in order to compare intervals and duration to evaluate the change in quantities of time taken by the events in reality and in the conscious experience. Time management is the most important attribute a CIO should have. CIO implements and operates all the IT initiatives. This responsibility requires time punctuality as well as its effective management to make such initiatives effective and efficient. There are few tips to be followed by CIOs to make their time management much effective that are as following

• Planning is important
• Set objectives and assign them with a desired deadline
• Monitor the time they spent
• Prioritize things to do according their importance
• Eliminate distractions
• Don’t procrastinate

These tips shows that time management of a CIO must be effective and work oriented not personal duty oriented (Sayeed, and Gill, 2009). In this order Mr. Craig manages his time very well and always try to reduce the time taken for an individual event to be completed. For example, while working for Service Stream he has initiated a mobility strategy in order to reduce the work cycle times. Craig has also moved some of the core platforms of the company including field service management system of the company to the cloud so that workers could be mobile.

IT organizations being associated with the uncertainty and complexity accelerated by the continuous change in technology, IT alliances, increased outsourcing, and compressed product life cycles are difficult to manage. This industry has completely changed the business companies used to do before IT industry introduction. IT organization and their structure affect the sustainability of organizations, their competitive edge, and business growth as well. This requires a flexible attitude of the industry to modify its response to the market changes to sustain its objectives and goals set for tong time run (Luftman, and Ben-Zvi, 2011). Flexibility is must for a CIO to achieve the organization goals and objectives successfully. Craig Wishart has an extensive experience and a cross-industry exposure that shows that he is flexible with his work and duties that make his a desirable candidate to be appointed at the position of CIO (KPMG, 2016). Flexible attitude of Craig is the major element that made him successful in earning the experience of cross-industry exposure.

Fundamental Attributes of CIOs

CIOs have mush responsibilities or we can say they are the operators of the business in IT sector of an organization they must have a deep knowledge of IT in context of business. This educations importance in business context is essential as they are responsible for business growth of the organization so they have to show a significant growth in terms of business of their organization. Although IT knowledge is must for IT CIOs, being a CIO this educational knowledge of the IT field must be utilized in business context to enhance the organization’s business growth rate significantly Washburn, et al, 2009). Craig having a wide range industry experience is capable to show such kind of attitude towards the organization business. Also he has worked in cross-industries that make him understood of different business requirements. This diverse industry knowledge differentiates him and makes a successful CIO to implement IT initiatives effectively to make a good business for the organization.

Implementation and management of strategies and budget is the most important challenge of a CIO as he is the only responsible person for such implementations (Porter, and Siggelkow, 2008). Today globalising business has made CIOs to reach at a certain level where they can manage and modify their departmental budget according the needs to make the organization business grow significantly and take a competitive advantage in the market. Such attributes are required essentially to manage the financial situation of the organization and help the organization to reduce its cost of work without affecting the business growth of the organization. Craig’s experience in different industries makes him well understood about budget management and strategy implementations for the organization (Peppard, Edwards, and Lambert, 2011). Joining KPMG as a CIO would be beneficial for the company to utilise this much experience Craig have about budget management and strategy implementation. Strategy implementation requires a definite procedure of defining and preparing the strategy for the business growth of the organization. This whole process of strategy planning and implementation is essential for a CIO of any organization.

Conclusion

Above analysis of different attributes or attitude of CIOs towards the organization and their work it is concluded that CIOs must have some essential fundamental attitude towards their work. These fundamental attributes are beneficial for them as well as their organization to achieve its goals and objectives. This analysis concludes that time management and strategy and budget management are the most essential attributes a CIO should have. These attributes are the differentiating factors among different CIOs working in different industries. This discussion also explains that Craig Wishat, newly appointed CIO of KPMG Australia has all these attributes and is most suitable for the position. Craig got so much success in his career is all because of his understanding of such fundamental attitudes he has towards his roles and duties for the organization he worked for. This conclusion supports the importance of such attitude of people to be on the top most position of the IT department of an organization.

References

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Chun, M. and Mooney, J., 2009. CIO roles and responsibilities: Twenty-five years of evolution and change. Information & management, 46(6), pp.323-334.

Connolly, B., 2016. Craig Wishart new KPMG CIO. Retrieved from https://www.cio.com.au/article/603656/craig-wishart-new-kpmg-cio/  Accessed on 13th June 2018.

Gerow, J., Grover, V. and Thatcher, J., 2012. Power and Politics: Do CIOs Have What It Takes to Influence the Executive Team’s Commitment to IT Initiatives?.

Johnson, A.M. and Lederer, A.L., 2010. CEO/CIO mutual understanding, strategic alignment, and the contribution of IS to the organization. Information & Management, 47(3), pp.138-149.

KPMG. 2016. KPMG appoints Craig Wishart as Australian CIO. Available at https://home.kpmg.com/au/en/home/media/press-releases/2016/07/kpmg-australia-appoints-craig-wishart-cio.html Accessed on 13th June 2018.

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Porter, M. and Siggelkow, N., 2008. Contextuality within activity systems and sustainability of competitive advantage. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 22(2), pp.34-56.

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