I&O Leaders: Sync Your Plans With CIO Priorities

CIOs expect the head of I&O to execute their mission-critical priorities and modernization strategies. Besides shouldering pressure from the CIO to deliver measurable value, I&O leaders balance a wide range of responsibilities. They must contend with operational breakdowns, technical debt, enabling innovation and new ideas while aligning with objectives that are complex, urgent and business-critical. 

Although I&O leaders rely on a strong partnership with the CIO, this relationship often lacks clarity regarding strategy ownership, leading to confusion about priorities and approaches. I&O leaders must build strong connections with their CIOs and gain clarity about strategic ownership to avoid misalignment.

I&O leaders who focus on building a future-fit infrastructure organization, enabling digital transformation and optimizing the cloud environment will remain in step with CIO priorities.

This I&O initiative aligns with the following CIO priority:

• Track and respond to emerging technologies: Evaluate and strategically deploy emerging technologies based on their potential business benefit.

I&O must be as nimble and flexible as the infrastructure it enables. This requires an operating model that understands evolving stakeholder constituencies and needs, improves personnel capability and fulfills higher demand expectations.

I&O leaders must assess and revise I&O organizational structures, culture and practices to enable all stakeholders to access the infrastructure and IT operations they need to enable business success:

• Understand and articulate shortcomings in the current organizational structure and how it hampers I&O in meeting business needs. Use a tool to ensure the prerequisites for restructuring are met.

• Evaluate and design a new organizational structure rooted in business goals and objectives.

• Align leaders, employees and external partners on the new organization structure and its implications.

• Implement the new design and monitor progress.

This initiative aligns with the following CIO priority:

• Exploit digital business opportunities: Engage stakeholders to develop products and experiences that improve engagement, revenue, value streams and organizational capabilities.

I&O leaders are responsible for the platforms and services that enable digital business. When those systems are efficient and effective, they provide a compelling digital employee experience. Meanwhile, the enterprise is free to explore the opportunities afforded by digital transformation.

I&O leaders should streamline service management practices, enable a compelling digital employee experience and improve the value the enterprise receives from infrastructure platforms and services:

• Release deployments and shift I&O resources rapidly to meet new demand.

• Instead of just maintaining effective infrastructure service, address the demands of a hybrid workplace by delivering a seamless experience and reducing digital friction.

• Help digital product teams become more agile and digitally savvy in skill areas that support digital initiatives.

This initiative aligns with the following CIO priority:

• Build and optimize infrastructure and cloud platforms: Drive secure, cost-effective infrastructure solutions and cloud platforms that align with key organizational principles. 

Cloud environments require different I&O capabilities and skills than are required for traditional on-premises management. Enterprises that assemble the right mix of cloud services to meet business needs while minimizing waste and complexity have a competitive advantage.

I&O leaders must create strategies for cloud, edge and on-premises infrastructure and maximize the value to the enterprise from cloud service investment. 

• Assess the current infrastructure before implementing your strategy. Determine how satisfied users are with your services, the lead times to obtain them and the resilience of those services.

• Use best practices to enhance your engineering and operational profile. Balance the agility and speed your users need with the safety and soundness of your services portfolio.

• Develop a transitional strategy after establishing your aspirations. This should target the end state and identify factors that inhibit or enable you to reach that state.