Can CIOs be more successful if
they market themselves well?
I ask this straightforward question without any intention of being provocative. The comment doesn't have any scope for reading between the lines (and suggest you to not do so) but surely challenges the current disposition. It also challenges the tall claim made by most CIOs that 'IT is core' to an organization.
You may compel yourself to disagree with me but truth is that unlike other 'strategic (critical) functions' like marketing, sales and finance, IT is still known as a 'back office function' that creates an infrastructure to enable working. Unlike the functions mentioned above, technology lacks the 'deserving respect' (which, to me, should be more than others) and therefore lacks attention in any organization. In a nutshell, IT is a 'for granted' function servicing the organization with a lot of strategic edge but without much credit.
A closer/deeper look compels me to be hypothetical that 'CIOs can steal the limelight (and deservingly so) if they market themselves well' to both internal and external environments?
Before you read further, remember 'marketing' doesn't always mean selling a product (superior or inferior) but is also about creating awareness and recall.
Here's a five-point recipe to be under the spotlight:
1. Push IT Up in the Hierarchy: Technology, to most organizations, is just about tech support. Work towards breaking this myth and bring people out of this false perception. Tell them that today even basic IT is the life-blood of the business. It is your job to profess that an organization consists of many critical functions and IT is the most strategic one. Any arm e.g. marketing, sales, manufacturing, supply chain, finance, HR etc. can only function if they have support of information assets and data. They come from IT.
2. CIO should be Part of Corporate Communications: As a media professional for well over 15 years, I seldom came across a request from the corporate communications or public relations pros to have a meeting/interaction with a CIO or equivalent. Even in cases of tech-focused discussions, it is mostly a CEO or marketing or sales functionary who is proposed as a company spokesperson. Why is it not a CIO? Simply because CIO is never part of the communications strategy of an organization. Ideally, you must be. This will bring you in the media glare and will give you an opportunity to market IT well by speaking about the accomplishments. Of course, well beyond a few awards which get little or no notice of your work.
3. Position Innovative IT as Premium: As a CIO you need to constantly market the fact that generic stuff may be a given but premium stuff comes only when IT innovates and therefore it should get its due.
Business Dashboards are a classic case. Today a CIO and his team make all out efforts to create a single dashboard, which gives a comprehensive snapshot of business to key executives. It requires brains to create one. They portray the real value of IT in an organization. Your CEO or COO may demand business dashboards as their prerogative but you must market it like a premium product.
4. Stop Being Reactive: When was the last time that you, as a CIO or as an IT organization, reached out to your peers proactively? When? There could be exceptions but mostly IT reacts to the demands. A CIO must bring marketing discipline to the IT organization. It is not about selling. It is about understanding what the consumers of the IT want and need. How can you optimize scarce resources towards meeting those needs in the best possible time? How can you provide the 'winning-edge' to the other arms of your organization by innovation in technology? That's what will make you an asset - a function in demand.
5. Be Seen in the Right Company at the Right Place: One message for all the 'aloof' CIOs - get out more, and get at the right places! Successful CIOs or those who have hunger for success need to spend majority of their time with key executive colleagues, leaders of service partners, customers and industry competitors and collaborators. This will not only help you market and position IT in the right place but also help you do advocacy with right stakeholders. For this, you may require to be a strong leader and effective communicator in all situations (formal and informal). You should be seen as an engaging personality - a real 'people's person. Staying aloof, understated and unconnected is not a formula for success!
“Marketing” is an oft-misused word Rahul. Do you rather mean “promote”?
I see CIOs who are by no means shy of promoting the interests of IT and other related matters within their spheres of influence, and I see them all the time.
Does every CIO do a good job in this regard? No. But many, many do.
Who thinks that there needs to be a more proactive stance in the CIO community?
I agree with you Rahul. Let me not offer any excuses for IT not being one of the core function of organizations. One cannot but agree that a CIO can work to enhance the position of IT in any organization. I had been trying to do so and succeeded in many cases. However, it is easier said than done.
There is a bit of history here. When the industry transformed from EDP to IT, it was assumed that the EDP manager would take over as the CIO. That legacy continued. I can draw a parallel here - if you recall when Personnel Department transformed into Human Resource Dept,Personnel Managers took over the role of HR managers and have made a mess of that function in many an organization.
CIOs today need to be trained in the science of management and should be multi-skilled. IT is changing and CIOs would find themselves in soup in times to come.
Rahul,
I have my own views on this topic. See, the finance, Marketing/Sales,Production and HR (Personnel) are integral part of any business since ancient time and are deep in the mind of the whole chain of the business. If I say it correctly and factually, IT is in lime light as part of the business only for past 40 years and evolved gradually ( of course very fast in past ten years).
This is a clear case of huge change management in whole business chain starting from owner to labor and procure to sale.And this huge change can never be achieved by CIO alone. There is greater need of changing the whole education system to create sense of equal importance of IT as integral part of business and system at par with other major four. Thanks.
If so many IT directors weren’t such imbeciles and actually deserved their positions, I’d endorse the article and its directives completely.
But the fear in the Middle East is that most IT directors/managers got their jobs because they were good at configuring the boss’s email or installed his phone or backed it up for him, not real IT director/manager caliber! And its those type of IT directors/managers who spend all their time promoting themselves and their departments, and get nothing done.
Hi Rahul. Thanks for sharing another good post, which explores CIOs’ MARCOM potential. The intention is to inspire CIOs to market their business brand with real customers; communicate well about IT value with business partners, enhance IT’s reputation as innovation hub and a driver for business growth.
Today’s CIO and IT need master MARCOM, that is deeper and broader beyond just MARCOM. CIOs also need to overview the enterprise architecture via cloud and dig into “wired” functions and IT infrastructure with down to the earth attitude. Thanks.
My view is that the CIO must have the ability to present himself to his closed circles, then create. Marketing can help “let your peers talk of the good work you are doing. How they are benefited.”
Good CIOs promote their IT teams, systems and what they do to benefit the business. But bad, just promote themselves. Worst, do neither.
Many problems between IT and business side arise due to lack of promotion or you can say lack of marketing of the IT side towards the business side.
The worst is when business side sees the IT just as a cost center with no benefits for them.
I’ve worked on both sides of the coin. I think, since it is quite difficult for business people to understand what IT can do, it is really up to the CIO to TRULY understand what the business needs are, which often time they had difficulty doing.
I fully agree Rahul that we are not yet masters in reaching out to the internal world. But thats been our genesis, our make up ever since we came into this profession. I agree with Bala as well on why this happened the way it did. Tell me, would hiring a guy from the ad world probably non IT but with knowledge of handling IT management (non technical) help ? Would he do wonders ? We should look for such guys around and check if they have turned it around the way you state ? If not, then it must be the DNA of IT. Some of teh respondents above said that they have done this before. Yeah, Intranet news, poster campaigns, many meetings, awareness campaigns are these promo activities. I doubt, since I have failed everytime I did these. These are just one off effect. Visibility and all round organisational respect comes from deeper rooted cause. Maybe proximity to the CEO , man who matters. Power centres like finance or sales, sometimes legal, corporate affairs etc. There are moments of glory for each. I rememebr when Pepsi Coke were going through troubled times with pesticides, the corp affairs and CEO were prime people, important and most sought after. They didnt do anything to promote themselves at all , automatic. But short lived. Some support functions have the habit of pulling the plug everytime and hoping that this will keep them on top of mind. It works sometimes and times it does not. So I personally dont think if as a CIO we have it in our gene to be efervescent we will succeed to make our function visible , else not. It is a mental make up our stance more than our job that makes it visible. Imagine some CEOs are doing great stuff, better than most, earn much more than most CEOs but are they visible ? Rahul Dhir of Cairn for example and many more. Does it matter to such CEOs ? I think it doesnt. So the more we worry about our visibility, more we sink. My two cents worth view.