The Role of CIO in Effective Information Technology Strategic Planning through Corporate Governance - Literature review Example

Role of CIO in Strategic Planning Affiliation The Role of the CIO in Effective Information Technology Strategic Planning through Corporate Governance Introduction The paper will critically examine the role played by the CIO of ensuring an organization has an effective IT strategic planning that is based on the confines of corporate governance. The paper will include brief comparisons of the earlier governance models with the 21st-century management models used by the CIOs. The comparison of the governance model will also seek to define the impact created on the role of CIO. The paper will also attempt to explain how the different frameworks and models can be applied by CIOs in the organization to achieve success in business alignment and strategic planning. The paper will also explore the two game changing facets of corporate governance and strategic planning that did not exist earlier. The aspects examined are cloud computing and social media. The paper will seek to explain how the two elements can fit into the CIOs strategic plan. Role of Chief Information Officer Corporate governance may be developed and executed differently than IT governance, and these means that separate efforts must be applied. For the best practices of CIO, their role as strategic planners and corporate governors must be orchestrated as a concerted effort so that they can help in the fostering and accomplishment of the strategic objectives of the corporation. For the CIO efforts to work, they must merge strong corporate governance with strong IT governance (Scott & Jackal, 2011). However, technological evolution is reshaping the way organizations align their business and IT, and this has compelled IT to become the business oriented. Technological evolution is forcing CIOs to be more aggressive and forward thinking in their role as strategic planners. The favorable practices of CIO echo the common theme that aligns proper IT strategic planning to sustainability through innovation and mission of the organization that is profitability and growth. The paradigm shifts taking place in IT have had a prolific impact on both corporate structures and the role of CIO. New technologies in the business world such as social media and cloud computing are having a huge impact on various business functions such as infrastructure, finance, management, and marketing. The new technologies are compelling CIOs to strategize effectively on how to utilize knowledge, resources, and the ever changing trends that are in information technology. The impact of new technologies on various business functions at times begs the question as to whether there exists any one size framework or model that can be used by CIO’s to achieve success in business alignments and strategic planning (Scott & Jackal, 2011). The role of CIO as technological acrobat The CIO is governed by different themes that drive his or her focus for strategic planning. Technological changes take place rapidly, and for the CIOs to be effective, they must ensure that they are flexible and agile to the changes affecting both the technological and operational structure of the corporations. CIO has had different mandates since the days they simply managed several software applications, equipment maintenance issues and help desk operations. All these tasks are finally over, and CIOs must now be prepared for the tougher responsibility. For a CIO to be a technological acrobat in the crafting and implementation of IT strategies that are likely to help in governing the outcomes of the corporations growth, sustainability, and profitability, they must not forget about innovation. CIOs face the challenge of convincing senior management to make contemporary changes to the policies, processes and organizations structure so that their innovations are effectively supported (Nevins, 2008). Andriole (2012) argues that there is a need for organizations to rethink about governance and authority. He also recommends that organizations embrace the growing trend of distribution and decentralization of computing power. In the past, the role of governing technology was a top-down approach that in many cases was fostered by a hierarchal drive for centralization and standardization. As a result, there was very little room left for flexibility. However today, these methodologies are no longer effective in managing an organization or infrastructure that is bestowed with so many technology trends. Andriole (2012) cites that it is important for organizations to be governed in a manner that will ensure that actions of each employee do not in any way compromise the integrity of organization infrastructure. CIOs need to be directly involved in helping employees and other organization staff understand technology and most importantly understand the technology that is helpful to the organization. Schneckenberg (2009) argues that there is a need for organizations to cultivate a culture that will give freedom to organization employees to innovate. However, the culture must limit them to innovate within the guidelines of the organizations. The role of CIO as a technological Acrobat is to set the tone for a safe, disciplined and secure environment. As the technological industry provisions demand more flexibility from organizations, the CIOs must ensure that they not only protect their infrastructure but also ensure that they cultivate an atmosphere of sustainability, growth, and innovation. They must also ensure that shareholders of the organization get a return on their investment. The role of CIO as a Business Strategist and Leader The CIOs must be willing to figure out different strategies and key objectives that will guarantee organization growth. They should be able to align these strategies and objectives to the organization. The CIOs must be dynamic in their approach to planning and implementing technology as it changes. A CIO is not strategic if they rigid and only stick to a particular business model. There is a need for CIOs to have a static framework that will help them in planning for technology. For a CIO to be more effective in strategic planning than his business counterparts; there is a need for them to validate IT objectives and develop tools that will be agile to the business. According to MacKay, (2004) developing a strategic direction is vital, and thus a CIO must ensure that they develop and implement a framework that will form the basis of change. MacKay (2004) provides a four box strategy planning model that can used to apply different approaches to strategic planning. The approaches are based on predictable environments, stable goals and complex environments that are endowed with conflicting goals and are unstable. It is the responsibility of the CIO to figure out a model that is more flexible and makes sense to the organization. Luftman (2007) argues that organizations need to be aligned to a maturity model that underscores the need for IT-business alignment. As a result, it will help the IT business platform mature along with the growth of the organization. According to Luftman model, the lack of maturity in organizations in various criterions such as governance, communications, partnerships, value, and skills limits the overall growth of an organization. Luftman identifies several roles that a CIO must undertake for them to mitigate these limitations. The CIO should conjoin several IT initiatives in the organization with the overall business strategy so that they can locate areas in the organization where ideas can originate (Rahman & Lackey, 2013). Conjoining IT initiatives with existing business strategy will help identify the approval flow of ideas and help evaluate the influence of leaders. It will also help make a case of how CIO’s can produce better outcomes from the organization’s business model (Costello, 2010). A CIO is a ‘PR bullhorn for any strategic plan, and he must, therefore, draw a balance between different autonomies and synergies and incorporate them into the strategic business plan. Broadbent (2004) argues that the role of the CIO is to develop skills, set formal processes and align IT with the key business objectives. Apart from internal transformation, the CIO must ensure that products, customers, processes, and services are constantly evolving with technology trends and business objectives of the organization. Broadbent (2004) argues that corporate maturation is a developing strategy and should be regarded as a continuous journey. He further states that the fundamental basis for any successful strategy planning should be a concerted effort between business leadership and technology. There is a need for CIOs to dedicate significant time and effort to the short-term and long-term goals for technology and information. CIOs have the responsibility of maintaining a close relationship with their fellow business counterparts. It will enable them gain a concrete understanding of the various business needs. It will also allow them to leverage opportunities for change, and this will help them meet the needs of the organization. CIOs should be an integral member of the organization board (Bieberstein, 2006). Moreover, there is a need for direct communication between the CIO and the CEO. Matters that need direct communication between the two should be mainly concerned with the progress of the employees internally and the external trends in technology that impact the organization’s day to day operations. When CIOs are integrated as members of the board, they will help bring in a strategic view of technology that relates to the specific value chain areas of accounting, governance, corporate strategy and finance. Moore (2009) argues that it is the role of CIOs to be visionary. By being visionary, the CIOs can recognize when certain technological trend are unconventional to the corporate infrastructure, and it would dangerous to ignore them because of uncertainty. Cloud computing and social media trends have an enormous impact on the corporate governance, and these trends are now inevitable despite all the skepticism in organizations. Hugos (2011) argues that history depicts that resistance to change especially in technology results to demise in an organization. CIOs need to ensure therefore that they conduct an examination of IT strategic planning in the organization to identify specific technologies that are ambiguous in service delivery to the public. CIOs are increasing implementing people’s demands of them to be more strategic and add value to organizations through the adopting social networking and mobile technology. There are also demands from the public that CIOs make a good analysis of customers and market shifts for them to lead in innovation (Peterson, 2008). The CIO can aid in the scouting good technologies by applying technology to the existing processes with the aim of improving them. CIOs can become more strategic and add value if they help develop and execute an innovation process. The innovations are likely to be assessed, discovered and converted into profits if the CIOs participate in the creation and management of the technologies’ innovation process. CIOs can also contribute to putting together and implementing technology that the enterprise executes during the innovation process (Scott & Jackal, 2011). It is also important for CIOs to seek experience in implementing enterprise processes such as supply chain management and resource planning. An experience in business process reengineering can help CIOs think beyond technology implementation and through the business processes. The CIOs should use their organizational experience to design and implement process enabling systems that they can take on the innovation process (Luftman, 2007). Adding functional boundaries and competencies to the deployment of technologies is the only expertise that can help digitalize and rationalize business processes. The deployment of technology can help weave processes so that they are effective as a whole. As one of the members of the management team, the CIO should stick to a strategic business role although they may be engulfed with a technology role. There are very few organizations that consider innovation to be an end process. CIOs should be aware that the innovation process requires enterprise transformation, and a decentralized business process is crucial (Smaczny, 2011). The innovation process is not a line, and it’s rather a trial and error cycle. CIOs need to make thoughtful adjustments to their past experiences so that they can accommodate the differences taking place in the innovation process. CIOs need to put in place a management structure that does its best in the innovation process. It is the CIOs responsibility to implement tools that will enable improved information processes and flows. CIOs must consider their IT functions are meant to support the innovation life cycle. When CIOs bootstrap the innovation approach within IT and implement essential idea management to identification tools, then they are assured of gaining valuable experience and insight from the innovation process to the business. CIOs can use IT as a consultant to other business units, and this will help them develop an end to end innovation process (Swamy, 2010). One of the biggest security concerns in corporate governance and strategic planning is social media. It is a security concern because it exists both inside and outside of the corporate organization firewalls. CIOs should, therefore, be aware that social media threatens the fundamentals of corporate governance, strategic planning, and corporate infrastructure. The CIO has a daunting task of convincing business executives that the organization should avoid integrating new technologies such as social media into the organizations strategic plan. Most of the technologies pose a massive threat to sustainability and growth of the organization (Smaczny, 2011). The fundamental risk posed to organizations is not having a strategic plan. CIOs should ensure that they use social media and other strategies as a way of empowering their organizations to solidify and protect its positive reputation in the market. The strategies that CIOs formulate should be directly aligned with the business objectives, use appropriate media channels and identify the target audience. There should also be a set time commitment either in the longtime or short-term when these strategies should be achieved. CIOs should ensure that strategic objectives are properly planned for, and evolution of technology within the organization is properly staffed and funded. It is also the role of the CIO to deploy a social media strategy that is counterproductive and will compound more work to the organization’s mission (Jackal and Scott, 2011). The other role of CIO in corporate governance and strategic planning is put controls on cloud computing. According to Chia (2011), many of the CIOs view cloud computing as the gateway to successful corporate governance. About 60% of an organizations business strategy and innovation is attributed to cloud computing. However, cloud computing presents several challenges and exposes organizations to greater security risks. Although cloud computing offers organizations with unlimited cloud computing resources, without long-term commitment, there is a need to evaluate it before using to determine its cost-effectiveness. Conclusion Todays business climate is a clear indication that there exists a disconnection between business and technology executives. There is a misunderstanding in IT on business rules of thought that IT is there to save money, and if it cannot save, then there is no need of investing in it or having it in the organization. The corporate strategic plan cannot be successful if there is no aligned strategic plan to complement it. It is, therefore, the role of the CIO to ensure that the said strategic plan is agile and rigid, complex and simple and dynamic according to the business support infrastructure (Stephens, 2011). The CIO should be an information technology specialist who understands more about the grand scheme of the business and has the capability of weaving a plan that interconnects all the grand schemes. The CIO should also have strategic IT plan provisions that will be used to cultivate internal talents of the organization employees, leverage technology trends and establish guidelines that coincide with corporate governance. References Andriole, S. J. (2012). 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