The main goal of IT is the own IT!

Leave the comfort zone and get into a set of new technologies, new practices and new organizational models because, of course, adverse reactions that must be overcome

“If we walk only in ways already outlined, we arrive just where the others arrived.” The phrase, attributed to Alexander Bell, has much to do with the current state of digital transformation and the role of the CIO.

The digital transformation is profoundly changing the strategic context, changing the structure of competition, conducting business and eliminating the border between industry sectors. Low entry barriers and allows new entrants appear very quickly, threatening the natural order of things.

The nature “plug and play” (like Lego blocks) digital assets creates new value chains that disaggregate the established chains, forging new competitors. An example of “plug and play” is Amazon that offers logistics services, online shops and computer resources (cloud). To use, simply plug these services in their own value chain.

In this scenario, it is inevitable that the IT department is moving toward a new world, where, with a few exceptions, no more data centers, desktop support, email platforms and other things that are customarily held today in of companies. When? Hard to say, but the truth is that walking pace is accelerating.

What companies and IT departments do? The option to wait to see it may be too slow and the company and / or the IT sector run the risk of losing your space and relevance. The context of changes in IT is not limited to the issue of putting their infrastructure in the cloud, but it involves much more than that. Also the development of systems, as protected by procedures and methods that have been consolidated for more than twenty years of best practices is also under pressure. The same applies to the very model of organizing and thinking IT.

The main challenge is to change the way of thinking, the paradigm or model, which built to mount what constitutes IT today. If you do not accept that the rules that have shaped the current IT model is undergoing drastic changes, we will lose the process time. It is a way of thinking that goes against what we have learned and put into practice for decades.

Let’s look at the context. Many companies are focused on modernizing its portfolio, consolidating applications, etc. But question, are they not modernizing their carriages when a new vehicle, the car has started to run through the streets? What good movies modernize chemical manufacturing processes when the picture becomes digital?

Of course it is necessary for the CIO to keep the day to day, but expect clean for then look to digital processing means, most likely, they will arrive at the station after the train departure …

Interestingly, when we address the issue of digital processing many IT managers put barriers. Not surprisingly, since, ironically, IT is the most resistant to change functions within organizations. The explanation may be that a lot of functions in it are dependent on the success of certain technologies, for which the workers have become experts. Out of this comfort zone and get into a set of new technologies, new practices and new organizational models because, of course, contrary reactions. How are talented professionals, their arguments are solid and generally supported by their peers.

Examples? Because you hear all the time that the company does not go cloud because cloud is insecure? Often these comments start from CIOs who keeps their data centers more insecure than those offered by first class cloud providers. The assumption that an internal data center is inherently more secure is very much a collective imagination than reality. It is a natural reaction to the disruption in the natural order of things … and indirectly denotes that privacy and security are top priorities for IT. Does should be the same?

In my opinion, accept and lead these changes in IT enterprises is that will make the difference between CIOs. IT was indoctrinated to avoid risk and maintain completely invisible to users operation, reducing costs and fidelity to the established practice for many years. Breaking this mental model is not simple. Being innovative and “early adopter” is not part of their culture and mindset. The challenges are many.

The first is the training. Do the professionals of IT areas are able, for example, working on cloud, mobile and contextual developing apps using continuous delivery practices? Often the companies themselves do not consider IT as a difference, just see it as operational. Thus, it is still common to see recruiting professionals restricted to the capabilities already established. Hardly see companies seeking designers for apps interfaces, but we see searches for professionals in Java and SQL. We see companies seeking certified professionals in ITIL, but not looking for people with experience in continuous delivery processes … or predictive algorithms … How innovate is not seeking new skills, necessary for a new IT?

The operational model of IT is another important aspect. In general we find in many companies a TI-oriented costs, operational role, business support, and the latter cost assessed against percentage of billing. When the company’s revenue grows, IT can increase your budget. When the company reduces its revenue, the IT budget is also cut.

I think this model of “do more with less,” stifles the ability of innovate CIOs. They are under constant pressure to keep the day to day with less cost and with little chance of getting budgets to innovate. Worse when subordinate to the CFO, usually more concerned with profitability and cost reduction and the short-term and less with innovation. Not vocation of most CFOs are entrepreneurs and innovators. IT could be seen otherwise, as a function leverages new revenue. Because IT can not generate opportunities to create new sources of revenue for the company? For that a change is needed in your mental model, as would act as a business in itself, perhaps as a start-up.

Also need to be embedded in the business. A testament to how many companies maintain their remote IT business is that it is very rare to see CIOs presenting lectures on specific industry events.

A third aspect is the response speed. An IT focused on business, generating revenue have to be opportunistic, which meets the current processes that require long maturation, the request by the user to operational implementation. The practices and IT processes are rigid and anchored in models related to a context where speed is not the most important variable. The reality is that it has become common jokes involving IT with the “not” inserted in it … “I have no money … do not have time … not computing power” … What is sought is to measure response in days rather than in weeks or months.

To act opportunistically, creating new engagements with customers, it is necessary to act at the right time. A week delay (months, no way) and there goes the window of opportunity. It’s different systems aimed at basic processes that support any delay in its implementation, usually made in “roll outs massive”. IT must be agile and fast by nature, in all aspects.

Technology is another variable. The technology is evolving very fast and the trend is accelerating. With new technologies come new exploration opportunities for IT. Thus, mobile and wearable devices, Internet of Things, Analytics, predictive models, 3D printers, etc., should not be seen as futuristic science, but as a natural part of the portfolio. Mobility is an example. Already so entrenched in society and habits that speaking in mobility strategy here a year or two will be as obsolete as speaking today in electricity strategy, which was new on the Ides of early twentieth century …

IT has to reinvent itself constantly. Unfortunately we still see many companies with IT that looks the same in its technology, processes and “best practices” ten years ago. Ten years ago there was no iPhone, iPad, AWS, DropBox, Facebook and other common things today. The business world today is not the same ten years ago and IT can not therefore be the same ten years ago.

The CIO can and should be the focal point of the digital transformation. To this must understand the changes that are already occurring and reinvent their own area and the CIO function. Create new way of thinking in the IT business and provide new services and products. Be fast, agile and innovative. Unfortunately, often the biggest obstacle IT is the very IT.

Full article: http://cio.com.br/

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