The CIO as the manager and leader of innovation in the organization?
We recently noticed that all CIOs gain additional responsibility for their traditional role, including examples include David Jones of Evans Corning (CIO and main supply chain manager), Sheleen Quish Casino Ameristar (CIO and Senior Vice President of Human Resources), and Karl Sallnoske of GXS (CIO and EVP providing service).
But a dual role even more interesting, it turned out that I call “CIO squared”, a combination of chief information manager and chief innovation manager. Examples of CIO squared include Tim Stanley, former information systems manager and senior vice president of gaming innovation, Harrah Entertainment Technology, and Ben Allen, who is also Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Information Officer at Professional Services Company Marsh McLennan.
The position of vice president of innovation is less than a decade, most companies still do not have one, so there is certainly a place in advance within the structure of the company where the role should be located. There is someone to manage and concentrate innovation activity (ideas, processes and incentive programs) and be responsible for the success or failure of innovation.
In light of today’s business trends, integrated CIO squared makes a lot of sense. With the rise of social media, mobility, consumer IT, large data, and business intelligence, the IT center of innovation is growing. IT managers are in a good position to be the focus of discussions with heads of business units and departments on the sources of technology innovation to support them.
Success in innovation requires the ability to quickly climb and cultivates ideas so that they can be tested by internal and external users of the ideas . Moreover, leading IT departments have begun to incorporate agile methods, which focus on iterative and iterative development and validation of ideas.
Stanley came to the position of IT administrator in Harrah Square on the IT side, although on the IT side he is a very savvy business. He traveled a lot of improvements in Harrah’s legendary CRM system, known as Total Awards. Following management to synthesize the data that helped the marketing department make better decisions, Stanley developed a real business perspective, calculated return on investment for almost all IT investments, and proved the business value of IT. By talking to leaders from around the business about the needs and strategy, he was able to identify where he could make investments that would provide the highest value.
Alan came from the innovation side. He was CEO of Carol, a former operating company of Marsh McLennan that was sold to Altegrity in mid-2010. Alan McLennan responded to May as his first chief innovation officer, with a mandate to collaborate with leaders in the various operating firm companies to create market-driven products and services that help growth In September, it was named after a Chief Information Officer, in addition to his innovation announcement.
“This is a natural double role,” says Allen, “especially for businesses where information is central to creating value for customers in the McLennan Marsh family of companies, we provide advice to customers and that advice is based on three things .: Our people’s expertise, information or data, and analysis.”
As the role of information vice president becomes more strategically important, and as CIOs become more focused on delivering tangible new value to the businesses and customers they serve, we may see more cases of CIO Square.
Peter Supreme is the President of Strategy Mattiece, a CIO consulting firm, and author of the IT World Class Book: Why Businesses Succeed When Descending Victories.
