FEATURE : DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Successful CIOs driving their organization ’ s Digital Transformation strategy need to help board members understand and make decisions on key digital capabilities . Brian Ferreira , VP Managing Executive Partner at
Gartner , suggests three approaches
CIOs can adopt to enhance their engagement with the board .
As Australian businesses continue to
navigate the COVID-19 crisis , boards and CEOs are increasingly focused on digital capabilities to ensure a strong business recovery . This means that CIOs now have to engage with their boards far more frequently .
According to the 2021 Gartner Board of Directors Survey , 69 % of boards accelerated their digital business initiatives in the wake of COVID-19 disruption . Almost half anticipate changing their organization ’ s business model as a result of the pandemic .
Technology-driven Digital Transformation can , and should be , a strong enabler in addressing employee , customer , supply chain and broad brand impact , to position an organization to come out of the crisis stronger . This means that CIOs must understand the board ’ s core concerns , evaluate its most pressing business challenges and chart its changing priorities to deliver for the business . While the focus on driving revenue stays the same , the board ’ s attention has dramatically shifted to managing risk through digital capabilities to renew the business model and operations .
I recently spoke to the CIO of an Australian travel and leisure business severely impacted by the crisis . While the board continues to look at the long-term recovery of its brick and mortar travel stores , the focus has pivoted towards new digital services to survive , in addition to expanding into new leisure products for revenue growth . It ’ s the CIO ’ s role to guide and support the business through this transformation and set it up for long-term success .
Successful Australian CIOs understand how to execute on the board ’ s key priorities – accelerating business initiatives , improving operational excellence , achieving higher levels of business cost optimization , increasing business model transformation and building digital capabilities .
There are certainly times when boards and CIOs find themselves at a spend tension point . Often executive management is more focused on responding to the crisis , while boards attentions are on spending for renewing the business . But this opens the door for CIOs to implement new digital capabilities in core back office systems , which stabilises the business and supports longer term growth .
How Australian CIOs can engage with board members to drive Digital Transformation
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