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WHEN GOVERNMENTS ENFORCED LOCKDOWNS HOWEVER , MANY ORGANISATIONS IMPLEMENTED LARGE-SCALE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMMES IN A MATTER OF WEEKS .
Caroline Sands , Partner and Head of the CIO & Technology Officers Practice at Odgers Berndtson
Brave new world : Five key challenges CIOs will face over the next 12 months
When the pandemic hit , CIOs had to ensure workforces could work from home . Caroline Sands , Partner and Head of the CIO & Technology Officers Practice at Odgers Berndtson , discusses five challenges CIOs will face as the world emerges into the new normal .
When lockdowns enveloped the world , CIOs found themselves in one of the hotseats . While CEOs and HR leaders were grappling with communications , and CFOs dealt with the unenviable task of forecasting costs in a world that changed daily and CIOs became responsible for ensuring entire workforces could work from bedrooms , living rooms and kitchens . Depending on pre-existing digital infrastructure , it ’ s a task that will have been easier for some CIOs than others , but by and large , their efforts have helped prove that working from home ‘ works ’. However , their problems didn ’ t end there . With the world emerging into the new normal , there are five other challenges CIOs are likely to face over the next 12 months .
Enable a distributed model of work
The future of work is a distributed model of on-site and remote working . Leadership teams will need to juggle employees that can and want to be in the office with those who don ’ t and may be unable to be in such an environment . Especially as organisations continue to limit headcounts , workforces will be made up of hybrid digital employees . The responsibility of building new management models for this workforce will fall at the feet of the chief people officer . However , CIOs will need to consider the sort of technology that will maintain team cohesion , ensuring visibility so that remote and on-site employees are performance managed
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