Dateline: September 6, 2013
Welcome to our Friday WRAP – one thought-provoking idea to think about over the weekend.
What does the Board of Directors (BOD) expect from IT? Recently my friend and mentor, Dr. James Cash, published a blog in the HBR blog network, A Board Director’s Perspective on What IT Has to Get Right, outlining 4 things:
1. Generating Top-Line Growth-Every discussion on the role of IT and CIOs should start with the question: “What are the potential uses of this technology that will guarantee we stay in business?”
2. Improving Operational Efficiency-For mature, large-scale, multinational companies, there is a virtuous cycle of efficiency improvements that frees up resources, which can then be deployed for growth and innovation projects. The biggest opportunities for these companies are simplification and horizontal integration projects.
3. Ensuring Effective Corporate Governance and Controllership-IT-based management-control systems, starting with finance and human resources and including distributed-innovation systems, are critical to ensure the policies and governance guidelines are effectively implemented in geographically dispersed locations.
4. Participating in Strategy Formulation-The pervasiveness of IT requires more organizations to describe the role and effects of IT during their industry and competitor analysis (ICA), which is more robust when the most technically literate professionals in the company are involved.
Are you meeting your Board’s expectations? How would you describe your company’s IT activities to your BOD?
That’s a WRAP! Have a nice weekend.
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