At forums for CIOs held in 1996 by CSC Index (now called Computer Sciences Corp.), I asked CIOs if they were participating in business strategy discussions and events for the first time; about 30 percent said they were. Increasingly, then, CIOs are being asked to be strategists. This is akin to vision building, but it is also something more. CIOs must understand new and emerging technologies and their availability, reliability, use and impact. They also explain the business implications, threats and opportunities that follow the introduction of new technology. This is where business and technological know- how intersect.

        The last decade's explosion of technologies-and with it, vendors-has many profound implications for the CIO. But above all, CIOs must address the concept of architecture. Planning robust architectures in the midst of so much technological uncertainty is difficult, but the imperatives of interoperability, integrity and economics require some control of technologies. CIOs know deep down that if they ignore architecture, their organizations risk falling behind their competitors. As new technologies and vendors continue to emerge, and end users and IT specialists embrace them, the central role of the IT function becomes planning infrastructure. In this respect, therefore, the CIO is an architect as well as a deliverer.

        The most direct and dramatic recent change for many CIOs has been the transformation agenda within the IT department itself. The challenge has been to achieve radical performance improvements in cost structure, quality management and time-to-market. In other words, the CIO has become a reformer.

        BP Exploration, for example, between 1990 and 1993 reduced its IS budget by 65 percent and its IS head count by 80 percent. In addition to what it achieved by com0mmg data centers, BP aggressively outsourced and to some degree centralized its IS resources. And Motorola Inc. introduced total quality management in pursuit of Six Sigma levels of performance in IT operations and development. In a sense, IT adopted tactics for achieving highest-quality standards in Motorola's chip production.

        Several companies have been galvanized by the pace of business change and new product development to speed systems development. Where IT applications are on the critical path of product launch programs or business change projects, they can no longer be the roadblock. Many organizations today, for example, will not tolerate IT projects that last longer than nine months from the decision to proceed through the implementation phase. Often, packages are preferred to products developed in-house, although they do not guarantee speedy implementation. IT departments also favor rapid application development techniques and prototyping. And software products such as Lotus Notes are being adapted as application development shells. I even heard of a purchasing system that was developed in four weeks using browser software.

        Finally, the most profound challenge for the CIO is to be an alliance manager. As well as building relationships with peers and superiors, the CIO has two sets of alliances to manage, one outside the organization and one inside. The trend toward outsourcing means that IT departments depend on vendors in the marketplace. Some vendors are small and in startup mode; some are large and powerful. Different partnerships are required to solve different IT problems; some are contractual, some are risk sharing and some are exploratory. But whatever the context, the CIO must collaborate with vendors' top managers to create an understanding of and commitment to the alliance being constructed.

        Meanwhile, inside the organization, we see the rapid emergence of "power users." These end users are more proficient in using new technologies than are traditional IT professionals. They may bring in new applications and technologies when they join the company and can satisfy many of their own needs. They are not keen on architecture or standards, so they can leave a mess when they move on. And yet they bring at least as much good as bad to the organization. Somehow the CIO and his or her team have to work with the power users to understand what is happening, agree on boundaries of responsibility and encourage a constructive but disciplined manner.

        CIOs must remember and internalize the four eternal principles from the past, and they also must embrace the four new imperatives that have emerged in the latter part of the decade. The role of the CIO is nothing if not exacting and demanding. Perhaps the appropriate interpretation of CIO actually is "Challenge Isn't Optional."
 

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