Technology budget is going to other executives. Shadow IT makes its home like a spider web in the corner. What is a CIO to do amidst this turbulence? In an article for ZDNet, Mark Samuels shares four ways CIOs can keep up good governance:
- Help business peers make the right IT decisions.
- Lay ground rules and make sure they are followed.
- Accept that responsibility for project success is shared.
- Revisit the original project aims repeatedly.
Power Slipping Away?
Some major businesses are decentralizing technology by shifting it to individual lines of business by way of the cloud. Nonetheless, the CIO can still be a team player by guiding business heads to make the right technology decisions. IT in general is shifting toward a user-centric direction, spending more time speaking directly with customers. Less time will be spent dictating regulation, and more time will be spent simply assisting users throughout the organization.
IT must maintain at least some of its grasp over technology though. In application ownership for example, standard IT change management practices should still apply. Controls should however be standardized globally.
Controls will not be the only thing getting shared; projects get shared too. Especially when dealing with government partners, strong governance will have to be put in place from each group in the partnership. Everyone has to work in sync while oddly maintaining boundaries.
About the final tip, Samuels says this:
Once the project is rolled out, [Brad Dowden, CIO at Airswift] says IT teams need to constantly look back to the original aims, such as considering whether the initiative is still being done for the right reasons and whether budgets are being hit. “By doing the legwork, you should have much more realistic figures, which supports your vision and makes your stakeholders feel confident. It’s a constant cycle,” he says.
You can view the original article here: http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-theres-still-a-role-for-the-cio-in-the-age-of-shadow-it/
