Kevin Delaney, Senior Writer
04-17-2017

Excerpt from the Article:

Security is a constant headache. Disruptions fly out of left field. And new technologies promise never-ending complexity. But the news isn’t all bad for CIOs.

“Some people are going to be grabbing their surfboards and able to ride this tidal wave successfully,” said Peter High, president of the CIO advisory firm Metis Strategy. Those who adapt and change with the new demands placed on IT will catch the wave successfully. That includes driving innovation and impacting the business in new ways. Those who don’t, High warned, “will be washed away.”

High, who is the author of Implementing World Class IT Strategy: How IT Can Drive Organizational Innovation, sees this as an exciting time for IT, despite the challenges. “I think the CIO is in many ways structurally in an ideal position to add value to the other divisions of the organization,” High said, “the functional areas, the business units, operating companies, however the organization might be structured.”

That means rethinking some fundamental assumptions about IT. Starting with a better understanding of those whom IT ultimately serves. According to High, if you ask IT professionals today who their customers are, “their answer will be the colleagues within the enterprise that they are serving. I think what is unfortunate about that is the declaration of distance between IT and where the ultimate value is created.” But how can IT move beyond understanding only their internal users and gain a clearer picture of the company’s external customers?

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