|
|
A New Breed of CIO

The short history of information technology has seen a
couple generations of leaders. Is a third generation
now emerging? First-generation CIOs—often
called the "Director of Data Processing"—were
the unquestioned rulers of their domains who knew
technology well but little about business. Business
leaders acquiesced to IT demands
because they were in unfamiliar territory. This era
faded around 1980 with the advent of the more
technically-savvy customers and executives. The '80s
saw the rise of the CIO who as "order taker" was
expected to both understand business and serve up
scoops of enabling technology; much like Baskin-
Robbins scoops up ice cream—and just as
quickly, if you please. The job tenure of that CIO
averaged three years as they failed to satisfy the
demands of their customer base.
One of Nolan Company's recent client's IT shop is
run by a new breed of CIO who is on the cusp of the
third generation. First, his shop is CMMI Level 3
compliant, with some areas at Level 4. He has all the
components you see in most big IT shops, but their
charge is different. The architecture group's charge is
maintainability, not the next newest technology
to bet on. He has an emerging technology group that
must deliver production applications today for
the real complex problems, not report on how good it
will be when the technology matures. His PMO
manages [runs] projects instead of just managing the
project plan. He also has a business liaison group
where project planning is done with the charge of
scope control. He also has a vendor management
group that has implemented the "vendor stable"
concept which limits the number of vendors and
controls costs.
The real strength of this highly-disciplined IT shop
is that alongside mainstream development and
maintenance resides a "skunk works" which
prototypes applications at the intersection of business
needs and technology capabilities. With the CIO as
leader, these prototypes are shared with the business
community who provides feedback, resulting in
moving ahead or discarding the applications. One
recent call center upgrade cost less than $2 million,
while another (which was not as good) cost more than
$20 million.
Isn't this new breed of CIO great?
|
|

|
COMING SOON... Nolan's Life & Annuity Survey Findings Report
|
|
|
AVAILABLE NOW... Nolan's Service Differentiation Report
|
|
|
Previous Nolan e-Newsletters Online
Past articles of Trend Line, as well as
Nolan's other
e-Newsletters—Bank
Statement and Nolan Spotlight—are now
available on our website. Follow the link below to
browse the archives.
|
|
|
Nolan Events and Sponsorships
|
|
|
Sign Up for Nolan's Quarterly Newsletter
The Nolan Newsletter celebrates 36 years of
publication. Many industry executives have come to
rely on its relevant articles as a trusted business
resource. Covering the insurance, banking, and health
care industries, the newsletter features updates on
business and technology trends, as well as
proprietary industry study results. Recurring
departments include the Nolan Events page and the
Client Spotlight, a two-page section highlighting actual
client projects and results.
Click the link below to find out more information, view
past issues, or to sign up to receive a free copy.
|
|
|