George F. Colony, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Forrester opens with four questions.
1 & 2. Should the CEO care about IT? Should the CEO be involved in IT? Only 16% of CEOs at top 100 companies mentioned IT efforts in annual report letter. Colony says that the project oriented environment of IT is not a place where the CEO can add advice, add wisdom.
3. Should CEOs engage with BT? True BT moves from project orientation to capability orientation. Projects, according to Colony are like coffee beans. Very small grained, lots of them. Capabilities are like golf balls. 15, 20, 30 capabilities at the top level.
What is the change of “information” to “business”. Change of language. Focus (work) on capabilities that the business actually needs. 15-30 golf balls.
Should the CEO be involved in determining what capabilities the organization needs? Yes.
4. What is the CEOs role in BT?
a) Establish clear, high-level direction, for the company. Calls out the annual letter from Pfizer CEO, the depth of strategy discussed, and how that relates to (surfaces) capabilities. Based on this clear communication, business and IT can come together to map a plan.
b) Push technology and business together – catalyze a change in relationship. The CIOs to do here? Get in the game! Bring best practices “…what other company has built this capability successfully?” Develop a point of view on priorities. Get out of order taking mode.
c) Keep business and technology from drifting back into project (coffee bean) hell.
Who is in the BT Limo? CIO, Business Heads and CEO. CEO has map. CIO and Business Heads are driving.
CEOs think of two things. Increase revenue. Increase profit. Bias your capability planning for these two imperatives.
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