January 22, 2018

Who Leads Digital Transformation? Historically, It Was The CIO

By Allan Leinwand

Who Leads Digital Transformation? On my way to the office last week, I was stopped at a stoplight that only allowed three cars through before turning red again. The red and the green seemed to fight for control. In my frustration, I wondered who had created such a thing? With a quick search I learned […]

Who Leads Digital Transformation?

On my way to the office last week, I was stopped at a stoplight that only allowed three cars through before turning red again. The red and the green seemed to fight for control. In my frustration, I wondered who had created such a thing? With a quick search I learned that traffic officers controlled the flow of traffic in large cities before the invention of the electric traffic light. They manually directed foot traffic and the traffic of carriages in places like London Bridge and other busy streets. This was the case from at least 1722 until 1912, when a policeman in Salt Lake City, Utah invented the red-green electric traffic light. He in a sense automated and digitally transformed a process that had been in place for nearly 200 years. But which is more powerful, the red or green light? There is a strong parallel to the leadership of digital transformation initiatives within the enterprise.

Green and red

In our business, there seems to be a debate about who leads digital transformation. In my mind, I envision IT as the green light and line of business as the red light. Both are equal yet both push for control of digital transformation. And, like a traffic light, both should work together to help digitally transform their organization.

Historically, the person who saw the importance of transforming business was the CIO. As the systems guy, he was tasked with finding technology to help the company get work done effectively and efficiently. He was the green light to make the traffic of digital transformation occur.

Over time, business requirements changed and the CIO would often deliver on strategic initiatives that helped the business be more efficient, but not enable technology that the line of business leaders knew could help them do their jobs more effectively. For example, enabling efficient cloud storage for an organization will help save some companies thousands of dollars, but it won’t help line of business leaders as much as a cloud application that provides insight into a certain set of customer data in order to retain customers longer.

As a result, the line of business leader became the red light, trying to slow down the CIO to see business needs that will benefit the business effectiveness, not just business efficiencies. The red light is crucial to make sure new technology helps the bottom line, not just operational costs.

Drivers

Red and green lights determine which drivers they will let through. In a similar vein, line of business and IT must determine which market drivers they allow into their enterprise. The driving force behind digital transformation is the consumerization of technology. Workers know what is possible and they experience the power of technology on their mobile phones. They want business applications and data to be easier to consume. They are also dealing with a deluge of data that is overwhelming in the form of instant messaging, email, reports, websites and more. Employees often know exactly what they need to be more effective at their jobs.

For example, IT has invested heavily in email over the past 25 years. Yet, for some, email is not effective. The formal nature of email makes it too long to read and hard to consume with the deluge of data they receive. So, IT invests in chat for communications. But all that really did is allow workers to type shorter emails that send instantaneously. As a result, some line of business leaders implemented collaboration software. This allowed for the shorter messages, but added the functionality of the inclusion of documents, project management and more. And with the addition of the mobile app, it can be done from anywhere at any time. But this is still only evolutionary. Digital transformation would automate much of this drudgery and serve up information to make effective decisions rather than simply making communication more efficient.

Intersections

One common thread I’ve seen with successful digital transformation initiatives is that the CIO becomes a champion for the needs of the business. The CIO regularly meets with each line of business group on a regular basis to determine how to help them make their business processes more effective. I’ve seen employee surveys and internal research be a part of this process. The best question a CIO can ask in this process is, “why do you do it that way?” Once he can determine the need, the linear thinking of IT can be implemented and the efficient technology put in place can be used to create effective, digitally transformed business processes.

On the other side of the intersection, the line of business leader will engage with the CIO, and helps to identify processes that can be digitally transformed. They help fix broken processes and re-think processes in order to innovate how her group does business. They help the CIO to prioritize projects, and offers resources for initiatives that can be effectively handled by their groups. The line of business leader will help to drive innovation.

This intersection is where development and operations come together. When they are together business processes become better, faster and much more successful.

Traffic flow

So which side should lead digital transformation initiatives? The answer is both. You can’t have red without green. You must have both to direct the flow of market drivers through the enterprise. CIOs and line of business leaders need to come together at the intersection of development and operations to work successfully together and lead digital transformation within their organizations.

By Allan Leinwand

Allan Leinwand

Allan Leinwand is chief technology officer at ServiceNow , the enterprise cloud company. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing all technical aspects and guiding the long-term technology strategy for the company.

Before joining ServiceNow, Leinwand was chief technology officer – Infrastructure at Zynga, Inc. where he was responsible for all aspects of technology infrastructure used in the delivery of Zynga’s social games including data centers, networking, compute, storage, content distribution and cloud computing.

Previously, Leinwand was a venture partner for Panorama Capital, LLC where he focused on technology investments in data networking, open source software and cloud computing. Prior to this role, he served as an operating partner at JPMorgan Partners.

Leinwand currently serves as an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley where he teaches on the subjects of computer networks, network management and network design. He holds a bachelor of science degree in computer science from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Exploring SaaS Directories: The Path to Optimal Software Selection

Exploring the Landscape of SaaS Directories SaaS directories are vital in today’s digital age, serving [...]
Read more
Steve Prentice

Get Smarter – The Era of Microlearning 

The Era of Microlearning Becoming employable and then staying employable requires ongoing, up to date [...]
Read more
Katrina Thompson

Why Zombie APIs are Such an Important Vulnerability

Zombie APIs APIs have a lifecycle, the same as anything else. They are born, they [...]
Read more
Metasploit-Penetration-Testing-Software-Pen-Testing-Security

Leading Cloud Vulnerability Scanners

Vulnerability Scanners Cyber security vulnerabilities are a constant nuisance and it certainly doesn’t help with [...]
Read more

AI at the Gate: Navigating the Future of Cybersecurity with SonicWall’s Bobby Cornwell

Navigating the Future of Cybersecurity In the face of the digital age’s advancements, AI’s role [...]
Read more

A.I. is Not All It’s Cracked Up to Be…At Least Not Yet!

Exploring AI’s Potential: The Gap Between Aspiration and Reality Recently Samsung releases its new Galaxy [...]
Read more

SPONSORS

Interviews and Thought Leadership

Srini Kalapala

Driving Growth: Srini Kalapala Discusses Verizon’s Network APIs

Welcome to our interview with Srini Kalapala, Senior VP of Technology and Product Development at Verizon. Today, we explore how Verizon’s network APIs are reshaping global developer landscapes and enhancing [...]
Read more
Jeff DeVerter

Charting the Course: An Interview with Rackspace’s Jeff DeVerter on AI and Cloud Innovation

Rackspace’s Jeff DeVerter on AI & Cloud Innovation In an insightful conversation with CloudTweaks, Jeff DeVerter, a seasoned IT and technology veteran with over 25 years of experience, sheds light [...]
Read more

Embracing Governance to Navigate 2024’s Tech Trends

Mastering Governance Strategies for Success The start of a new year is a fitting time for goal-setting, and IT managers [...]
Read more

Gartner Predicts Solid Growth for Information Security, Reaching $287 Billion by 2027

AI continues to become more weaponized, with nation-state attackers and cybercrime gangs experimenting with LLMs and gen AI-based attack tradecraft. [...]
Read more

Top Cloud Cost Optimization Strategies for Multi-Cloud Environments

The age-old saying “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” has found a new resonance in today’s cloud landscape. [...]
Read more

SPONSOR PARTNER

Explore top-tier education with exclusive savings on online courses from MIT, Oxford, and Harvard through our e-learning sponsor. Elevate your career with world-class knowledge. Start now!
© 2024 CloudTweaks. All rights reserved.