Contributor to an article following Elite 8 winner announcements discussing how CIO's can increase their strategic influence and better enable their organizations to realize the benefits from technology.

1. Craig Weber,
Celent
Frank
Changing Times: How Insurance CIOs Can
Strengthen Their Strategic Influence
By Anthony O'Donnell (mailto:Anthony.O'Donnell@ubm.com)
October 25, 2012
URL: (http://insurancetech.com/business-intelligence/changing-times-how-insurance-cios-can-st/240009655)
Optimism Under Pressure
Craig Weber, Celent (http://www.celent.com/)
The successful insurance CIO acts in a spirit of "optimism under pressure." Most
CIOs have resources at their disposal -- not as many as they'd like, perhaps, but
enough to make a big difference in their companies' performance. There's a sense that
technology is gaining traction and delivering improvements more efficiently than
ever before.
CIOs are definitely key players in senior management now. The past decade has
taught us that getting value out of IT spending is hard to do, and most business
people know they lack the skills and experience to do it well. Secretly, lots of
business people (including CEOs) are terrified of the complexity in today's technology. Effective
CIOs have job security and/or high employability.
Setting strategy is about managing tradeoffs, and no one knows better than a CIO what is possible
using current and emerging technologies. But too often, CIOs are caught up in justifying IT costs or
addressing short-term needs and can't make the mental shift toward defining the world of the possible
to other inhabitants of the C-suite.
The CIO's Golden Rule
Frank Petersmark, X by 2 (http://www.xby2.com/)
Today's environment is completely different from just a few years ago. CIOs are
expected to be strategic leaders while worrying about operational business alignment,
innovate while battling strong headwinds against change within their organizations,
and contribute directly to top-/bottom-line revenue while seeing overall investments
in IT stay flat or slightly decrease.
Alignment is yesterday's challenge for CIOs; if they're not strategically integrated
into their firms, then they're not functioning effectively as a CIO. Where that hasn't
occurred it's often due to undelivered promises on IT initiatives -- over time, over
budget, unrealized efficiencies, etc. That's how credibility and trust are lost.
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2. Petersmark, X
by 2
Steve
Callahan,
Robert E.
Nolan Co.
Stephen
Applebaum,
Aite Group
CIOs must be careful about how they communicate the complexity and effort
required for enterprisewide IT initiatives. More CIOs than not get into trouble by
oversimplifying what it will take to get something done; when things go awry, they've left themselves
in a vulnerable position and risk damaging whatever hard-earned credibility they've attained. The
golden CIO rule is still to do what you say you're going to do, and implicit in that is thinking carefully
about what you and your division can and cannot do.
Know Your Business
Steve Callahan, Robert E. Nolan Co. (http://www.renolan.com/)
Know your business -- that is the key to success in today's volatile world.
Technology has always been complex, but the shift in complexity from the "hard"
world of managing raised floors and data farms to information-driven "soft"
technologies imposes an amplified demand for business acumen. For the former,
technical depth was key; for the latter, a blend of business-specific knowledge and
continually updated technological breadth is a necessity. Actionable thought
leadership able to determine which combination of increasingly diverse options will
drive optimal business value, and then deliver it on time, is today's executive jackpot.
A CIO capable of driving rapid implementations with agility and flexibility is the
rare find that truly stands out.
Many of the other demands on a CIO -- resource balancing, scope management,
governance, communication skills, staff leadership -- have always been and will continue to be
foundational skills. Knowing which specific solution to run, why it is best for the business, and how
to get it in place ensures C-level trust, a place at the strategic planning table, and a more successful
business.
Risk and Success
Stephen Applebaum, Aite Group (http://www.aitegroup.com/)
The greatest risk for CIOs lies not in which projects they pursue, but how well the
ones they select align with the needs and expectations of the business. Large-scale,
cross-enterprise legacy integration projects have proven to be career makers for
insurance CIOs. Transformation of IT units from maintenance departments to
delivery and transformation organizations can be a prerequisite to such large-scale
projects or can simply be important stand-alone successes. Some of the more visible
career mistakes include improper selection and/or execution on core system
replacements and integration partners, projects that are costly and disruptive even
when they go well but that can represent disastrous consequences for the entire
business when they go badly.
Recent CIO success stories -- and lessons learned -- do have some recurring themes, and adopting
market-tested and proven technologies is surprisingly not one of them. The implementation of a
project management office (PMO) with proper authority and executive support has proven effective in
managing large, complex projects that have cross-enterprise impact. CIOs who have achieved real
transformation have had to cultivate trust among their management teams over time through
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3. David
Hollander,
Ernst & Young
Deborah
Smallwood,
SMA
persistence and the use of thoughtful and compelling analytics while also leveraging initially small
successes that can be scaled.
Beyond Traditional Roles
David Hollander, Ernst & Young (http://www.ey.com/)
The demand for technology-enabled change throughout the business has never been
greater. Amid competing business and regulatory demands, ever-growing enterprise
intelligence, analytics and predictive modeling needs exist throughout the entire
insurance value chain. To meet these challenges, CIOs must continue to move
beyond their traditional roles to become strategic partners with the business in
prioritizing the allocation of scarce capital and IT resources.
[Introducing I&T’s Elite 8 of 2012]
Among the greatest challenges CIOs face today are: simultaneous need for growth
and profitability; increased focus on the customer; the need for a more precise regulatory reporting
response, powered by multiple data sources; and coming to terms with the emergence of the chief data
officer role.
Chief Insight Officer
Deborah Smallwood, SMA (https://strategymeetsaction.com/)
The business challenge is all about growth and optimization. This requires IT
investment. For the CIO, it often becomes a capacity and speed issue. It's a real
challenge to shift IT investments and resources to deliver more value (typically for
less dollars) while continuing to deliver the high quality for current operations and
reduce IT operational and project costs. The partnership between business and IT has
never been more important.
Successful CIOs will be those who begin to think of their role more as the "chief
insight officer" than the chief information officer. Over the next decade, CIOs will
face a formidable challenge in making sure their organizations are positioned to
capitalize on the explosion of information, all the new ways to interact, the hyper-connected world,
and the host of options for sourcing IT services. But ultimately, the real challenge will be the ability to
drive new insights to more effectively guide the business strategy and deliver competitive advantage.
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