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Driven by new technologies and changing consumer expectations, the digitalization and agilization of businesses is well underway.
As one of the pillars of a company’s digital environment, the role of Chief Information Officer (CIO) is one of the most impacted by digital transformation. As a result, the role of the CIO has evolved significantly over the last few years.
Now considered a key link in top management, the CIO is in the spotlight and must deal with 3 new challenges:
- Skills management, recruitment and retention of new generations
- Internal communication and intensive collaboration with the whole company
- The adoption and controlled integration of cloud services
In this article, we’ll focus on the latter.
Cloud services, an opportunity for agility and innovation for the CIO
Today’s cloud services offer is plethoric and mature. It covers virtually every element of an information system, from server infrastructure services to business applications. These services, consumed without installation, have naturally seen their rapid introduction into the enterprise. Nowadays, it’s commonplace to see a sales director choosing his CRM without going through his CIO, or a marketing director installing an internal communication tool such as Teams or Slack in just a few clicks.
The cloud is also a source of opportunity for the CIO itself: to be able to deliver the service expected by the company within optimized timescales and costs. The question of whether to develop a technical solution or use an online service has become a strategic one. The business implications are therefore central to the decision: should this development be handled entirely in-house, and does the company have the resources, time, and skills to carry it out? Is this a pilot program or a peripheral service? Speed of execution and optimization of investment are the main drivers for CIOs to use cloud solutions.
From a budgetary point of view, a new challenge may arise. Software and hardware hitherto allocated to long-term investment lines are being replaced by operating expense lines, due to the subscription principle of cloud solutions. Billed on a pay-as-you-go basis, they offer greater flexibility in terms of alignment with actual business needs. On the other hand, the proliferation of solutions makes budget tracking more complex for the CIO, and the shift from a CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) to an OPEX (Operational Expenditure) approach impacts the company’s financial steering. Now more than ever, CFOs and CIOs need to work together and get organized to effectively steer the cloudification of information systems.
More than ever, CFOs and CIOs need to work together
to effectively steer
the cloudification of information systems.
A new role for the CIO as solution orchestrator
The role of the CIO is evolving in this context of online service integration. From now on, he or she must be the guarantor and the link. Not only must he provide the right solution at the right time, but he must also ensure that it is properly integrated into the existing information system. He takes on the role of advisor and orchestrator, while retaining his responsibilities for overall coherence, delivery, service continuity and security. Day-to-day challenges are new and numerous.
The CIO needs to work more closely with the business and be more attentive than ever to employees’ needs, by keeping a close eye on the evolution of their uses, whatever their job. Accompanying the introduction of new software and applications is essential to support the company’s innovation and productivity.