Art of Connecting: creativity and the modern CIO

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1 Art of Connecting: creativity and the modern CIO

2 Digital business evolves when people, businesses and things communicate, transact business and negotiate with one another. CIOs must adapt to that new way of doing business or risk losing their competitive edge. Seize the Moment: Driving Digital Business Into 2015, Gartner Group, 2 October

3 Contents Foreword... 4 Executive summary... 5 Research methodology... 6 Research insights... 7 CIOs welcome the opportunity to be more creative Customers, creativity and data are changing the CIO role Nexus of forces creates win-win for CIOs The right technology partners can help the CIO deliver creative solutions The organisation needs to recruit/train the next generation of CIOs Last word: the creative CIO mind-set

4 Foreword In six years, there could be more than 50 billion connected devices in the world 1, dramatically changing the way we live and do business. This year s Gartner Symposium ITxpo on Driving Digital Business is a timely forum to discuss the commercial opportunities and human implications of this runaway connectivity. As part of our contribution this year, BT has carried out research into the changing role of the CIO. Gartner says the digital disruption is a CIO s dream come true, and also a career-changing leadership challenge 2. They re also the obvious candidates to spot what Gartner calls the business moment 3 for the digital business opportunity. We ve interviewed CIOs and senior IT decision makers from around the globe and you can read the best of their thinking and the research findings in the following pages. Luis Alvarez CEO, BT Global Services I ve been a CIO, and it s clear to me how the role is changing. The CIO of tomorrow s successful digital business will have a more creative, imaginative and visionary mindset. Because building a digital business is as much an art as a science. The artistry is in seeing fresh ways to do things. In blending technologies together in new ways. In not copying anyone else, but creating something truly original, that delivers stunning outcomes for the business. At BT we call this the art of connecting. It s a mind-set that s already helping our customers master the art of building a digital business and it can help you too. At Gartner and beyond, we look forward to productive conversations with you as we all seek to make the most of these exciting opportunities. 1 Cisco 2 Taming the Digital Dragon: The 2014 CIO Agenda, Gartner Group Seize the Moment: Driving Digital Business Into 2015, Gartner Group 2 October

Executive summary CIOs face a Darwinian moment. New research by BT into the role of the CIO shows that we re at a tipping point. The CIO job is changing faster than ever.

The good news is that IT decision makers say today s CIOs have greater standing and are more influential in the boardroom; their performance is increasingly measured by business results.

They expect the modern CIO to be an innovator and use technology creatively to take the business forward. This is hardly without challenges.

5 Executive summary CIOs face a Darwinian moment. New research by BT into the role of the CIO shows that we re at a tipping point. The CIO job is changing faster than ever. CIOs must adapt to a new age where digitalisation is rapidly undoing the traditional relationship between the business and the IT department. The good news is that IT decision makers say today s CIOs have greater standing and are more influential in the boardroom; their performance is increasingly measured by business results. But CIOs must meet a new requirement: they must be creative. More than two thirds of organisations now expect their CIO to show creativity something not usually associated with the role. They expect the modern CIO to be an innovator and use technology creatively to take the business forward. This is hardly without challenges. However, in a win-win for CIOs, our research shows that the same technologies that are essential for delivering business results - mobility, cloud services and unified communications are also those which can unleash their creativity, further strengthening their reputation and leadership in the organisation. Technology partners can also help the CIO to be more creative, by sharing their ideas, involving customers in research and engaging in innovative thinking about new ways of working. In short, modern CIOs who innovate, who use technology and their IT partners creatively to deliver commercial breakthroughs, have a great opportunity to be play makers as their organisations prepare for the digital business era. 5

6 Research methodology The purpose of the research was to explore the changing role of the CIO. We wanted to understand how creatively they use technology, and how such innovation helps them add value to the organisation and increase their influence in the boardroom. In October and November 2014, 799 IT decision makers were interviewed in eight regions: UK, Germany, Spain, Benelux, USA, Brazil, Singapore and Australia. All respondents interviewed work for companies who employ over 1000 staff members, and come from one of the following sectors: banking, retail, energy & resources, transport & logistics, manufacturing and the public sector. The interviews were carried out by independent research house Vanson Bourne. Creativity is now an important attribute for the successful CIO. Barnaby Davis, MD of the UK branch network at Barclays, had a bright idea to improve customer service and help differentiate the bank in a highly competitive market: free in- branch wi-fi. Barnaby abandoned the traditional business case process and chose BT as strategic partner for the rollout. That proved a wise decision wi-fi was installed in around 1,600 branches in just six months, giving Barclays first-mover advantage. BarclaysFreeWifi is attracting new customers and the in branch customer experience has been transformed with over 9,000 ipads issued to Barclays colleagues. 6

Research insights CIOs welcome the opportunity to be creative Historically, CIOs have been responsible for core IT systems but the digitalisation of business is fast undoing the status quo.

So it will come as no surprise that eight out of ten IT decision makers say that the traditional CIO role is changing (85%).

7 Research insights CIOs welcome the opportunity to be creative Historically, CIOs have been responsible for core IT systems but the digitalisation of business is fast undoing the status quo. Pressure is coming from all directions but especially from the changing needs of customers, the demand for more innovation/creativity and the massive increase in data. So it will come as no surprise that eight out of ten IT decision makers say that the traditional CIO role is changing (85%). What is more surprising is that creativity is now an important attribute for the successful CIO. Creativity is a major driver for change. More than two thirds of IT decision makers (68%) say their board wants creativity from the CIO and a majority (70%) agree that the CIO role now gives opportunity for innovation/creativity. The good news is that CIOs themselves welcome this demand for more creativity, and consider it as the most positive development in the way their role is changing. Although the fact that four out of five (81%) respondents agree that their CIO is creative, the big rise in chief digital officers in organisations suggests that some boards may look elsewhere for creative technology leadership. CIOs continue to increase their influence and standing in the boardroom. Expectations have changed. Sixty four per cent of IT decision makers say the CIO now has greater opportunity for adding value to the business. More is expected of them and compared with two years ago, 81% felt they owned more business KPIs than technology KPIs. We re at a point where CIOs can reshape their role as a new type of CIO, commercially astute and technologically creative, and they can take a lead in building the digital business. Which of the following are positive ways you see the role of CIO changing?, asked to all respondents (799) Greater opportunity for innovation/creativity Greater opportunity for adding value to the business Greater opportunity to formalise and consider company-wide IT policy Less time spent on maintaining legacy IT Greater opportunity to interact with external contractors Those that selected strongly agree or agree for To what extent do you agree with the following?, asked to all respondents (799) The expectation of the board towards the CIO has increased in the last two years The board in my organisation recognises the need for a creative CIO The standing my CIO has in the boardroom has become more central in the last two years The perspective of the board towards the CIO has changed in the last two years And the push for change is coming from so many directions that even the most conservative CIO will find it hard to resist the call to innovate. 7

8 In a lot of respects the CIO can bring new thoughts and ideas to the table because so many new ideas are driven by technology. As companies have conversations about how to be more adaptive and flexible in relation to so many aspects of their business, the CIO has the opportunity to influence those discussions. Creativity is the chance for the CIO to move from his/her previously operational role to one with much greater profile in the business. The Johan Cruyff Foundation uses sport to build social and personal resilience among young people living with social deprivation or disabilities. When Carole Thate, general director, realised that the global recession could undermine success, she had the inspired idea of contacting BT. BT Benelux stepped forward with a cloud-based learning solution. Hosted in a BT data centre it provides an ingenious virtual learning environment for course materials and other resources over any internet-enabled device, helping children and coaches learn and organise sporting events more effectively. Ashish Gupta, President, Portfolio & Service Design and BT Advise, and Chief Information Officer, BT Global Services 8

Customers, creativity and data are changing the CIO role A multitude of external factors are impacting the work of the CIO but customers, creativity and data dominate.

9 Customers, creativity and data are changing the CIO role A multitude of external factors are impacting the work of the CIO but customers, creativity and data dominate. Almost all our respondents say that the evolving needs of customers are having some impact on the traditional role of the CIO and nine in ten (91%) say that the CIO is currently involved in improving service to customers. More than two thirds of organisations now expect creativity from the CIO. Then there is data, and yet more data. More than nine in ten respondents say that a significant increase of data coming into and through the organisation (94%) impacts the role of the CIO. Employees want access to the organisation's data when working away from the office (93%) and nine in ten respondents say that their CIO is involved in enabling employees to work remotely (93%). Cloud services (93%) and business units buying their own IT products and services (89%) also undermine the traditional corporate IT model and will require a fresh response from the CIO. In spite of these pressures, change to the CIO role is universally seen as positive by IT decision makers. Indeed, the combination of technology trends and business expectations may turn out to be a virtuous circle. Digital innovation will require IT to ideate, or dream the digital dream, and execute in close partnership with colleagues, in an exploratory way, with understanding of the potential of new trends. Taming the Digital Dragon: The 2014 CIO Agenda Insights From the 2014 Gartner CIO Agenda Report, Gartner Group 2014 Those selecting impacting to some extent for To what extent are changes to how your organisation operates impacting the traditional role of the CIO?, asked to all respondents (799) Changing demands of customers Demand for innovation/creativity Increasing complicated policies/procedures We [CIOs] can make more use of customer data to drive strategy and take the business forward. Look at Walmart and Tesco, and how they rely on club card data to decide what goes on the shelves; it turns the model on its head. Ashish Gupta, President, Portfolio & Service Design and BT Advise, and Chief Information Officer, BT Global Services Significant increase of data coming into and through the organisation Employees demanding access to the organisation s data when working outside the office Increasing implementation of cloud services Business units commissioning their own IT services 9

Nexus of forces creates win-win for CIOs Gartner s nexus of forces describes the convergence and mutual reinforcement of four trends: social interaction, mobility, cloud, and information, which

10 Nexus of forces creates win-win for CIOs Gartner s nexus of forces describes the convergence and mutual reinforcement of four trends: social interaction, mobility, cloud, and information, which empower individuals as they interact with each other and their information through welldesigned ubiquitous technology 4. While such a nexus of forces is undoubtedly a challenge for CIOs, it also carries within itself the solution. IT decision makers identify three technologies - mobility (68%), unified communications (66%) and the cloud (65%) - as critical to delivering commercial results for the business. And in a win-win for the CIO, these very same technologies (mobility 75%, unified communications (72%) and the cloud 72%) are also viewed as those that most help him or her unlock creativity. The more CIOs are creative in their application of mobility, unified communications and the cloud, the more likely they are to fulfil the expectations of their board for innovation, creativity and commercial performance. Those selecting very critical for To what extent are the following IT trends seen as critical to your CIO for delivering real business results?, asked to all respondents (799) Those selecting helping for To what extent do you think these recent or emerging trends are helping/hindering CIOs creativity?, asked to all respondents (799) Mobility Mobility Unified communications Unified communications Cloud Cloud Big data Big data Internet of Things Internet of Things Machine to machine Machine to machine Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Bring Your Own Applications (BYOA) Bring Your Own Applications (BYOA)

The right technology partners can help the CIO deliver creative solutions CIOs need not go it alone, as they set out to meet corporate expectations for innovation. Their IT partners can help.

11 The right technology partners can help the CIO deliver creative solutions CIOs need not go it alone, as they set out to meet corporate expectations for innovation. Their IT partners can help. Nine out of ten (91%) IT decision makers consider their technology partners to be creative, and a similar majority (92%) say that the creativity of a technology partner makes them more likely to work with that supplier. However, although more than eight out of ten (84%) agree that working with such vendors encourages the CIO to be creative, only three in ten (29%) say that their CIO actually approaches vendors for creative solutions. There is clearly scope for both CIO and vendors to collaborate more around innovation. Part of the problem may be a lack of time and money. Three in ten (31%) IT decision makers say the changing role leaves the CIO with less time for developing creative solutions for the business. Deloitte s 2014 CIO survey 5 found that although more than half of CIOs considered innovation to be important, there was little in the IT budget earmarked for it. CIOs should look more to their IT partners for innovation and fresh thinking. Even when the CIO s ideas are still half-formed, vendors can often suggest a wholly original way of using technologies to take the business forward. Do you consider the technology partners you work with to be creative?, asked to all respondents (799) To what extent do you agree that working with creative technology partners encourages the CIO to also be creative?, asked to all respondents (799) Yes, the majority of our technology partners are creative Yes, but only some of our technology partners are creative No Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Don t know

12 A CIO s mission is to find the most appropriate solution from ever-changing technologies to contribute to business development. To do so, CIO needs to have a broad intelligence network in order to provide the most appropriate solutions and to suggest how technology developments can be used for the business. It is important to build trust and have relationship with the partners who provide ideas, propose solutions, and help develop and execute the solution. Toshihiro Kitanobo, Senior Executive Officer, Head of System Headquarters, JCB Co. Ltd Quick customer response during power interruptions is a priority for Western Power in Australia. When outages struck, inbound calls soared from 2,000 to 260,000 calls per day and call waiting times expanded. Ben Oxford, director of customer service, had a without-the-box idea. Now, a BT cloud-based contact centre enables agent resource optimisation and geographically accurate recorded announcements. Customers quickly learn when the lights will be back on. In an emergency, they ve instant access to a rapid response team. It s been recognised as one of the best-performing customer service centres in the world. 12

The organisation needs to recruit/train the next generation of CIOs Finally, what does this requirement for innovation and creativity mean for the next generation of CIOs?

13 The organisation needs to recruit/train the next generation of CIOs Finally, what does this requirement for innovation and creativity mean for the next generation of CIOs? What subject was your highest level of qualification received in?, asked to all respondents (799) The digital business will need creative minds in the IT department and creative IT minds in the boardroom. It is perhaps time to update the CIO job description and person specification and understand how the role works alongside newer senior roles such as chief digital officers and chief data officers. Today s CIOs are a homogenous group. Unsurprisingly, IT graduates dominate. The majority of CIO level respondents (72%) received their highest level of qualification in an IT-specific subject; humanities and the arts account for only three per cent and one per cent respectively. In a world where smart companies hire for attitude and train for skills, boards might consider recruiting from a wider range of backgrounds and adding broader commercial and high end creative skills training to their IT leadership development programmes. Make sure you are adapting to the changing environment. Don t leave a leadership vacuum. The danger is that the business needs to run at speed and if the traditional CIO cannot keep up, then the business will find another way to do what it wants. Ashish Gupta, President, Portfolio & Service Design and BT Advise, and Chief Information Officer, BT Global Services IT-specific Maths Science Humanities Arts Other Hire for attitude, train for skills. 13

14 Last word: the creative CIO mindset The role of the CIO is changing for good, giving positive opportunities for those who respond with creativity and who deliver results that matter to the business. The creative CIO has a new mindset. He or she can: connect with boardroom colleagues and business units, and provide visionary leadership for the digital business imagine new ways of using technology that deliver amazing commercial results understand that the very same technologies that deliver great business outcomes are also those which support creativity tap into the creativity of IT partners, nurture relationships with suppliers and be open to their ideas and innovations take responsibility for the next generation and add creativity into recruitment, training and succession planning for the IT team All industries in all geographies are being radically reshaped by digital disruption a digital dragon that is potentially very powerful if tamed but a destructive force if not. It s a CIO s dream come true, and also a careerchanging leadership challenge. Taming the Digital Dragon: The 2014 CIO Agenda Insights from the 2014 Gartner CIO Agenda Report, Gartner Group 2014 CIOs who adapt successfully to changing expectations will be in pole position to lead their colleagues and their organisation into the digital future. 14

15 The technologies that are critical to delivering commercial results are also those which help the CIO unlock creativity. Join in the debate: #ArtofConnecting 15

16 Bringing it all together Offices worldwide The services described in this publication are subject to availability and may be modified from time to time. Services and equipment are provided subject to British Telecommunications plc s respective standard conditions of contract. Nothing in this publication forms any part of any contract. British Telecommunications plc Registered office: 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ Registered in England No: November 2014

The BT CIO report The digital CIO.

The BT CIO report The digital CIO. The BT CIO report 2016. The digital CIO. Introduction. We re standing on the threshold of what the World Economic Forum, of which BT is a strategic partner, has called the fourth industrial revolution.