Mark Samuels
| October 8, 2021
| Topic: Digital Transformation: A CXO’s Guide
Digital Transformation: A CXO’s Guide (2021 update)
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The business has seen the power of digital transformation and now it wants more form its CIOs: analyst Gartner says tech chiefs will focus on spending that enables innovation through 2021 and beyond.
All this fresh interest means that IT professionals have a great opportunity to get boardroom backing for new projects. So how can digital leaders get their team’s new ideas noticed and funded? Four tech chief gives their best-practice tips for turning smart ideas into projects that change the business for the better.
1. Keep an open channel between IT and the business
Karl Hoods, chief digital and information officer at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, says he runs a range of sessions to help great ideas bubble up to the surface.
Hoods runs weekly huddles where the topics for discussion are curated by the wider team. He also runs an open-door session once a month, so people can book 15 minutes to sit and chat about anything they want. Finally, Hoods encourages people to make time each week to come up with new ideas and to research creative areas.
SEE: Digital transformation: Two CIOs explain how to make it work
When it comes to getting ideas noticed higher up the organisation, Hoods says it’s important to find the right way to showcase the best of your team’s ideas. He says the traditional approach is to find detractors and supporters: “Hit them both and get them to do the talking on your behalf.”
Equally, he enjoys a strong working relationship with his bosses. He says one effective tactic is to use the strength of this bond to sell new ideas to other senior executives in other parts of the organisation: “I arm them with the information and get them to do some of the promotion on my behalf.”
4. Get people to think as if they’re investing their own cash
Dal Virdi, IT director at law firm Shakespeare Martineau, says his organisation always encourages people to come up with new ideas – and it’s an approach that permeates through the team structure, the meetings that take place with other business units, and right up to their interactions with the chief executive and the board.
The best ideas are pitched in front of senior staheolders in the firm to show how they might work and how they would improve business operations. Virdi says everyone within the IT team has the opportunity to come up with new ideas – and he’s keen to keep the process going.
“I think there’s a sweet spot in terms of getting people to think outside of their comfort zones – getting them to think a bit more widely than they do on a day-to-day basis and to consider how they could do things differently,” he says.
“It’s all about getting them to ask, ‘If it was my own money, what would I do?’ It’s easy spending the firm’s money and asking for lots of investment. But if it was your own firm and your own money, would you do it the same way, or would you think about doing it in a different way?”
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Mark Samuels
| October 8, 2021
| Topic: Digital Transformation: A CXO’s Guide