Accenture: change your ways, CIOs

It's time for CIO to take a stand and change their ways in order to create high performing ICT operations, according to consultancy giant Accenture. 

In a new report report – Mind The Gap – Accenture argues that the gap between high performing IT teams and their less empowered counterparts is widening. “Industry pundits have been talking  about the changing role of the CIO for  a long time. Now, however, change  has a better chance of sticking, since  in many cases it’s being driven from  the top down,” notes the report.  

“CIOs need to embrace  this mandate as a means to change the  business’ perception of IT from that of  an order taker to a group that actively  participates in—and enables—business  transformation and innovation.”

Accenture defines high performing IT teams as those that are able to command budget for discretionary projects, as well as operational costs; that are able to demonstrate a high awareness of business goals and measure their successes in terms of business success.

Excellence across the board

According to Accenture, high performers excel across the board. For example, compared with their peers, high performers: 

• have web-enabled 42% more of their  customer interactions and 93% more  of their supplier interactions;
• are 44% more likely to recognise the  strategic role IT plays in customer satisfaction
• are eight times more likely to  consistently measure the benefits  realised from strategic IT initiatives
• spend 29% more annually on  developing and implementing  new applications rather than on  maintaining existing ones
• are twice as likely to view workforce  performance as a priority.

With outsourcing set to boom again in the public sector, this is an area in which the characteristics of the high performing CIO can be seen according to Accenture's measurements. The report argues:” Outsourcing is more than just a way to lower costs. High performing  IT organisations strategically use  outsourcing to gain access to critical  IT skills, improve their agility and  flexibility, increase the effectiveness of  business processes, and lower the total  cost of ownership of applications and  infrastructure. 

"High performers approach outsourcing  as a partnership with service  providers, which enables them to  extract significantly more value out  of their application and infrastructure  investments. Among high performers  in our research, 83% said application  development and maintenance  services provide the greatest value  in helping them achieve critical IT  objectives, while three-quarters  cited infrastructure management as providing high value in achieving IT."

Metrics rethink

Critically, high performers will be able to apply rigorous metrics to activities such as outsourcing.  Some 75% of high performers in Accenture's study use sophisticated metrics for application outsourcing, compared with 36%  of other IT organisations.

"While many organisations use  inadequate process standardisation  and insufficient tools as an excuse for not applying the necessary metrics, high performers performers  are confident that their metrics  demonstrate business value, particularly in infrastructure  outsourcing and business process outsourcing," notes Accenture.  "As a result, the value high performers  realize from outsourced services more  often exceeds their original projected  business objectives."

New metrics need to be built into ICT strategic thinking, counsels Accenture. This new approach should encompass elements such as: 

• Internal and external resources aligned to business requirements and  priorities
• Strategic capabilities of third-party  providers fully leveraged as needed
• Integrated business and IT changes  reflected in IT architecture 
• Legacy systems proactively retired 
• Application portfolios integrated  internally and externally to optimize process automation
• Data shared as a service and systems responsive to changing business  information needs
• Dynamic and secure access to virtualised, interoperable  infrastructure (network, computing,  desktop, storage)
• Comprehensive business continuity plans

Finally, CIOs need to ensure that they have the necessary support to achieve their goals. "CIOs have  the power to lead change, but  they can’t do it by themselves. They  must build world-class IT teams that  are able to think through issues and  execute continuous improvements," advises Accenture.  "The CIO’s responsibility is to set the direction and create the structure that  enables teams to perform their jobs  in the most effective and productive  manner – and in a way that ultimately  adds value."

Accenture's High Performance IT research  programme has been operating since  2005, and to date has involved in  depth participation by more than 1,400 CIOs across 45 countries.