CIO Agenda: It's the business, stupid

What's in store for IT over the next 12 months? To find out, we polled 12 members of silicon.com's CIO Jury about their outlook and key concerns for 2005. The results make up our first CIO Agenda series. Today Andy McCue looks at how the CIO's role is changing - and what the mood is heading into the New Year.

The role of the CIO has been the subject of much debate and controversy among IT executives and the wider business community in 2004 with questions of leadership and business value being top of the agenda.

One of the themes emerging this year has been a shift in UK Plc from cost-cutting to growth. The consensus among many CIOs, analysts and industry experts is that this represents a real opportunity which IT leaders must grasp to demonstrate their true value to the boardroom and the CEO.

silicon.com recently surveyed 12 UK CIOs and heads of IT as part of our CIO Agenda series about how they see their roles evolving during 2005.

The unanimous verdict was that the CIO's role will become more business-related and if IT bosses are unable to step up to that plate then they face being exiled back to the server room.

Simon Norbury, director of ICT at Westminster City Council, put it bluntly: "More business-related or if not then returning to the technical basement."

Margaret Smith, outgoing director of business information systems at Legal & General, said there will be a shift to being more of a demand-led than supply-led CIO.

"This means not concentrating on keeping the lights on but also setting the vision and direction that means IT supports the business, plus being there to work with the peer directors to set strategy," she said.

John Odell, group IT director at the BBA Group, said CIOs must become more of a "trusted expert" to the CEO and the board on the processes in an increasingly complex business environment.

Getting closer to "the business" was a point echoed by others on the panel. Phil Young, head of IT operations at Amtrak, said: "I think CIOs will need to concentrate more on strategy and business leadership to ensure IT is recognised more within the business as a facilitator for change and not just a cost centre."

Ted Woodhouse, IT director at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, predicted a slow increase in awareness from the rest of the board about IT, its importance and their dependence on it, which will in turn lead to the CIO playing a more strategic role over time.

But CIOs will also have to overcome significant challenges and obstacles in their quest to be genuine business leaders.

Bill Gibbons, CIO at Abbey Group, which is in the middle of a takeover by Spanish bank Santander, said of the challenges facing him in 2005: "Balancing ongoing IT cost management with targeted IT investment and prioritising business line IT investment requirements within affordability guidelines."

Steve Ritchie, CIO at Investcorp, warned against IT executives spreading themselves too thinly across the business. "Technologists in general, and the CIO in particular, are expected to understand as much about the business as the business users. Trying to maintain this without becoming a 'jack of all trades, master of none' is a growing challenge," he said.

Peter Dew, CIO at BOC, said CIOs must keep looking at where efficiencies can be gained from existing IT by "improving the exploitation of the installed technology base".

Legal & General's Margaret Smith said it is important to teach IT people how to market themselves, while Graham Benson, information services director and CIO at Screwfix Direct, said it simply boils down to "delivering measurable return on investment".

Despite these obstacles, the CIO Agenda panel was positive about 2005, with almost all of them saying they are "more optimistic" about the next 12 months than they were this time last year.

Les Boggia, head of IT at insurance firm Carole Nash, said: "Recent discussions with the MD include projects and further recruitment, which were not on the agenda at all last year due to lack of confidence in IT."

Investcorp's CIO Steve Ritchie said 2005 will be a huge challenge in terms of what his technology team will be expected to deliver but he added that would be a good thing - "assuming we get it right".

But Ritchie summed up the mood in the CIO camp and the broad shoulders today's IT leaders need. "I'm always optimistic," he said.

Previous CIO Agenda pieces include a look at which technologies are hot and which are not and the state of IT budgets.