{"id":3528,"date":"2022-01-26T10:34:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T10:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.elixirr.com\/innovation-catalyst-a-changing-mandate-for-the-cio\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T10:47:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T10:47:00","slug":"innovation-catalyst-a-changing-mandate-for-the-cio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elixirr.com\/en-gb\/innovation-catalyst-a-changing-mandate-for-the-cio\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovation Catalyst"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Technology-driven innovation is everywhere<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s in our electronic devices and in almost every product or service we use as customers in some shape or form. From enterprise social media to algorithmic decision-making apps right through to big data and analytics, it\u2019s pervading the corporate world too. The rate and scale of tech innovation is greater than it\u2019s ever been. And it\u2019s only set to continue and speed up as more and more firms tackle the digital agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Brand power and operational excellence are no longer enough to sustain competitive advantage. More than 50% of companies have disappeared from the Fortune 500 over the last 15 years and (depending on which source you look at) the average life of a Fortune 500 company is approximately 30 years. Today\u2019s business leaders must innovate and embrace new technologies, and fast. They must drive disruptions of their own just to survive, let alone stay ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the traditional go-to person for all things IT-related, the CIO has a clear opportunity to be the catalyst and biggest champion of technology-driven innovation. We believe that to successfully fulfill this mandate, the CIO should focus on providing the \u2018platform\u2019 for technology innovation, allowing the business to take the lead in delivering digital initiatives. In other words, to fundamentally enable versus \u2018drive\u2019 or \u2018own\u2019 the exploitation of new technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here\u2019s why<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The role of the CIO is being stretched to include innovation, integration, digitisation and customer experience. Most CIOs are unable to meet those expectations with the teams, partnership models and ways of working they have today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the wider business is becoming more tech-savvy and more informed on how technology is driving business change. We can see this illustrated by the way that IT budgets are being allocated and where technical skills now sit, especially on systems of engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where historically the typical corporate CIO had up to 80%+ of the overall IT budget, several industry sources predict that decentralization of IT budgets will continue to accelerate, and although overall IT budgets are increasing, progressive CIOs stand to control less than 40% of direct business operations technology spend by the end of the decade. New senior business roles such as Chief Digital Officer (CDO) and Chief Innovation Officer are taking up the remit for the business enabling, more strategic technology investments. With relatively chunky budgets, in some cases upwards of 60% of total IT spend, and more flexibility to stretch traditional organisational boundaries, they are given the responsibility to bring in new technologies and create digital business models and platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skills are following suit. For example, more than 50% of Marketing hires in recent years had technical backgrounds and in several industries, 90% of new hires require ICT (Information Communication and Technology) skillsets. The days of \u201cbusiness defines the requirement and IT provides the solution\u201d are no more. IT is now being done progressively more \u2018in and by\u2019 the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trend here is that the CIO spends more time looking after IT Operations; the custodian of legacy \u2018back-end\u2019 systems and ensuring a secure, reliable infrastructure. How then does the CIO take a prominent innovation role for the business?
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The typical CIO wears a number of hats but for most, it\u2019s the one of looking after IT operations and infrastructure that consumes most energy and resource. App rationalisation, data centre consolidation\/outsourcing, shifting more to SaaS or cloud to reduce TCO all the while maintaining secure and reliable systems require significant effort. Any mindshare and resource left is spent on feeding the ever-hungry machine of system and data integration, harmonisation projects and incremental change releases.

Many CIOs would love to spend more time on scanning the horizon for new technology and bringing tech-led innovation to the table. The hard truth is that most don\u2019t have the time and level of business intimacy required to do this with the level of impact required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than looking to find and bring in new technologies, the CIO can play from a position of strength on the innovation charge. Most CIOs will have some form of IT or architecture roadmap. By redefining these and establishing new IT operating models, the CIO can provide a digital ready innovation platform for the business to leverage more readily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, providing an incubation environment and brokering the set-up of the right internal and external experts and technical resource for the business to plug into is a compelling draw-card. With these types of business-enabling frameworks and a network of trusted partners in place, the business gets freedom and flexibility in a way that does not compromise the integrity and security of systems overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tech-savvy business natives with deeper understanding of innovation opportunity in their business area can still explore and exploit new technologies. But with the right platform in place, they won\u2019t have the incentive to skirt around the edges of IT or keep initiatives under the radar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Big shifts to enable innovation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Actively supporting and enabling the business to explore and exploit new technologies has a cumulative benefit. By trying to control less, CIOs will gain more \u2013 more transparency into what is happening, better time to value for IT investments, improved business engagement and enablement. With some of the tools that exist today, CIOs can gain real insight into how technology is being used and how effective the digital-ready platform is in enabling the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making it easier for the business to leverage new technologies to drive innovation should be the single objective of today\u2019s CIO. The improved visibility this would facilitate gives the CIO the opportunity to constantly evolve and improve the platform and provide more value-add frameworks for the business to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n