One of the chronic problems IT folks have is a failure to align with the business. IT executives often want to build a shining castle on the hill, technologically speaking, even if what the company needs is something much less technically impressive. Often in such cases the CIO pushes forward with the vision regardless, usually to a negative result for the company; sadly the CIO's career may be harmed less than the company, folk in the IT industry are pretty good at spinning failures.
So it was really quite pleasant to stumble upon a commentary piece in Computerworld "Lying Low, and Thinking Big Picture" by Bruce Stewart. He writes about a CIO working in the timber industry who is basically doing very little, and trying to do less.
The industry is commoditized and going through significant changes to the competitive landscape and the company is using the low-cost producer lever as its strategic tool. And lest you think the firm simply emasculated IT by hiringa B-player, it's worth pointing out that the CIO in question in this case does not lack for vision. In fact, he has a vision of significant grandeur, but he's smart enough to do what the company needs today.
I know a lot of CIOs who would pull the ripcord in this sort of scenario. Among a CIO's peer group, retrenchment is not usually considered a valuable skill, and certainly it's not going to land anyone on the cover of CIO magazine.
But the interesting thing is that Stewart didn't mention the CIO's name or his company. If he did, I imagine the guy's phone would be ringing off the hook with job offers. He is the exception that proves the rule a CFO friend of mine often claims: there's nothing more expensive than a bored IT guy.
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