In order to be a success, a CIO needs to be able to find and work with partners. These partners have to be committed to the same things that the CIO is: the overall success of his or her company and IT department.
What You'll Find Inside:
- 7 WRONG WAYS TO OUTSOURCE YOUR IT DEPARTMENT
- WHY DON'T IT ALLIANCES WORK OUT?
- DEALING WITH VENDORS AFTER YOU'VE SIGNED THE DEAL
- 6 TIPS FOR PICKING THE RIGHT CLOUD PROVIDER TO PARTNER WITH
However, finding the right partners can be quite a challenge. All too often alliances don't work out. CIOs need to take the time and study why some of these relationships are successful while others are not.
As difficult as it can be to find the right vendor, that is just the start of the relationship. CIOs have to understand that these types of relationships take care and maintenance. In order to get out of the relationship what you need, you are going to have to understand what the relationship is going to require over the long haul.
One of the most significant partnerships that most CIOs will become involved in have to do with the offshoring of IT assets. These are unique types of relationships and they come with their own special set of conditions and restrictions.
Just to make things more complicated, the arrival of cloud computing has created a whole new class of potential vendor partners for an IT department. Picking the right cloud provider is a brand new task for CIOs. We first have to understand the technology and then understand the firms that are providing it.
Finally, the importance of IT to every firm continues to grow. With this importance come additional responsibilities. The government has started to understand the impact that an IT department can have on the performance of a firm and so new legislation is being considered. CIOs need to both be aware of this and planning for it.
This book will provide CIOs with an overview of the different types of partners and relationships that they are going to need to develop. We'll explore offshoring, outsourcing, why alliances don't work out, and how to create effective business partnerships.
For more information on what it takes to be a great CIO, check out my blog, The Accidental Successful CIO, at:
www.TheAccidentalSuccessfulCIO.com
About the Author: Managing an IT department is not just a business, it's a science. Nobody knows more about the science of being a CIO than Dr. Jim Anderson.
"I don't embrace excuses about why an IT department is not being successful, I embrace solutions."
Over the last 25 years, Dr. Anderson has transformed failing CIOs worldwide. Dr. Anderson will turn these nervous executives into powerful leaders.
In the past, the IT department was left alone and was only noticed if something stopped working (like email!) However, in the 21st Century IT has become a critical part of how businesses compete.
The problem is that very few firms have figured out how to evolve from treating IT as a simple cost center to using it as a competitive advantage.
Dr. Jim Anderson has spent over 25 years consulting with a wide variety of IT firms from the very big to the very small. His insights into the leadership needed to combine the separate worlds of business and IT strategy offer hope to CIOs everywhere who are struggling with this challenge.
For more information on Blue Elephant Consulting or how to make your IT department a more valuable part of any company, go to: www.BlueElephantConsulting.com
