Getting Ready for the Economic Recovery when things will be brighter
During a downturn, CIOs often have to make some unpopular decisions and that often costs them the alliances they need to succeed. Based on Janco's experience the highest attrition rates for CIOs is during a recovery. With a recovery, many enterprises feel they can afford a change at the top to get a new direction and improve the enterprise's IT operations. In order to succeed CIOs need to take proactive steps before it is too late.
In the last turndown, CIOs and enterprises around the world trimmed IT staffs to the bone. Now they have an interesting timing issue that they need to face if they want to be geared correctly for the recovery. The Corporate Executive Board research indicates that the number of companies moving up or down in industry rankings more than doubles during the recovery before returning to normal levels in the subsequent months.
When should CIOs start to look at re-building their staffs? How do they rebuild alliances that have been damaged as they have cut staffs and services? What are the right signals that they should watch and what should they do to prepare?
CIOs need to act well in advance of the recovery. The end of a recession is often recognized only months after the fact - too late to gain a large competitive advantage. The most progressive CIOs and IT Managers turn to recovery mode before competitors by implementing a recovery plan right now.
CIOs Should Prepare Now for the Economic Recovery
Most IT functions are operating at very high productivity levels and do not have any extra capacity to use when the recovery starts. Once the recovery occurs there were be huge demand for initiatives, projects, and staffing. CIOs who react too late will find they will not be able to meet the demands placed on them.
One of the first things a CIO should do is get his organization in order.
- Review the organization infrastructure with IT Service Management (ITSM) and Metrics in mind
- Review status of the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and how it will be applied with new initiatives
- Review all of the responsibilities of the IT staff and support staff members - have current job descriptions in place
- Identify the resources that will have to be hire (employees) or retain (contractors) additional resources
- Have completed requisitions and recruiters in place so recovery management can start quickly
These may seem like simple things, however without them in place before the recovery, the IT function and the CIO are risk to be marginalized.
The CIO Infrastructure Planning Tool Kit is comprised of a collection of Janco products that CIOs and IT Managers can use to get ready for the recovery.
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Who the CIO is
In many enterprises, CIOs are perceived as mere technology managers, while in reality they should be viewed as business leaders. The CIO's focus should be on reducing costs and improving profitability through the strategic usage of IT. It is very important for the Information Technology organization to get out of a transactional mode. If the CIO has the right infrastructure in place, then the CIO can help in directing the strategy of the enterprise, and even shape its destiny. The CIO brings his own perspective, and without them, enterprises cannot build a robust operating environment.
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