CIOs and the Changing Face of the IT Department

Technology is rapidly changing and improving, and this means that CIOs are forced to adapt and change their own strategies within their departments. The ubiquity and increasing ease-of-use of the latest technology has led to IT departments working far more closely with business stakeholders. This in turn has caused CIOs to turn more towards running their departments like a start-up, through the use of:

• Agile

• Automated software

• DevOps programming

Unbounded IT

When these strategies come together, it’s a concept called unbounded IT. Unbounded IT means that code is written, tested, and shipped much faster, and if possible, automated. Businesses can harness unbounded IT to their unique operating models, ensuring efficiency and cost-effectiveness. One of these methods is bimodal IT, which allows the business to have one team taking risks in the hopes of a breakthrough, and another team that focuses more on stability. With both teams working together, the business can search for the next big thing, but still have a focus on providing steady service to its customers.

Empowering Employees

The best way for a business to provide excellent service to its customers is by empowering its employees with the right tools. This can be something as simple as ensuring that employees have open access to technical help, preferably face to face rather than by help ticket. Building on that, businesses may find it helpful to have a searchable database that employees can access when they have questions, enabling them to find a solution and freeing up IT time for more intensive issues.

Automation

Technology has grown smarter over the past decade or two, allowing computers and robots to take on some of the tasks that otherwise used up business resources. Virtual engineers which can learn alongside their human counterparts, for example, can take care of network problems. Automation can be a cost-effective solution for tasks that otherwise require the time of employees who can be best utilized elsewhere.

Unbounded IT and Vendors

In order to keep up with changing technology, CIOs are looking to make more informed choices when selecting a vendor for their cloud solutions. Instead of simply purchasing a single software package, they’re using multiple strategies to choose from vendors and must be sure that the applications purchased or rented are able to interact with each other.

Businesses need to be able to count on their CIOs to be flexible and adaptable when it comes to the latest technology. Gone are the days of the IT department being its own world away from the rest of the organization. Instead, businesses should focus on automation, employee empowerment, and unbounded IT in order to maximize their efficiency and continue to provide excellent service to their customers.