The Key to Digital Transformation? CTO and C-suite Alignment
And not just any kind of alignment. The kind that materializes when IT sits shoulder to shoulder with their counterparts to co-create a vision. Does this sound like your organization? If not, it’s costing you more than just ideas.
About a decade ago, an article came out in CIO magazine that projected an unprecedented spend in technology from the marketing budget, a trend that was just starting to emerge. It radically shifted how I thought about IT’s relationship with the rest of the business. I realized, in that moment, that the companies that were going to be successful in the new world were those that gave tech/digital a leading role in the strategy rather than treating it as a supporting player.
Here we are, 10 years later, and while many have adapted, not every company has embraced this shift. Some players still operate from the dated concept that IT lives to serve the rest of the business. Following this model has caused them to lag behind in the modern marketplace.
Does this sound like your organization? Has your company failed to adapt? Here are some questions to help evaluate if your business is at risk:
Does tech have a seat at the table during strategic planning, ideation exploration, problem-solving, and every phase in between?
Is the rest of the C-Suite embracing the CTO/CIO as a strategic partner, and is that culture permeating job functions throughout the organization, from VPs and Directors down to junior associates?
Are business leaders partnering with their tech counterparts to co-create solutions to challenges (rather than simply assigning tech teams work once decisions have already been made)?
During my years in product leadership, some of the best work I did was in deep collaboration with my IT partners, and this dynamic is something I always fight for in my consulting work with clients. When it comes to the health of your digital transformation, consider the depth and breadth of the relationship between business functions and technical leaders. When IT is an active participant everywhere strategic decisions are being made, that’s when transformation is not only possible, but probable. To borrow a phrase from Marty Cagan, “If engineers are only coding, you’re leaving half their value on the table.”