According to consulting firm Korn Ferry,[1] the average CIO is in their role for just 4.6 years. That’s shorter than most of their boardroom peers and significantly less than CEOs’ average tenure of 6.9 years. Disheartening though this fact is, it may not come as a surprise to CIOs themselves, given the sky-high expectations they often have to meet and the relentless pressure inherent in their role.
Many CIOs are hired with a critical mandate to modernize their organization’s digital foundations. But doing this successfully means fighting on multiple fronts at once: overhauling years of legacy technology, consolidating fragmented data, and battling entrenched ways of working. All while keeping the lights on today. Few C-suite peers are faced with such a daunting to-do list.
Growing challenges
If anything, this dynamic has got more challenging recently, according to Shane Guthrie, a VP at application delivery and security company F5. While there used to be “a healthy tension” between short- and long-term digital initiatives, he says, that’s been upended in the last few years by a massively accelerated pace of change driven by algorithms, LLMs and other new technologies.
“In every single industry that I’ve looked at,” Guthrie notes, “innovation is threatening to outpace the long-term planning of most organizations.”
What makes this harder to deal with is the novelty of the challenges IT leaders face. “With a massive shift towards digital and rapid developments in AI, we’re all operating without much precedent,” says Adobe’s technology partnerships director, Marie Knight. “There’s no training for this, so CIOs are writing the playbook as they go along.”
The power of partnership
So how can CIOs best navigate these enormous pressures?
A key factor is working with an experienced and reliable partner, who can provide both the technical expertise and strategic guidance needed. With a partner like Tata Communications, CIOs can get help sequencing changes effectively, based on an understanding of their goals and the unique circumstances of their organization.
“Partnership is the most important thing for our customers,” says Raj Purkayastha, VP Head of Pre Sales and Strategy, Americas at Tata Communications. “We find they don’t just want a vendor, they want a partner – someone who can come in and really help them achieve their objectives.”
Personal chemistry and trust are important too. A good partner should offer a blend of support, mixing much-needed allyship with an external perspective that constructively challenges the CIO when appropriate.
Tackling the low-hanging fruit
Within their limited tenure, the reality is that a CIO probably only has a runway of two or three years to demonstrate progress. That’s not enough to complete a big transformation project, notes Tata Communications’ Purkayastha, so it’s important to ruthlessly prioritize.
“Oftentimes, the key is going after low-hanging fruit that can make an outsized difference and set a clear foundation to build on in future activity,” Purkayastha says.
This leads CIOs toward infrastructure, and specifically the network as the place where they can have the biggest impact quickly, creating the most value with the least disruption. Network enhancement can underpin broader transformation too, setting CIOs up for success over a longer timeframe.
Phased approach
“In my experience, the key to balancing legacy systems with new technologies lies in a strategic, phased approach,” confirms technology leader Vipin Kalra, who has worked in senior tech roles in the US, UK, India and Australia.
Leading technology partners like Tata Communications help organizations optimize their network infrastructure, assessing their hyperconnected ecosystem, identifying prime candidates for transformation, and building a pragmatic roadmap that aligns with business objectives. This ultimately strengthens enterprises’ digital fabric and allows them to scale, adapt and compete on a global stage.
“When you’re working on a transformation program, there are steps to it,” says Purkayastha. “Network transformation definitely needs to be top of the priority list, as this makes a big difference to customers and employees. With that step complete, it’s easier for CIOs to then turn toward tackling bigger challenges.”
For CIOs racing against the clock to deliver results, the key lies in balancing vision with execution. By working with a trusted partner to stage transformational initiatives thoughtfully, they can secure the quick wins needed to maintain confidence while laying the groundwork for long-term digital evolution.
To learn more, visit Tata Communications’ website.
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Read More from This Article: Navigating the pressures facing CIOs
Source: News