Striking a Delicate Balance Between

Striking a Delicate Balance between Realism and Idealism:

How can an IT manager or CIO manage expectations of the CEO so that the CIO's credibility isn't undermined?

CIO and IT managers play crucial roles in integrating revenue-enhancing technology into the fabric of major organizations. Technology saves time, and time is money in today's fast-paced world. Technology also enables international commerce to take place at a click of a mouse, making IT departments a vital component for organizations wishing to remain competitive in the current global economy. No organization can survive today without the Internet, and without being on the cutting edge of technological development. Yet despite all of the benefits that technology can bring to business, even CIOs who are noted for practicing good project management often find themselves criticized by the non-technical top management.

It cannot be denied that CIO credibility assessment remains a problem. "Even among companies with a solid reputation in the IT community, the average business perception of IT's value is an unimpressive 6.05 on a scale of one to 10 (with one being extremely negative and 10 being extremely positive)." (Overby, 2005) Furthermore, this lack of organizational support often exacts a toll on the morale of the entire IT component of the organization. Half all CIOs in a recent survey described the stress level among their IT staff as "high to very high." (Ware, 2003) When a department feels unappreciated, widespread stress and resentment is often the inevitable consequence.

Often, the perceived tension between IT and other organizational arms has little to do with factors over which the CIO has direct control, but instead lies in the vague perception that IT costs too much. (Overby, 2005) Failures, if costly and frustrating, are more quickly recollected than successes, which are simply taken for granted once a technology has become part of the organization's infrastructure.

CEOs who know little about technology are particularly apt see IT as a financial drain that does not help meet the bottom line. But IT eye-rolling about the obtuseness of CEOs, however warranted, will do nothing to heal the rift between CEOs and CIOs. Instead, the fact that IT often speaks a different language than other organizational arms means that communication between CIOs and CEOs is key. For example, IT departments may be more concerned about innovative research than the immediate bottom line. But IT must demonstrate to the CEO how current changes can help the organization meet its desired financial goals. When working on a project, IT staff must keep the CEO informed of why costs may be increasing in clear, layperson's terms. Even when a project is not going over time or over the allocated budget, the CEO must be reminded of the past profits IT has generated for the company, and will generate for the company, once the project is completed. These benefits must not be demonstrated in the abstract. Ideally, benefits should be expressed in quantifiable, financial terms and show clearly how they meet expectations.

IT departments must learn a new language. Speaking the CEOs language means that it is so crucial to continually use data to communicate the success and the revenue IT has generated, and could possibly generate in the future, whenever CIOs talk to CEOs. Quantifiable data is perhaps the most important way to convince CEOs of an initial large outlay on a necessary or experimental project, and to show that IT is in alignment with long-term organizational financial goals. Costly delays without adequate explanations can create the impression that IT is a drag, regardless of how justifiable the reason. For example: "The worst day in Joe Eng's career was the day he told his CEO that his company's most important IT project -- a $500 million, state-of-the-art global network that is among this decade's most important IT initiatives in the financial services industry -- would be three months late...With only a week before the two-year rollout of SwiftNet was scheduled to begin, the network monitoring software was not working reliably." (Holms, 2005) In this nightmare scenario, the CIO's expectations of the projected date of completion would not be realized. However, by preparing the CEO for the magnitude of the project beforehand, as well as his own staff, the CIO was able to engage in an effective personal and professional disaster management plan, and the fallout was kept in check.