I read “The Next Leap in Productivity” by Adam Kolowa and he makes a strong case for getting the CEO and other senior management involved with the information technology strategy. “Who is driving the IT Strategy?”
Implementing information technology provides cost reduction through process automation and this is the primary role. The secondary role is to drive strategic competitive advantages through “speed, agility, and consistency.”
“CEO’s and CFO’s are not expected to understand how IT works. But they are required to ask the write questions:
When approached with a new project the CEO should ask:
1. How much money will it save the company?
2. How much will it increase operational capacity?
3. When will it be done?
Of course the CIO can prepare the answers in a FAQ type format and here are some of the other important questions from the book I like:
1. What other processes can we auotomate?
2. Which legacy systems can we moth ball?
3. What are realistic expectations for IT?
4. How will IT performance effect other parts of business?
5. Is IT budgeting driven by business needs?
6. Does the company have an information strategy?
7. Does our IT infrastructure support our information strategy?