The State of the CIO, 2023: Building a Business Strategy

At the same time, CIOs continue to build strong relationships with influencers at the executive levels: Seventy-seven percent of 2023 CIO state respondents have established strong educational partnerships with the CEO and board of directors. Nearly half (49%) of IT leaders participating in this year’s research report, and CIOs themselves, continue to hold some new C-level positions. For example, according to the 2023 CIO Survey, more chief data officers (53%) and chief digital officers (42%) now fall under the CIO management umbrella. Chief security officers and chief analytics officers are more likely to report to IT leadership.

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Similarly, IT budgets hold direct control at most companies – averaging around 43.5% – with respondents expecting that ratio to rise to 50% in the next three years. Consistent with reporting structures, CIOs oversee budgets allocated to some new executive titles: 58 percent of those surveyed said CTO budgets were included in total technology spending under the CIO’s management, and half said the same as the boss. Digital officer budget. A very high number, 63% of certified chief data officer expenses, came under the CIO and IT department.

As the CIO’s leadership status and penetration in the business continues to grow, continued economic uncertainty, the potential of new technologies to transform business, and the halo effects of CIOs’ widely heralded pandemic performance, the role has become increasingly important. When it comes to business strategy. In particular, the level of change during the pandemic was unmatched compared to previous periods, and business strategies and fundamental platforms called for IT leadership to encourage widespread adoption and manage continuous care and nutrition, said JP Sani, Chief Digital and Technology Officer. Sunbelt Rentals, a global player in the equipment rental market.

Sunbathing rentals

“It’s about how we maintain the edge we’ve created through the business strategies we’ve implemented,” Sani says. “Unlike in previous years where you start something big and the next renewal cycle takes three to four years, there’s a continuous value creation formula for digital transformation that happens year after year.”

The one on the 2023 docket

Sunbelt Rentals’ 2023 roadmap calls for growing its digital platforms in areas such as omnichannel ecommerce, flexible pricing, service, supply chain and warehouse management. The company is investing in new collaboration technologies and zero trust initiatives to fully empower employees wherever they are and on whatever device they work on.

Digital transformation and technology firms used to work on two parallel tracks. Today, they are integrated into one team while reporting to Sani to accelerate systems that drive business strategy forward. “Now we’re one team handling initiatives from start to finish because time was of the essence,” he explained. “Any e-commerce startup that doesn’t have a good roadmap to stay ahead of the competition will lose value.”

At The Hartford Insurance Co., technology startups and business strategies for 2023 are one and the same, said the company’s CIO, Deepe Soni. Cloud deployment, AI, analytics, modern data ecosystem and digitization of more business processes are at the top of the agenda to simplify communications for customers, brokers and agents and bring the power of digital tools to employees. For example, underwriters switch between nearly a dozen devices to do their jobs—today, one streamlined device uses all the important data at their fingertips to understand risks and make better decisions, Sony says.

Hartford Insurance Company

With new technologies poised to reinvent business processes and disrupt entire markets, Sony says she and her fellow CIOs must play a key role in leading the business to think differently, recognizing opportunities to use technology to create solutions for business partners, customers and employees. . One of the most significant changes at The Hartford is the adoption of agile practices not only in the IT domain, but as a company-wide business. “We’re now organized into customer-centric value streams that start with the product owners in the business and escalate to technology,” she says. “The opportunity to use information and technology is increasing, so we need to quickly deliver skills to take advantage of future opportunities.”

Leveraging data, advanced analytics and AI is a priority across the board. Thirty-four percent of IT leaders responding to the 2023 CIO Survey cited data/business analytics as a top technology driver for IT investments, followed by security and risk management (38%). Machine learning and AI were high on the list with 26% mentions.

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At Dow Inc., a critical engine for driving business strategy through data and analytics. The data and analytics teams were consolidated into one team last year and a new senior leadership role was promoted. Chris Bruman, Dow’s first chief data and analytics officer, reports directly to Melanie Kalmar, corporate vice president and Dow’s CIO and chief digital officer.

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In his dual role, Bruman leads a centralized data and analytics team, but also has responsibility for building an enterprise-wide data and analytics strategy to enable growth and enhance productivity. Over time, Dow has evolved its data operating model into an interactive and conversational approach, developed an enterprise-wide data platform and data catalog, and expanded data initiatives to leverage structured and unstructured data. Bruman’s team has invested time and resources in data literacy, developed a company-wide program to develop the organization’s data language, and how to leverage data and analytics.

“Analytics is so important to the way we do business every day that we don’t believe a fully centralized team can meet the needs,” he explains. In a federated or hub-and-spoke approach, the power to use analytics rests with the business operations. “Information is about empowering democracy and empowering speakers to do more on their own,” he says.

The CIO-plus role takes shape

In addition to its focus on data, Dow has invested heavily over the past few years in implementing digital platforms, including those to improve and accelerate the pace of innovation and expanding a better digital shopping experience on Dow.com. Direct contact with customers. Dow is working to digitize its manufacturing facilities, drive decisions and deliver data to the field of need to improve operational efficiency, operational discipline, safety and reliability, reports CIO and CDO Kalmar. “Digital at Dow represents a company strategy, not just an IT strategy,” she says.

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Other CIOs, like Kalmar, are expanding their roles and oversight responsibilities beyond IT as digital strategies move front and center across the business. Many are taking on new revenue responsibilities – a move cited by 68% of IT leaders this year, up from 65% in the 2022 CIO survey. As part of the move, 44% of IT leaders manage a team with the potential to generate new revenue, and nearly a quarter are members of this team, the survey found. As part of this expanded revenue charter, IT leaders are improving business and IT processes (47%), creating new products and services (40%), and making data more accessible (34%).

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Andrew Ho, a member of the Global Strategy Group (GSG), now owns both the IT and office services firms – a move that comes as a result of synergies between the two areas. With hybrid work now a mainstay, Ho’s dual role ensures that he is responsible for enhancing employee experience and engagement whether working remotely or in the office. For example, when reconfiguring office space to accommodate hybrid operations, technology requirements cannot be separated from construction, given the importance of immersive audio-visual equipment, zoom rooms and hotel capacity, says Ho, senior vice president and head of technology and office services. Research, Communication and Public Affairs Agency for GSG.

Global Strategy Group

In addition, Ho said office service workers are always in the office and maintain contact with employees, so they are better positioned to handle front-end technical support for the organization. “The lines are blurred between the facilities and the technology, and that’s all under IT,” he says.

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Sastry Durvasula, who holds both the CIO and customer service officer titles, came to TIAA a year ago in part for the CIO-plus opportunity. From a technology perspective, Durvasula’s 2023 roadmap includes a digital-first agenda of transformation built around data and AI for superior personalized experiences while simultaneously leveraging automation to modernize core platforms and processes and a hybrid, multi-cloud migration.

On the customer services front, Durvasula’s focus is on AI and automation to transform TIAA’s everything from front office customer engagement to fraud management and customer support services. “Our fundamental belief is that customer services will be the biggest beneficiaries of the AI, automation and digital services we are investing in, so they will benefit greatly from being close to technology,” explains Durvasula. “It makes a lot of sense to put them together.”

TIAA

Durvasula, who has held CIO-plus roles overseeing IT and digital products at other companies, firmly believes that technology’s role front and center in business strategy has changed the game and set IT leaders on a new course. It’s not a matter of shifting focus between technology initiatives and business strategy, it’s a balancing act that requires equal focus on both, he said.

“Now that technology is front and center in business strategy and not the back-end driver, this changes the role of the CIO a little bit,” he says. “Technology is disrupting business in so many ways and now is the best time to be on the CIO career path. The branches are wide open.”