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Agreement
For quite some time, there's been a running argument in business and academia about whether IT should play a leadership role in shaping the strategy of the firm. Organizations generating supranormal returns to their shareholders frequently have activist IT, meaning an IT organization that both challenges and works hand in hand with the business to do amazing things in impossible time frames.
Another school of thought maintains that IT is essentially a support function, attending to the wishes of the business. David Norton and Robert Kaplan present this hypothesis in Alignment: Using the Balanced Scorecard to Create Corporate Synergies. But with all due respect, I think they are wrong. IT can and must be much more than a support function.
For CIOs to believe otherwise is to head for career extinction. In The Minding Organization, Moshe Rubinstein describes many examples of individuals working under constraints to creatively solve problems. Essential to creativity is the ability -- indeed the mandate -- not just to follow but to lead. As one CIO from an aerospace firm puts it, "If your organization doesn't want you to behave strategically, force them to. Failing that, quit."
Most IT shops start out by saying, "This is what we do," but then move to asking, "What do you need us to do?" notes the chief architect at a midmarket telecom firm. "Business units have demanded that IT come out of its operating cave and help explore the requirements of customers necessary to grow the business."
The next stage in the evolution of IT is stepping up as an equal and saying, "This is what we need to do." CEOs are asking their CIOs to do more than take orders. They are asking them to scan the globe for game-changing ideas. "Alignment means that IT is trusted to provide advice and guidance when changes to the business are anticipated," as one respondent puts it.
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