Top 10 CIO priorities in US for 2011-2012

October 22, 2011: This is the list of top ten US CIO’s business technology priorities and how they measure up against the Indian CIO’s list. These are presented in the reverse order.

1. The tenth point on the list is to improve collaboration. All CIO’s of Ford, Procter & Gamble and Cisco encourage collaboration between the far away employees and supply chain partners. This will increase productivity and innovation. The emergence of unified communication tools will increase the number of people using them. So, once these platforms have been established, people should start using them.
2. The ninth point is to explore cloud computing. Most of the US CIO’s have cloud down the list. But Indian CIO’s see it as a top priority. Global energy major Essar has already adopted Microsoft’s Azure. According to the CIO of Essar, security is one of their biggest concerns. So, cloud is going to be inevitable according to him.
3. The next point is to embrace the consumerization of IT. Many companies are coming to terms with the fact that many employees are using personal devices and applications. So, CIO’s need to structure clear policies about which will be managed by the company or reimbursed by the company and which will not be. CIO’s need to embrace employee’s personal technology.
4. Point no 7 is to leverage social media. Customers, partners and suppliers should be talking about your company in the social media. Websites such as face book and twitter are examples. Companies need to monitor and participate in such discussions and forums. It helps improve customer service and sales.
5. Point no 6 is to find the right people. This is the message that companies should hire smart, talented and hard working people. There is a big fight for talent among the technology companies. Whether it is Google, Microsoft or Apple, all want to have the best and the brightest. Facebook recently offered a young computer science graduate compensation valued at $145,000.
6. The fifth point is preparing for the Post PC era. Most of the PC worldwide sales have been hit. Many companies are turning to switch to tablets and other mobile computing devices. PC seems to be going the way of vacuum tubes and typewriters.
7. Point no 4 is to harness big data. Earlier only handful of companies had access to huge amounts of data. But now every company seems to be generating it. And the most important point is to retrieve valuable information from that data.
8. Point no 3 is to break out of the 80/20 spending trap. CIO’s can no longer afford to spend most of their time in maintaining existing systems. They must find new growth initiatives – IT programs that open up new markets and businesses. Rather than maintaining the status quo. Shifting from 80/20 to 60/40 or 50/50 won’t happen if CIO’S don’t wish to.
9. Point no 2 is to align business with IT.  Business and IT need not be mentioned as separate entities. Now a days CIO’s are taking up more responsibilities outside their domain. In areas such as business process management, procurement and supply chain management. They are also involved in new product launches and development.
10. Point no one. When IT systems become the bottlenecks for new product launches, capabilities and expansion, the company’s inability to beat small competitors becomes clear. The number no 1 choice of business technology executives as their biggest concern was that they were unable to meet business goals as the IT systems were slow to be implemented.