Does The CIO Need To Be 100% Prepared?

It’s like an ominous ring, something you already know. But you wished that someone else might deny it, raising some hope. But, that’s not to be. Talks of IT budget cuts abound and fill the air.

When Gartner recently released the findings of its survey of worldwide CIOs, indicating flat IT budgets in 2012, it may not have come across as a complete surprise to the CIOs. Rather, it was just a re-affirmation of what they had been fearing all along. Even as the research and analyst firm followed up with another report close on the heels predicting a 10.3 percent increase in Indian enterprise IT spending in 2012, good news for the Indian CIOs, it might not be enough to assuage fears as their company boards devise strategies to cut corners.

As CIOs oscillate between hope and fear their mental state is akin to the global economy, both of which continue to reel in the pressure cooker situation. It’s nothing that the CIOs haven’t faced and braced before, including the most recent 2008-2009 recession and the various cyclical IT spending cuts that they have been privy to.

While there are invaluable lessons to learn from each of the past scenarios, there is nothing that can absolutely and 100 percent prepare a CIO each time he/she is hit upon by a recession or a recession-like scenario. (And, I don’t mean to undermine the CIO’s capability by stating that.). And, that’s because they are operating in a very dynamic IT environment. If one takes into account a gap of even 2-3 years it is long enough to bring about a significant upgrade and change in the organisation’s IT strategy and infrastructure.

Take for instance, a good number of organisations have embarked on a virtualisation drive since 2008-2009. Now, that calls for a different strategy to deal with than in the pre-virtualisation investment phase. And, this is just one of the examples. Similarly, there are projects underway or completed in the areas of BI, BPM, collaboration, enterprise mobility, consolidation, etc.

So, does that mean the CIO is helpless if he is not 100 percent prepared? No. It’s rather the other way round as the CIO is at his/her empowered best and all the more better positioned not being completely prepared. And, here I argue my case – Desperate times call for desperate measures and thinking beyond the obvious, which in turn has the potential to catalyse innovation. And, there is no emphasising the fact that these are the times when innovation is at a premium and an idea actually has the potential to change the life and direction of the organisation for the better.

But, can innovation be delivered and a game changing idea come to fruition weighed down by a sense of complacency and pre-conceived measures and solutions from a 100 percent preparedness? You can be a CIO who is completely prepared to take on tough times and sail through with élan. But, that is the smaller battle. There is a much bigger battle to be won – to open yourself to the new learnings that each tough time brings along, and to apply those learnings to innovate. Even if it means making some mistakes and taking some risks along the way by treading the lesser known path that you were not prepared for.

Would you still want to be 100 percent prepared?