With businesses of all stripes increasingly under pressure to think about opportunities around digital transformation and AI, the relationship between the CEO and CIO has never been more important.
The challenge? CEOs and CIOs are not always on the same wavelength. According to Netskope’s recent report Crucial Conversations: How to Achieve CIO–CEO Alignment in the Age of AI, 39% of CIOs say they are misaligned with their CEO on key decision-making, while 31% aren’t confident they know what their CEO really wants.
One reason for this is that many CIOs are solely focused on keeping the systems up and running rather than having collaborative and strategic conversations about technology and transformation. Others may simply feel excluded from such conversations, with 34% of CIOs saying they don’t feel empowered to make long-term strategic calls.
“Oftentimes, CIOs will have a dialogue with the CEO, but it’s siloed to their view of the world, not about how they can help inform strategy,” says Mike Anderson, chief digital and information officer at Netskope. “The way you can tell if there is likely to be misalignment is whether the CEO is calling the CIO to discuss business strategy or whether they’re calling to talk about the narrower issues impacting the CIO.”
When IT becomes a cost centre, alignment suffers
Misalignment matters because it can have a negative impact on the business, potentially increasing risk or resulting in missed innovation opportunities that could help drive stronger business performance.
“A lot of times where the relationship is not strategic, it’s because technology is viewed as a cost centre that needs to be managed,” says Anderson. “Managing cost is absolutely an important element of the technology leader’s job, but it’s just one facet – it’s about how to optimise costs to reinvest.”
Organisations with a close-knit CEO-CIO relationship are
more likely to thrive in today’s tech-driven world
If CIOs are not bringing those investment opportunities to the table and talking about risks and trade-offs, then often they will have spending targets imposed on them rather than being able to lead the conversation strategically and shifting the view of technology from cost to value, says Anderson.
Another tell-tale sign of this misalignment is who the CIO reports to within the organisation. If the CIO reports to the CFO, then that is very often a strong signal that IT is seen as a cost centre and not as a strategic enabler to the business, Anderson says.
Sometimes, despite a reporting line directly into the CEO, conversations are still not strategic. This can both be caused by, and result in, the CEO not seeing value in the relationship and so the risk of misalignment increases.
“The CEO only has capacity for so many direct reports and if they don’t feel like there is a valuable two-way street happening, then the CIO may end up reporting to someone else again,” adds Anderson.
To reduce the chance of misalignment, there are several steps CIOs can take to improve the relationship with their CEO. The first is to ensure they are having collaborative conversations with other business leaders about technology opportunities.
“When your colleagues are referencing your goals and insights in conversations with your CEO because of the trusted relationship you have with other parts of the business, that’s going to help foster that strategic relationship with the CEO,” says Anderson. “If your colleagues only mention technology when something’s broken, it’s an indication that IT isn’t yet seen as a strategic partner.”
Confidence is crucial
Another way CIOs can ensure they are speaking the same language as their CEO is by understanding what questions the CEO is being asked by the board. That can then inform the conversations CIOs should be having with their CEO.
Part of this relationship-building exercise goes beyond speaking the same strategic language – CIOs need to click with their CEO on a personal level.
Anderson adds that personal rapport also plays a role. “CIOs who can build genuine connections beyond work discussions often find it easier to foster trust and alignment with their CEO.”
Finally, another critical skill CIOs should embrace is storytelling, to ensure what they are communicating to the CEO is memorable.
“We don’t always remember facts and figures, but we remember a good story,” says Anderson. “So if you can master the art of storytelling, that’s a great way to create connections with people, including CEOs.”
These steps can help CIOs to win the ear of the CEO and greatly increase the likelihood of alignment.
“If the first person that the CEO thinks about when they think about innovation – whatever the topic might be – is their CIO, that’s the kind of relationship you want,” says Anderson.
From a CIO’s point of view, they also need to be comfortable having difficult conversations with their CEO.
“Step into that advisory role and have the confidence to say here are some decisions we should make,” says Anderson. “Shift the conversation to strategy and risk – risk is not just cyber risk, it’s about what investments to make and the risk and reward of making certain decisions.”
Stronger alignment, stronger business outcomes
Organisations with a close-knit CEO-CIO relationship are more likely to thrive in today’s tech-driven world.
“If technology is an afterthought, that can be very detrimental to the business,” says Anderson.
For example, given the opportunities around AI, how organisations approach AI investment – either waiting on the sidelines or getting on the front foot and making some early bets – could have significant consequences for their business.
“The firms that figure it out first are going to have better cost structures, they’re going to find bigger revenue drivers and they’re more likely to do the disrupting rather than be disrupted,” says Anderson.
Ultimately, by communicating with confidence and shifting those conversations to strategy, CIOs can avoid misalignment on key issues with their CEO and ensure they are not missing any tech opportunities that will drive long-term growth.
For more information please visit ww.netskope.com
With businesses of all stripes increasingly under pressure to think about opportunities around digital transformation and AI, the relationship between the CEO and CIO has never been more important.
The challenge? CEOs and CIOs are not always on the same wavelength. According to Netskope’s recent report Crucial Conversations: How to Achieve CIO–CEO Alignment in the Age of AI, 39% of CIOs say they are misaligned with their CEO on key decision-making, while 31% aren’t confident they know what their CEO really wants.
One reason for this is that many CIOs are solely focused on keeping the systems up and running rather than having collaborative and strategic conversations about technology and transformation. Others may simply feel excluded from such conversations, with 34% of CIOs saying they don’t feel empowered to make long-term strategic calls.
