Ebusiness Despatches: IT agility

The last five years of internet-everything were supposed to speed up the way we do business. But it turns out IT departments can't keep up with the demands of the higher-ups. Rene Carayol says it's time for that to change...

I was recently at Gleneagles golf course chairing a forum of 60 to 70 European CIOs. The over-riding issue to emerge from this event was how these people must operate in a world where the business is moving seven times faster than the IT function.

Think about that. For all the benefits of the internet economy, technology on tap and the rest, we can't keep up. The answer - as many vendors, consultants and others will tell you - is to be agile.

And by agility, I mean identifying opportunities as well as being able to respond to competitors and market dynamics.

Of course, that's all easier said than done. Let me get on to how the event's attendees faced up to this reality in a moment because now it is time to point out the agile business is a reality already.

Regular readers of this column will know my views on the airline industry. Ryanair is an agile business. It isn't encumbered by big IT. When it started to flourish - without big ticketing operations or much of its own infrastructure - plenty of people suggested it could only go so far. Only it has succeeded where much grander national carriers have failed.

The old world CIO or IT director could learn a lot from operations such as Ryanair's. When I was first an IT director, it was a post that across the board invariably reported in to the finance director. Back then the challenge was largely to automate manual processes. It was about savings. We're mostly beyond that stage now.

Yet in various ways too many CIOs still see their jobs in terms of safety and security, about protecting IT assets and not making mistakes. The time is right for them to think the unthinkable and take the lead in their companies.

HP was the organiser of the event I mentioned earlier and given its merger with Compaq, which by common consensus is going better than expected, one thing an HP exec told me struck home - and not just because I was chairing their event.

This person's advice was: "Take the tough decisions early and take them once." That advice won't always apply but I think it does for many CIOs now.

As I left the CIOs, I could tell their mood had changed from one of scepticism to one of being challenged about their role in the organisation. I get the feeling others there, from the likes of Gartner and INSEAD, felt the same way about the role.

I boiled it down to three things CIOs must do:

- take the lead
- identify opportunities they can deliver on in a short period of time
- realise they are operating in a business environment that is now intolerant of excuses - with many executives calling IT's bluff after past hype, and outlay, on Y2K, e-enabling everything and security.

CIOs - take the challenge, step up to the plate and realise the rewards that are to be had by adding tangible value.