Narrowing the Communications Gap

PwC's Minehan does not believe it will ever be possible to close the communications gap totally between IT and the business, but believes using devices such as user groups and committees can help narrow it, and ultimately enhance the ability to execute against strategy.

The CIO of industrial giant ABB, Laurie Mason, explains that this need for communications and understanding also extends to suppliers."I require consistency, honesty and customer focus of my suppliers. Currently my team has to micromanage one supplier and this is now what I call 'customer focus on their behalf'," he says.

Mason also expects a degree of understanding from the business units, especially during straitened economic times."From my business units, or moreover business partners, I need understanding and tolerance that, sometimes despite best efforts, human nature intervenes and we may not deliver when we said we would," he says."The business can sometimes be critical of IT over non-delivery, but when cost mitigation is being applied it affects the whole of business."

Yet Mason believes that these same in-the-business partners provide the best measure of how successfully something has been executed. He says customer satisfaction,"or when they say: Â'I'm happy with that' - and by Â'that' I mean the end result, solution installed or working the way they had hoped and we said it would - is the best measure of a successful execution". It is the same for Jones who says a project has worked when the customer is happy with the outcome or the product - when it is meeting or exceeding customer expectations.

Many CIOs look for more quantitative confirmations and attempt to measure their progress by defining a series of metrics that they track during the project.

"Execution should be treated like performance evaluation, which means the evaluation is continual throughout the execution against key objectives and goals - not potentially a surprise at the end," IBM's Wee says."Measurements should be broadbase and fundamentally should include meeting expected business returns, customer satisfaction and progress again the strategic blueprint."

Aurora's Brighton is another CIO who believes in the need for measurement systems focused on the outputs that will determine whether the strategic goals have been achieved, as is Colonial First State's Clasquin.

"The strategy must be measurable," Clasquin says."If you can't measure the strategy you don't know if you've achieved it or are going to achieve it. Secondly, you need to implement a simple measurement mechanism so that you can easily see how much progress you've achieved against the strategy. Finally, to ensure you achieve the traction required, regularly measure and publicise the results. This ensures that people recognise management is serious about the strategy and its implementation."

Clasquin adds that he likes to represent any metrics in the language of the business."For example, wines are awarded gold, silver, bronze. In the financial services industry, investment funds can be rated from one to five stars. Similarly, I use a star rating to measure any strategic IT indicator. It reminds everyone what business we're in and that we're focused on implementing a technology strategy for a business outcome."

It also keeps the pressure on project managers to deliver milestones. Clasquin says that as far as execution is concerned,"seasoned project managers are crucial", with the accent on seasoned."You can run a project by the book and still not get a result. It's the equivalent of Â'the operation was a success but the patient still died'. You need a weathered project manager who doesn't deliver outputs but delivers outcomes," he says.