For many tech-oriented people, the transition to management role seems alien. But when your technical expertise no longer brings further progress, you need to build a new set of expertise to take that extra step.
"Strong business acumen becomes the major differentiation," said Ben Burrell, Hong Kong-based senior consultant for recruitment firm Hudson. "Inevitably candidates [who apply for the CIO position] need a deep understanding of business needs and operations."
Burrell, who specializes in IT and telecommunication recruitment, said local companies aren"t so much asking "What technology did you use for the business?" as "How did you use technology to improve and enhance the business?".
This shift represents the rapid evolutionary changes spawned by the Internet, said Tom Nunan, an independent tech consultant at Nunan and Associates.
"[The Internet era] has changed the question from whether IT is needed, to how to better make use of IT," he said. "When people start asking that question, they are ready to create the position of CIO within the company."
CIO positioning
Having a CIO position is an indicator of how ready the company is to allow IT to become a business partner, said Nunan. But more important is how that position stacks up within the company structure.
"The reporting structure does matter," said Nunan. "It indicates whether the CIO is a trusted advisor of the CEO [to provide business ideas]-like being part of the cabinet within a government structure."
Agnes Mak, group director of information technology for Sunday Communications, agrees.
"My second question during the job interview with Sunday was who I should report to," she asserted. "Because who the CIO reports to indicates how the company values IT."
Mak said that if the head of IT reports to the CFO, it"s a sign that IT is expected only to handle financial applications. But if the position reports to the COO, the expectation of IT to control financial matters may be weak.
"I see IT as an enabler to the overall business," said Mak. "And that business should be able to meet shareholder"s expectations by increasing revenue and lowering cost."
The path of progress
Unlike Mak, not every head of IT has the privilege to join a company that recognizes the CIO role and understands the value of IT. In most companies, the head of IT must work their way up to gain that trust and reputation.
"When I first started, my role was really to give everybody what they want. So I really was playing a "waiter role"," said Steve Beason, executive director of technology, Hong Kong Jockey Club.
When he joined the HKJC in 1998, Beason was already the head of IT, but his role was mainly a service provider for the business units.
"In fact, we did wait on everybody [to make their requests]. We even brought in all the business executives for dinner and we wore the waiter outfit to show them that," he said. "IT [managers] need to realize they cannot just walk into the position [to be a business partner], they have to move into it."
After six years at HKJC, Beason moved in the lead role last year, when he became part of the company"s key responsibility area (KRA). This means he is now required to propose key projects that match with the company"s overall strategy.
"What makes this significant is that suggesting business ideas is no longer an option, but a requirement in my job and it is on paper that my performance will be measured by it," he said. "I think that"s a typical evolution for any company and the relationship between IT and the business."
Bridging the gap
Most heads of IT are still going through this evolutionary process. Yet, whether IT chiefs can become business advisors to the CEO depends on their ability to close the gap between business and IT, said Nunan.
At HKJC, Beason bridged that gap with different techniques. One was a series of technology workshops for business executives.
"It is scary for the business guys if IT suddenly presents a business idea," he said. "But these workshops help and we try to make it a regular fun section."
The workshop provides a great opportunity for IT to demonstrate how technology optimizes business, as well as to showcase their business ideas, said Beason. IT-designed bidding games allow the executives to experiment during the workshop before they decide together whether these games would have business relevance.
Good business understanding and communications skills are also essential for building these bridges, said Nunan. Although it"s rare to find individuals with both technical and communication skills, taking a MBA degree is an excellent skill-builder.
With this in mind Beason joined an international EMBA program two ago, and last month graduated from the program-which was developed by the Kellogg School of Management from Northwestern University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
"One of the major things I learned from the program is how to speak the language of business," he said.
Speaking the same language is important for communication with peers, as well as understanding their business requirements. He quoted examples of how IT and the finance departments would see return differently.
Using ROI, the IT department measures return of an IT project based on how well the result justifies investment. But finance departments often use return on equity (ROE) instead: a metric that measures net income in proportion to every dollar being invested.
"ROE vs. ROI is something I learned from the MBA," he said. "Using ROE to measure an investment means not only do I have to make a return, but I also have to prove that this return is better than investment in another area-for example, interest from a bank deposit."
Teamwork
While CIOs must be proactive to solve business issues, Mak from Sunday noted that teamwork is also critical.
To encourage her team to better understand users" requirements, she scrapped the business analyst position within her IT team and encouraged the system analyst to talk directly to the users.
"We used to have a business analyst in the IT team manage requests from the business units," she said. "But I believe the system analysts, who develop the system, should know better than anyone about the users" requirement, so I made them deal with the users directly."
At HKJC, to close the gap between business and IT, Beason created a "relationship manager" position. Apart from their roles within the IT department, these managers are assigned to different business units. They are required to sit in on regular business meetings and provide IT suggestions to support the unit"s latest projects.
"In many companies, users have to file paper requests for IT support," he said. "[Our system] allows the business units to go to a person [from IT] they know, when they need help," said Beason.
Cross-training is another way to foster that communication, he said. By bringing staff from business units into the IT department, they bring business knowledge with them. Meanwhile, having the IT staff work in the business units will also enhance their understanding of business issues.
Strengthening your soft skills
"A successful CIO needs a good team behind him or her to play the important role of business partner," said Mak.
All IT applications have vulnerabilities and problems, so it"s important to have a positive attitude that places priority on solving the issue, rather than seeking to assign blame. She noted the team can always evaluate the problem later to avoid the same mistake next time, but the priority should always go to solve the issue to enable the business.
Mak organizes a monthly department meeting, allowing team members to present their successful projects. A weekly management meeting within the department also helps foster communications between managers.
She also sees herself as a counselor. Instead of giving orders and instructions to her team, Mak said she prefers to lead her IT staff to solve business problems on their own.
"To be honest, I"m no longer [that] tech-savvy," she said. "But, as a team we have to work together and contribute our skills and knowledge."