To help the company invent and develop
new business models, CIO must find the
right balance
between two key roles:
Operator and
Innovator.
Finding this
balance is often
challenging. The Operator role is concerned with business continuity,
service quality, and cost containment, while the Innovator role
focuses on creating
breakthroughs,
sustainable competitive advantage,
and new
revenue streams. Though these roles have somewhat conflicting
drivers, the CIO can and must master and
synergize
them to help the company achieve
long-term success.
Operational effectiveness and understanding the
business are a precondition of being allowed to innovate and
create new
business value by doing something new with IT.
These business innovations
may include technology infrastructure improvements, business process
improvements. and new products, services, and channels.
By enabling the business to capitalize on the
combination of
efficiency-improvement technology and
radical innovations, the
CIO can turn the IT function into a great
strategic business innovation tool for the company.
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