The pressure is on for CIOs to ride out the difficult economy with keen leadership. For the U.S. Department of Transportation and The New York Times Company, smaller, less-costly deployments such as wikis and cloud computing are demonstrating quick results. For others, like Bechtel Corp., business process improvement is the best approach to follow. Still other IT leaders will use the current economic and business conditions as motivation for long-term innovation. In fact, there is no single elixir for success — each strategy has to make sense for that particular enterprise.

Maybe that's why I'm troubled when I read that some analysts and business leaders want to set strict deadlines on how long IT has to prove its business value. It's certainly true that business economics are at a critical inflection point; however, flexibility is needed too. One quarter might be too long to wait for ROI on a small project, but is two weeks too short? Do budget cuts have to be a uniform 20 percent across the board, or can each project be evaluated on its merits? These are all topics that will be discussed at our upcoming Smart Enterprise Exchange events. On February 17 in Seattle, Gartner Vice President Ken McGee will offer his recommendations and research. Other North American CIO discussions are set for Northern Virginia on February 11, Dallas on February 19, and in New York on March 5. Executive exchanges in Europe are planned for the spring.

In addition to these events, this month we feature several CIOs who are already demonstrating innovation and leadership. In our Smart Practices article, we describe how the U.S. Department of Transportation uses a virtual environment to train its repair people. The federal agency also is testing a wiki that encourages better collaboration with research universities. The merits of cloud computing at The New York Times and process innovation at Bechtel Corp. are also presented.

Is there a common thread among the leaders at these diverse enterprises? Fiona Packman, who co-leads Egon Zehnder's Technology Media and Telco Practice Group in London, writes in her Insights column that outstanding CIOs — those ranked in the top 15th percentile — scored highest in "results orientation, strategic orientation, change leadership and customer focus." Taken together, these executives are "strategic, client-based change leaders." In fact, Packman found that the CIO and CEO resemble each other far more than they differ — which may surprise many executives who hold these titles.

Certainly, the intense pressure on CIOs will continue unabated for these coming months. One global survey commissioned in January by the IT Governance Institute (ITGI), an independent research organization, found that there is much unrealized opportunity for IT to increase its value as a strategic partner and innovator. But imposing strict deadlines probably won't achieve the goals. Instead, as John Thorp, a member of ITGI's IT Governance Committee, concludes: "Given the current economic climate, enterprises should strengthen their governance of IT to ensure that expenditures are delivering real value, reduce or curtail those that aren't, and pursue innovative uses of IT that can sustain and increase value."

That sounds like a much more balanced strategy to me. Please "exchange" your views and experiences with us.

Paula Klein
Editor
Smart Enterprise Exchange
editor@smartenterpriseexchange.com