Recently, I was involved in research spearheaded by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics on New Strategic Information and Technology Roles in Life Sciences Companies: The Impact of Digital Transformation on the CIO. The findings warrant further thought and discussion. The data on where life sciences CIOs are—and where they need to be—reveal a dramatic skills gap that will be filled one way or another. Not all of those ways will be career builders for CIO incumbents. (Cue the voice over: “Be afraid. Be very afraid.”)
This Isn’t Kansas Anymore
CIOs have evolved over the last 25 years—the entire lifespan of the function—to excel at what their organizations have needed. Recently, however, the scope and pace of change in their environment has been sweeping. Consider the current dynamics:
- Much of the organization’s infrastructure/technology resources have become commoditized, available in pre-configured components, via the cloud and as services offered by trusted vendors.
- Technology is becoming a competitive weapon in the market, as it is key to accelerating R&D cycles, gathering and analyzing big data, reaching and engaging new stakeholders (often through digital channels) , and delivering added value to customers to name just a few industry directions.
- Technology is a driver of business transformation. It promises the next generation of P&L, can imbue a culture with the spirit and tools for innovation and is expected to engineer out costs.
The very competencies that earned CIOs their roles are now holding them back.
Consequently, a company’s head technologist has more to worry about than “keeping the lights on” and managing internal processes for reliability and efficiency. Technology is playing a different role and so must the CIO.
Since when is it bad to be a problem solver?
Rather than serving as problem solvers, CIOs are increasingly expected to be innovators, capable of finding new problems (being problem finders if I may) in the marketplace that can be solved with technology. This requires shifting from an inward focus on maintaining service stability and continuity to an outward focus on the possibilities of creating something completely new of value. It demands a curiosity about customer’s needs and market trends and requires substantial creativity and forward thinking.
Get out of the office and go see partners
Traditionally, CIOs have created and overseen organizations of skilled builders—experts who can start from scratch and create all the technological functionality an organization needs. But, in today’s IT world, where pre-configured system components are ready to be “stacked” into a comprehensive solution, the entire model has changed. CIOs are no longer managing a factory but a supply chain.
Process is great, but progress is exceptional
The IT builders of the past needed to follow strict procedures, to nail down requirements, and to work linearly. As their leaders, CIOs placed a premium on detail orientation and adherence to process. Today, the technology environment is much more fluid, and CIOs must value—and should exemplify—agility and flexibility.
CIOs as corporate leaders are an endangered species
When faced with a mismatch between the skills they have in their CIO and what they know the organization needs, CEOs can proceed in one of at least three directions . They can:
- Replace the incumbent. There is already much turnover in the CIO position. According to the IMS Institute study, most CIOs of life sciences companies are new to their roles, with almost half in place fewer than three years, and 70 percent fewer than five years. We do not know, however, how much of this turnover has been voluntary vs. involuntary. Have CIOs left out of frustration, or have they been asked to leave?
- Surround the incumbent with new players. This allows the CIO to retain responsibility for the “back of the house,” but puts others with the necessary vision out in front, leading the way forward. This does seem to be a favored tactic, as over 82 percent of life sciences companies have established new IT roles in digital, data and innovation. While it’s a sound organizational solution, it doesn’t bode well for the CIO profession.
- Retrain the incumbent. The feasibility of succeeding with this is up for debate. Can you, in effect, “teach an old dog new tricks?” As to retraining the rest of the IT organization, one approach is to give team members a rotation in an incubator (such as in the organization of one of the new hires above) before placing them back into the CIO’s organization.
In those life sciences companies where CEOs are willing to “double down” on their incumbents, CIOs have a shot at reorienting themselves and retooling their organizations to succeed in this new technology era. But, even those fortunate CIOs have no time to lose.