Erosion of ICT executive layer puts onus on integrators

ICT reorganisation expected to continue, especially at government level

By Hamish Barwick, Auckland | Thursday, 11 March 2010
He says the change has not impacted Eagle positively or negatively and for the company it is “business as usual”, however he believes companies are finding it difficult keeping staff and maintaining latest versions of software.

Axon CEO Scott Green believes the expectations of the CIO role are changing.

“You can put CIOs in two categories, those who are business leaders in their own right and some who are domain specific. People in the first category are becoming more strategic rather than less so, and they are certainly not roles we are seeing being disestablished.”

He says some CIOs have a less relevant role, not necessarily because a person is less competent but because the organisation sees IT as holding a tactical rather than strategic place.

“We’re doing a lot of strategic insights with CIOs and there are other organisations where the CIO role has been disestablished or have never had the role. We are effectively their outsourced CIO or IT manager.”

Green says Axon now has a different type of engagement with companies who don’t have a CIO. “I wouldn’t say it’s any harder or easier, in many regards it’s a very fulfilling one. Ultimately every business has an owner of IT but you might be talking to someone who has far broader responsibilities than just IT. It just changes the style of conversation you have with them.”

Fujitsu managing director Stuart Stitt agrees that reorganisation of ICT departments in some large departments and enterprises is due to budgetary pressures, in particular last year’s recession.

“Because of that, people have looked at cost and put functionality back into finance or pushed it out to vendors. For us in managed services, we’re taking on more of a role in some places where an organisation is choosing to structure itself that way.”

Stitt says such reorganisations are not happening across the board, pointing out that some are “taking more care about their internal management themselves and being more prescriptive”.

He also says some companies want Fujitsu to take on more of an IT management role. “That can put more cost pressure on us and margin pressure on the vendor to provide those services.”

IT managers, while still a liaison point, often request strategic direction from integrators, he says.

“They also want more product information on things such as the cloud. I wouldn’t say it’s a good thing, but it’s a response to the current financial situation. Most companies want a strong partnership with their service provider or they want control of the strategy themselves.”

Gen-i general manager of national corporate sales Steve Mills says Gen-i is engaging with some CFOs who have taken on a CIO role.

“We look to help that CFO support the business if they don’t have an IT background. CFOs and boards typically require our help to understand some of the bigger decisions they need to make to support the business.”

He believes people in CFO roles are open to advice from Gen-i, rather than trying to impose strategies.

Gen-i general manager of national corporate sales Steve Mills says for some companies it is business as usual.

“They don’t come encumbered with expectations. It’s usually an open playing field when you are supporting a CFO so you can make sure your proposition is understood.”

Companies will ask for help when Gen-i is advising on matters that extend beyond ICT, says Mills.