What Are the Ways Through Which CIOs Are Accelerating Digital Transformation
As the new administration enforces its policies, the federal chief information officers and department chief information officers’ leadership will be crucial in achieving improved business results and establishing trust.
The 2014 passage of the Federal Information Technology and Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) increased the exposure to Virtual CIO consulting services to achieve significant savings by eliminating obsolete and redundant infrastructure and business systems.
Consider data center optimization: Agencies have announced cost savings of nearly $5 billion due to this program alone. Over the last year, agency CIO consulting services dealt with the government’s response to the pandemic, showing incredible resilience in extending telework and telehealth and supporting CIO consulting services with IT effects of economic fallout, such as unemployment and recovery payments.
It is a team sport – building organizational relationships
As soon as they are in position, getting on board, keeping them engaged, and building and sustaining relationships are crucial for the new federal CIOs. Relationships will not occur with speed or results if these are not established using virtual CIO Consulting services.
- Agency CIOs should: Create comprehensive procurement strategies in collaboration with department/agency business executives to replace expensive and insecure legacy systems and meet mission objectives with virtual CIO consulting services.
- Develop a partnership with the finance director to ensure that future expenditures adequately fund these plans and other information technology requirements.
- Conduct an appraisal of the IT staff in collaboration with the chief human resource officer. Coordinate the security officer’s positions, chief technology officer, chief data officer, and chief procurement officer internally as a part of CIO services that ensure that the agencies’ strategic goals are met.
The federal CIO should
- As mentioned earlier, the four department chief information officers’ initiatives by the Office of Management and Budget policies are outcome-driven.
- Improve alignment of the federal chief information officer and agency chief information officers with other federal government-wide information technology agencies, such as the White House’s US Digital Service (USDS) and the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services 18F.
- Extend the CIO Council’s participation to include CIOs, CFOs, CISOs, CDOs, CIOs, and CTOs. Additionally, virtual CIO consulting services provide a daily viewpoint from state-level chief information officers on common IT strategic issues, such as technology modernization, using and developing safe systems, and federal-state alignment and interoperability with virtual CIO-managed services.
- Engage key legislative committees in discussions about pending legislation (e.g., substantive cybersecurity reform, FITARA 2.0) and the following Legislative IT scorecard.
On the other hand, modernization difficulties may be another good example. Previously in an IT Transformation article, I suggested that the federal CIOs list their most problematic legacy systems for upgrading the IT Dashboard. Moreover, the federal CIOs should keep a long-term inventory of these legacy system upgrades and ascertain that they are being carried out consistently with goals and a track record of investments.
The projects mentioned above demonstrate that CIOs will have to collaborate with business leaders and all the executives to modernize these legacy applications successfully. All these executives play an essential role in fulfilling the mission’s goals. Virtual CIO consulting services coupled with the government’s budget and the distinct technological expertise from 18F and USDS are very beneficial for dealing with these legacy issues.
Enhancing these executive partnerships and bringing these government-wide agencies and the legislative branch into alignment involves the federal CIO and the CIO Council’s leadership and expertise. Additionally, it is critical to appoint a federal CIO and agency CIOs who do have the necessary background and experience to carry out these responsibilities.
Role of a CIO
Anyone responsible for today’s digital transformation must determine the potential developments. They must contend with the latest technology and continuously introduce new IT developments to continue to push the entire business process forward. CIOs are in charge of making progress on the technical side. In other words, those that are not prepared to change their company processes to meet new and evolving market needs carry a liability.
Organizations often must ask themselves how long they will stay on the impression that they have “good” customer interactions as customers change and expectations rise quickly. That plays a significant role as companies emphasize engagement with the CIO as a service in the digital channels to increase customer interaction and awareness.
Many businesses’ primary goal is to use technologies to boost their corporate efficiency significantly. Mobility solutions, social media analytics, business intelligence, and network security systems are all examples of digital advancements that are essential now. This digitalization’s primary goal is to understand the market better, increase top-line revenue, and improve the consumer experience. To be successful with digital transformation, strong leadership is needed. CIOs are setting the standard. Whether CIOs create internal experts or collaborate to improve business processes around the enterprise, digital transformation presents an opportunity, a unique chance to advance and inspire.
