Sustained Communication in the Face of Consistent Change

Without reliable means of communicating with each other, especially with clients and sharing of information, you will not succeed in today’s high-paced and overly demanding world of business.

Mastering Change Management—Added Role of a CIO

One of the unique lessons learned as a CIO for me has been that of balancing and managing change. When I speak of change, I speak of every aspect of the word in a business sense. Balance and change in client needs, internal firm-wide needs, departmental needs, personnel needs, network foundation needs, higher-level technology needs, policies and procedural needs, budgeting needs and overall firm-wide and departmental strategies. The business world is ever changing and the needs surrounding information systems and technology are in constant evolution. Keeping up with and strategizing around constant evolution is, in itself a paradigm shift. You must be self-aware in order to stay ahead of the competition and you must put the onus on yourself, rather than on others to stay consistent, profitable, streamlined, and efficient. In order to help the organization as a whole sustain the highest levels of success, you must balance and manage change. One key focus that has helped me to manage change is having a 5-year departmental strategic plan that is built into and in-line with the overall firm mission. One that is flexible and updated annually to keep abreast of the unexpected and ever-changing shifts in goals. One that will most certainly have to keep up with the changes and shift in technologies and overall business needs that technology plays a major role in and factors into the long-term success of the firm. The role of my position has changed dramatically as technology has changed. The CIO role used to be one of management, budget and overall structure. I feel that the evolution of technologies such as BYOD, VoIP, high-speed wireless, and International UC, the IOT and data security with cyber intrusion safeguards are just the beginning of a paradigm shift. My role now is determined by making sure we keep up with our clients’ needs related to every aspect of technology used and with the utmost secure levels of communication. In order to do so, I am in constant contact with my peers exchanging ideas. I am constantly researching ways to streamline our existing technologies, integrate new technology, while leveraging our existing investments to create a lower TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) and highest level ROI (Return on Investment). The pressures surrounding my position have increased dramatically due to the stress placed on the needs associated with technology to conduct and accomplish just about every aspect of business. You cannot fall behind in any areas of technology, or it will cost the company in overall revenue, and there will become a decrease in productivity, efficiency and effectiveness at every level of the company. Technology is constantly evolving and changing, so is the paradigm in shift. I have learned that as a CIO I now need to be part of the paradigm shift in order to be part of the evolution of change.