IT Strategy and Management Chief Information Officer

Question: Discuss about theIT Strategy and Managementfor Chief Information Officer. Answer: Role of CIO in the Organisation "Australian Post" Chief Information Officer, abbreviated as CIO, is the executive post of an organization given to the person who heads the Information Technology (IT) procedures and the various computer arrangements required to fulfil the set of objectives of the particular organization (Kinicki and Williams, 2008). Initially their role were a bit technical, but recently, due to the evolvement of more sophisticated digital systems, their work has shifted to more of the IT work, implementing the company strategies and keeping an overview on the daily tasks. CIO work with the specialists in the IT field to achieve the targets set by the organization in specific sectors. Role Evolution over Year In the past, the work of the CIOs was mostly on the technical side, or mainly focussing on the hardware applications. But recently, their role has changed to computer work, where they are specialised to formulate the organizational goals in an industry where the storage and analysis of the digital information has become very important (Jones, 2008). Rather than hardcore technical knowledge which was required in the past, they are now more provided with strategic responsibilities and day to day IT operations. Expectation upon IT/IS Department The top management of an organization expect the IT professional to be acquainted with the various computer skills, and some specific skills required by the organization. The foremost expectation is the ability to work as an analyst and handling the database of the organization. Analysis of the data is one of the most important work, along with the interpretation and writing the reports. Project Management is a very important task, as it should be fast enough to cope up with the work of the organization. Ability in the software section in IT is very fruitful and expected, as all the organizations prefer to work in a predefined platform, and the platform is expected to be provided by the IT professionals. When there is a talk of software and internet, it is very important to have the thing well secured from unwanted visitors and protected from unauthorised access (Governance of the extended enterprise, 2005). So security of the application, mostly internet security is one of the skill s that are expected. The best customers are attracted when there is a very attractive yet meaningful and simple presentation. This calls for the need of very professional and skilled web development, well administered regularly and well secured from the hands of unwanted users. A good knowledge of network administration and design is very handy so as to keep the organization well connected to the outside world. And the most important, the knowledge, both hardware and software is the most necessary of all. A IT professional should have a sound idea of all the hardware equipments with he/she is provided by the organization, and along with that, a good knowledge of the software, specifically the operation of the software is very much needed. A good programmer is always a better IT person. Influence of the CIO CIO, or the Chief Information Officer, handles all the IT professionals in the organization. Most of the management and software work are undertaken by the IT people, or in short, other than the technical work, all the work are done by these people (Flouris and Oswald, 2006). So their role in the organization is very vital. But, the CIO has the utmost responsibility of handling the IT sector in the organization. So CIO is the one who provides the IT people with their projects, and guides them in their way of work. The project report and all the other outcomes are also checked by the CIO. In brief it can be said that CIO is the head of the IT professionals in the organization. So apart from the technical knowledge of the CIO, it is also very important to have a good influence and good reputation and sound leadership qualities in order to maintain a big count of people, and also to make them work fruitfully. CIO is the person who all the IT professionals will refer to when in need, and will follow when asked to. So along with a very good technical knowledge, good management skills and good leadership abilities, he/she should have very good influence on the working people and the administration of the organization. Performance of IT/IS According to Expectation Information Technology has been the revolution of the last few decades. No organization can now imagine their work culture and platform without the IT sector. There has been a massive development in this field, and its influence has been felt on each and every sector available in the world. Every hand controlled work can now be dealt with computer in the form of information technology. Research and development in this field has reached new levels, and it has surpassed the developments in hardware computer science. Data science in every organization needs the development of IT to continue its work at par with the other organizations. Starting from data handling and interpretation to unbreakable encryption in devices, IT has its contribution everywhere. Efficient storage method is a very basic, yet a very challenging requirement for all the organizations, and IT has come up with very efficient techniques for it. A considerable amount of physical work has vanished as everything is just available from the internet, which is not only helpful to save physical work, but it also saves a lot of time and paper work (Davis, 2007). But in an organization, only selected group of people have the access to the development sector, and the rest employees are just the users. IT has contributed a lot to the mankind, and has made life quite easy for them. In your opinion, what Important Deliveries or Functions has IT/IS Missed out in this Organisation? What are the Perceived Weaknesses of IT/IS in this Organisation Information Technology had its impact to every field in the world. But it has some disadvantages too. It has failed to deliver its good consequences safely to the common users. Most of the non professional people cannot use the applications of IT in efficient and cheap way. There are a lot of loop holes which have not been solved. Most of the IT professionals do not come out with very sound knowledge of the subject and they fail to deliver when required, which can pose a lot of difficulties while working. Moreover they do not persist long in an organization due to inconvenient work culture and work load. Efficient security measures are not available without a cost for the common mass. Most of the organisations do not have their own platform of work, and they have to copy the others for fulfilling their task. This increases the chance of piracy and illegal access to the product of Information technology. Also IT has reduced human work to very low levels, and thus the intended human em ployment has reduced for the unskilled (Choukr-Allah, Ragab and Rodri?guez-Clemente, 2012). Moreover, the small businesses fail to adopt the Information Technology due to lack of infrastructure and thus don't get featured much among the mass. Due to the storage of data in cloud servers, there has been always a threat to the security of the data, and loss to unwanted hands or unethical people. What IT/IS, in General and CIO in Specific, can do to Improve the Situation The drawbacks can be improved by going through the following description. Skill Improvement: The IT professionals should be well educated and well acquainted with the necessary knowledge required to work in the organization. They should be well trained by the experts about the various required fields such that they do not make any mistake while working or they do not fail to deliver when required. The CIO must make sure that each IT professional should be expert in their respective field, and expertise in other sectors is not required. Specific skill should be built up into an IT professional for better results. Connections: This one is specific for the CIO. Apart from handling the IT people, the CIO needs to have good connections to the external world (Bonham, 2005). Just getting the project completed won't help, because to efficiently offer customer service, one need to have a lot of control over various other field of work apart from IT. Patience: The IT professionals need to work more patiently and accurately, as the work load has got very sophisticated and advanced. They need to work in a very calm way, so that they can avoid mistakes, which is very necessary for the development of any product. Persistence: The youth are the major IT professionals, but they don't last much in an organization, which can be due to various reasons such as negative work culture and stress. This can be specifically improved by the CIO (Anderson, Anderson and Parker, 2013). The CIO need to improve the work culture and keep a good reputation among the people. Money: The IT professionals are often heard of complaining of less pay compared to the work load. So the payment can be increased to keep the professionals happy and well attached to the work. What are the Important Challenges and Risks in your Proposed Improvement Actions? What are the Resolutions or Mitigations of those Challenges or Risks The above solutions need the hard work of both the IT people and the CIO. But always it does not get possible to fulfil. The negligence of the IT people can be a major risk for the solutions. Also, there is a risk of low revenue if there are more heavy paid professionals, which can cause the organization to go bankrupt and get closed. A good work environment, especially friendly nature of work would be very fruitful for the IT people to work (Abrams and Vallone, 2009). A good counselling session, or few interactive learning sessions can make the people work more efficiently. References Abrams, R. and Vallone, J. (2009). Business plan in a day. Palo Alto, CA.: Planning Shop. Anderson, M., Anderson, E. and Parker, G. (2013). Operations Management For Dummies. Hoboken: Wiley. Bonham, S. (2005). IT project portfolio management. Boston: Artech House. Choukr-Allah, R., Ragab, R. and Rodri guez-Clemente, R. (2012). Integrated water resources management in the Mediterranean Region. Dordrecht: Springer. Davis, T. (2007). Talent assessment. Aldershot, England: Gower. Flouris, T. and Oswald, S. (2006). Designing and executing strategy in aviation management. 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