Outstanding leadership is one of the critical driving factors of continued business success. But what does excellent leadership mean in this digital age? As Industry 4.0 continues to revolutionize productivity and employees’ efficiency, organizations expect chief information officers (CIOs) to be proactive change leaders. In addition, IT leaders must play an integral role in connecting employees worldwide and offering safer technology solutions through a robust digital strategy. With new responsibilities, come a host of challenges. In this article at ComputerWeekly.com, business journalist Mark Samuels and Saïd Business School CIO Mark Bramwell discuss some fresh IT challenges CIOs face today.
Digital Strategy: Leadership Challenges to Overcome
Skills Gap
The pace of innovation and the ever-evolving threat landscape have created a significant skillset gap required to manage modern IT. The lack of skilled professionals can make developing and retaining an internal IT team expensive. Experts suggest enterprises hone their virtual training approach. Furthermore, companies must include technologies like facial recognition to automatically analyze elements related to participation and engagement.
Cyber Threats as a Digital Strategy Implementation Challenge
As many companies have embraced remote operations and hybrid work models, securing data and organizational information has become critical. To maintain privacy and data security, CIOs must leverage technologies such as cloud and SaaS platforms while implementing digital initiatives. Furthermore, CIOs must stay up-to-date with the latest trends and aggressively embrace technologies to ensure agility and flexibility.
Outsourcing
IT solutions can sometimes create new challenges. Outsourcing work due to a lack of internal skills can seriously threaten asset management. Therefore, IT leaders must manage reliability, accountability, and security concerns. CIOs must have a strict assessment process to control vital investments and drive the business forward.
To successfully implement a digital strategy, CIOs must be flexible and adaptable. “You are a change agent, so if you are not comfortable with change yourself, then you are probably not in the right role,” says Bramwell. To read the original article, click on https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252521792/CIO-interview-Mark-Bramwell-CIO-Said-Business-School.
