{"id":11249,"date":"2018-02-21T10:55:29","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T16:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/?p=11249"},"modified":"2021-10-14T11:18:14","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T16:18:14","slug":"5-lessons-cios-learned-2017-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/5-lessons-cios-learned-2017-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"5 more lessons that CIOs learned in 2017 (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-725\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Education.jpg\" alt=\"Education\" width=\"76\" height=\"100\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><em>Summary: As we start a new year, it helps to reflect on (and learn from) the past year. In this two-part article, we take a look at the past year from an IT leader perspective. What are the most important lessons that IT leaders and CIOs learned (or should have learned) in 2017? What important takeaways from the last 12 months will help you succeed in the coming year? In the second of our two-part article, We answer those questions (and more).<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<a name=\"20180103\"><\/a><!--more--><br \/>\nThey say that those who don\u2019t learn from history are bound to repeat it. We must learn from the past if we hope to create a better future. <\/p>\n<p>So, what lessons can we learn from 2017? <\/p>\n<p>In this two-part article, we\u2019re taking a step back and reflecting on the past year from a CIO perspective. In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/5-lessons-cios-learned-2017\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: red; font-weight: bold;\">first part of this article<\/span><\/a>, we explored 5 important lessons: <\/p>\n<ul class=\"arrow-list colored\">\n<li>Cybersecurity needs a larger portion of your IT budget (and focus)<\/li>\n<li>The best CIOs challenge the status quo<\/li>\n<li>The line of business can take on some work<\/li>\n<li>Faster patching can keep you out of the headlines<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t put all your eggs into one cloud basket<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Today, let\u2019s go a step further and look at a few more. Here are 5 more lessons that CIOs (should have) learned in 2017.<\/p>\n<h3>Lesson #6: Technology is still a people business<\/h3>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_8996\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8996\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/colleagues-437024_640-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8996\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8996\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">photo credit: <a href=\"http:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/colleagues-seminar-presentation-437024\/\">nuggety247<\/a> via <a href=\"http:\/\/pixabay.com\/\">pixabay<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/deed.en\">cc<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>We\u2019re in the midst of rapid technological change. Businesses that don\u2019t keep up with changing technology will quickly find themselves falling behind the competition. <\/p>\n<p>This is a driving force behind the Digital Transformation movement. Business leaders realize they must transform their organizations and adopt technology\/processes needed to operate in a digital world. <\/p>\n<p>However, as many CIOs and IT leaders are realizing, digital transformation isn\u2019t just about technology. Sure, it requires massive technological shifts. But, these projects cannot succeed without a change in culture. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www2.deloitte.com\/insights\/us\/en\/topics\/digital-transformation\/digital-transformation-strategy-digitally-mature.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: red; font-weight: bold;\">MIT Sloan and Deloitte<\/span><\/a> has a great analysis on this topic: <em>\u201cThe history of technological ad\u00advance in business is littered with examples of companies focusing on technologies without in\u00advesting in organizational capabilities that ensure their impact. In many companies, (failures are) classic examples of expectations falling short because organizations didn\u2019t change mindsets and processes or build cultures that fostered change.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a great lesson, and one that we cannot ignore in the coming years. Despite the push towards digitization, businesses cannot succeed if they ignore the people aspect.<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"line-height: 1.7em; background-image: none; margin-left: 0; padding-left: 18px; height: auto;\"><p>\n&#8220;Technology is a people business &#8211; our raw materials are talent,\u201d says Phil Tee, CEO of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moogsoft.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: red; font-weight: bold;\">Moogsoft<\/span><\/a>. \u201cFinding great people and scaling the business go hand in hand. We have to be careful to change our processes accordingly at each stage of the company &#8211; what works for a Series A start-up is not what works best when you are at a Series C. Embracing that change and leading the people through the scaling of a business is naturally the biggest challenge.&#8221;\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>Lesson #7:Traditional technology may not be the best fit for your organization<\/h3>\n<p>Despite the rapidly evolving technology landscape, many businesses get stuck in ruts. They opt for the familiar, traditional technology they\u2019ve always used. <\/p>\n<p>In doing so, they ignore the amazing opportunity in front of them. As technology evolves, new (better) options emerge on a regular basis. Those CIOs and IT leaders who aren\u2019t constantly on the lookout for better solutions and processes are doing their company a disservice.<\/p>\n<p>Am I saying that you should constantly switch technologies? Not at all. But, you should stay on top of the changing tech trends. You should evaluate new options on a regular basis. In today\u2019s ever-evolving world, sticking with the familiar will put your organization at a disadvantage.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a great example from an IT leader of a school system. Rather than stick with the familiar technology they had always used, they explored newer options and realized they offered far more benefits.<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"line-height: 1.7em; background-image: none; margin-left: 0; padding-left: 18px; height: auto;\"><p>\n\u201cAs an experienced K-12 IT leader, the most important lesson I learned from 2017 revolved around Chromebooks,\u201d says Mike Daugherty, Director of Technology &#038; Information Systems at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chagrinschools.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: red; font-weight: bold;\">Chagrin Falls Exempted Village Schools<\/span><\/a>. \u201cOur students have been in a 1:1 model for years. Every student in grades K-12 has been provided a Chromebook to use at school and at home for several years now.  Our staff had been using traditional Windows laptops for all the traditional reasons.  We piloted a program where they switched over to a 15&#8243; Chromebook instead of usual device.   The perception was that these devices couldn&#8217;t handle the day to day tasks of a professional, but we learned that the benefits of the Chromebook made it an ideal device for many of our staff members. Over 50% of our staff have made the switch to using a Chromebook as their primary device. This switch includes teachers, interventionists, principals, and even myself as the IT leader. Chromebooks are continuing to change the face of education in many different ways.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>Lesson #8: You can\u2019t afford an inefficient IT department<\/h3>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_9246\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9246\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/speedometer-653246_640-300x185.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"185\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-9246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/speedometer-653246_640-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/speedometer-653246_640.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9246\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">photo credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/speedometer-speedo-rush-vollgas-653246\/\">geralt<\/a> via <a href=\"http:\/\/pixabay.com\/\">pixabay<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/deed.en\">cc<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>As technology changes, the IT department\u2019s role is transforming. These days, keeping the lights on is no longer good enough. The modern IT department must innovate and drive the business forward.<\/p>\n<p>As explained by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forrester.com\/report\/Speed+And+Innovation+Drive+CIO+Success\/-\/E-RES136125\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: red; font-weight: bold;\">Forrester<\/span><\/a>, <em>\u201cCIOs and tech teams play critical roles in enabling organizations to use technology and deliver on customer promises. One of the most important success factors is the ability to drive innovation and move your team at the pace that customers and the business demand.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The fact is, technology now plays (and will continue to play) a larger role in business. That means that IT departments now play a larger role than ever in a company\u2019s success. Your IT department\u2019s ability to deliver projects efficiently isn\u2019t just a nice thing to have. It\u2019s now a necessity.<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"line-height: 1.7em; background-image: none; margin-left: 0; padding-left: 18px; height: auto;\"><p>\n\u201cThe successful 2017 IT leader learned a lot about the importance of IT project delivery,\u201d says Darrin Lang, CEO and Co-Founder of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.labur.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: red; font-weight: bold;\">LABUR, LLC<\/span><\/a>. \u201cWhat I mean by that, and what we saw at LABUR last year, is there are real tangible conversations happening around the importance of metrics in IT project delivery \u2013 and not just in measurements of time, but in level of effort, or LOE, and in project and task estimation. And this is important because of the average amount of money organizations are wasting in failed, or failing, IT projects. The Project Management Institute put out some numbers that suggested for every dollar an organization is spending on their IT projects, nearly ten cents is being wasted \u2013 and that\u2019s an improvement for 2016. In 2018, IT leaders need to continue to hone in on project management and quality assurance so they can improve these numbers even further. The success of the enterprise largely depends on it.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The big problem: IT departments across the globe are already understaffed and overworked. To make things worse, many companies can\u2019t afford to expand their existing IT team.<\/p>\n<p>How can IT departments operate efficiently, despite these challenges? I won\u2019t get into the details here, as it\u2019s a topic that we covered in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/5-tips-to-maximize-your-it-departments-value\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: red; font-weight: bold;\">recent article<\/span><\/a>. The key takeaways from that article: IT departments must take advantage of available tools. <\/p>\n<p>For instance, self-service tools will let them offload certain tasks to end users, which frees up time for more important tasks. Development tools eliminate tedious coding, which improves their delivery speed. The list could go on, but the point is this: As their workload mounts, IT departments cannot afford to ignore productivity tools.<\/p>\n<h3>Lesson #9: Your data backup plan is more important than ever<\/h3>\n<p>If you followed the news at all last year, you\u2019re familiar with the rise of ransomware. The WannaCry ransomware attack last year infected hundreds of thousands of PCs, holding their files hostage until the ransom was paid.<\/p>\n<p>The bad news. We\u2019ll see more and more of this in the coming years. A <a href=\"https:\/\/cybersecurityventures.com\/ransomware-damage-report-2017-part-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: red; font-weight: bold;\">recent report<\/span><\/a> finds that ransomware saw a 15x increase since 2015. It\u2019s expected to grow even more in the near future. <\/p>\n<p>What can CIOs and IT Leaders learn from this? Obviously, keeping your machines patched and updated is more important than ever. But, as explained in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csoonline.com\/article\/3075385\/backup-recovery\/will-your-backups-protect-you-against-ransomware.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: red; font-weight: bold;\">this article<\/span><\/a>, this also means your data backup plan is more important than ever.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is, not every company has a solid backup plan in place. As stated in the above article: <em>\u201cTo save money, some organizations don&#8217;t include all their important files in their backups, or don&#8217;t run their backups often enough. Others don&#8217;t test their backups and find out that the systems don&#8217;t work only when it&#8217;s too late. Finally, some companies put their backups on network drives that ransomware can easily find and jump to and encrypt.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>What can you do? The article provides some great tips on how to properly setup a backup plan. The most important tip: Once it\u2019s set, make sure you test it regularly. It&#8217;s easy to set it and forget it, only to realize it wasn&#8217;t working when you need it the most. As CIOs learned in the last couple of years, this is an area that you can\u2019t afford to ignore.<\/p>\n<h3>Lesson #10: Relying on email to share high-value information is too risky<\/h3>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_9493\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9493\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/hack-813290_640-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-9493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/hack-813290_640-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/hack-813290_640.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9493\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">photo credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/hack-hacker-elite-hacking-exploits-813290\/\">JavadR<\/a> via <a href=\"http:\/\/pixabay.com\/\">pixabay<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/deed.en\">cc<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>If you followed the political news over the last couple of years, you\u2019ve heard about some pretty high-profile security breaches involving email. Leaked emails were a hot topic in the presidential election, and continue to make the headlines.<\/p>\n<p>What most people don\u2019t know, however, is how prevalent this is becoming. One <a href=\"https:\/\/www.proofpoint.com\/us\/corporate-blog\/post\/85-organizations-targeted-least-one-business-email-compromise-bec-attack-q1-2017\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: red; font-weight: bold;\">study<\/span><\/a> found that 85% of businesses were targeted by Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks in the first quarter of 2017. That doesn\u2019t mean all of those attacks succeeded, it\u2019s just important to understand how much it\u2019s growing.<\/p>\n<p>What can the savvy CIO take away from these facts? Email is not the proper channel for confidential information. As explained below, businesses must look into secure collaboration platforms to share valuable information. <\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"line-height: 1.7em; background-image: none; margin-left: 0; padding-left: 18px; height: auto;\"><p>\n\u201c2017 taught us that communications security needs to be a priority,\u201d says Joel Wallenstrom, CEO of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wickr.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: red; font-weight: bold;\">Wickr<\/span><\/a>. \u201cLast year, the FBI started tracking business email compromise as a separate crime type, a $5 billion industry. It\u2019s not just businesses, high profile targets like Clinton and Macron saw their organizations\u2019 email hacked and leaked. We learned the hard way that relying on email to share high-value information is too risky. Advances in ransomware like we saw with WannaCry makes it even more critical to not fall victim to sophisticated phishing or social engineering schemes that serve as common entry points. Businesses should be evaluating secure collaboration platforms to share valuable and private information and place stricter controls around what communications are kept and for how long to reduce the exposure when a breach occurs.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>Summary<\/h3>\n<p>In these two articles, we&#8217;ve explored 10 lessons that CIOs learned in 2017. Would you like to add to this list? Feel free to comment below!<\/p>\n<div id=\"sendgrid_nlvx_widget-2\" class=\"widget widget_sendgrid_nlvx_widget\" style=\"padding-bottom: 10px;width: auto;text-align: center;background-color: #edeff4;border: 1px solid #d1d1d1\">\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"widget-title\" style=\"font-size: 18px;margin-top: 28px;font-weight: 400;margin-bottom:25px\">If you enjoyed this article, sign up for email updates<\/h3>\r\n<p>Sign up below, and we'll notify you of new blog articles via email. We value your privacy and will never share or sell your information. To learn more about how we handle data, please review our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/about\/privacy.html\">privacy policy<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary: As we start a new year, it helps to reflect on (and learn from) the past year. In this two-part article, we take a look at the past year from an IT leader perspective. What are the most important lessons that IT leaders and CIOs learned (or should have learned) in 2017? What important &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/5-lessons-cios-learned-2017-part-2\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">5 more lessons that CIOs learned in 2017 (Part 2)<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","slim_seo":{"title":"5 more lessons that CIOs learned in 2017 (Part 2) - mrc&#039;s Cup of Joe Blog","description":"Summary: As we start a new year, it helps to reflect on (and learn from) the past year. In this two-part article, we take a look at the past year from an IT lea"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[106],"class_list":["post-11249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-cio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11249"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13103,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11249\/revisions\/13103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}