IT should work hard for a business; with proactive management CIOs can turn an IT environment into a business-changing asset. With time and money both in short supply, it is easy for CIOs to be distracted away from leading innovation, instead having to focus on managing daily administrative tasks. The situation calls for a more proactive approach, from delegating time-consuming and less complex tasks to a third-party, to ensuring the inclusion of CIOs in business strategy meetings.

Firstly, it is important to note that the CIO is no longer just an advisor, but is now a leader within the business, responsible for driving innovation. Therefore, to become the strategic technology tool that is now expected, CIOs need to be included in key business decisions, so they can ensure that IT infrastructure and policy is aligned with business objectives. This will also allow CIOs to disperse their digital know-how and technology expertise to employees across the company, which will in turn allow the workforce to gain a competitive edge in this digital age.

Delegation is also key. By outsourcing the daily maintenance and administration of the IT environment to a managed service provider, CIOs will be able to flourish and deliver value due to the surplus time they will regain. By handing over the monitoring and managing of systems, CIOs can be assured any potential problems that may previously have caused several hours of costly downtime are now spotted and prevented before they reach the company. With time freed up, they can now focus on game-changing tasks such as the strategic analysis of big data and different types of cloud adoption they may be considering.

CIOs across the UK are also struggling to handle ever-increasing amounts of data entering IT environments. The legal sector in particular is facing an uphill battle in keeping its data under control, as regulation requires the retention of all client data for seven years. This creates a huge raft of data often backed up across several tapes, which needs order that doesn’t cost a CIO time and budget. A cloud service can offer an effective solution, which can be then supported and managed by the provider. There are various types of model that can be tailored to fit a firm’s specific requirements and security concerns, ultimately saving them time as it is externally managed. Cloud services are scalable, so a CIO does not have to worry about over-using or over-paying. They can leave that to the cloud provider, and focus attention on analysing the data.

The CIO is the keeper of the keys in terms of technology transforming innovation that can not only enhance the way an organisation operates, but also its strategic direction. Rather than wasting precious time and money on routine IT administration tasks, the CIO should be freed up to focus on technology and IT innovation that can deliver real benefit to the business.