Leading up to the CIONEXT event at Deloitte University on the 11th of June, we asked the participants to answer a questionnaire to have a view on how they rate themselves in terms of “CIO as a leader”, “CIO as an expert”, “CIO as an entrepreneur” and “CIO as an individual”. The ultimate goal is to tailor the CIONEXT programme agenda to their needs.
The responses to the questionnaire also highlighted some trends and exciting findings. A surprising finding, as shown in the graph below, is that only 13 percent of the responding CIOs agree that they have regular meetings with startups that might contribute to the success of their business.
In Deloitte’s 2017 tech trend “IT unbounded” and the 2014 trend “CIO as a venture capitalist” CIOs were advised to develop new approaches to driving innovation. To help IT fulfill its core mission while pursuing new opportunities, CIOs can explore possibilities to work with venture capitalists, startups and incubators in new ways. These organisations can be repositories of the kind of fresh ideas, unique perspectives, and untapped resources that can inform and inspire IT transformation efforts.
Additionally, as mentioned in the paper “The CIO’s role in innovation” developed by CIONET Spain’s Innovation CIO Group, startups are ripe for this role, since they also benefit from the support of venture capital companies and other partners and being able to take advantage of this kind of external capabilities is increasingly more critical to achieve meaningful innovation within the business.