2014 CIO Survival Guide: A Time for Growth

Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.

  Strategy  

As 2013 came to an end, CIOs and their organizations survived Taxmageddon, the Fiscal Cliff, the government shutdown and more. With all the uncertainty these events brought to private and public markets, businesses still carried on and the stock market reached new heights.

Now, uncertainty has shifted its focus to the impact the Affordable Care Act will have on the economy and on employer/employee relationships. And while you might wonder what all this has to do with CIOs and their ability to support and leverage their organization’s IT needs, there can be no doubt that what effects the economics of their organization definitely effects how much organizations are willing to invest in infrastructure, resources and tools. In fact, a recent Janco study revealed that two-thirds of the CIOs interviewed were reluctant to hire new staff given the economic uncertainties in play for 2014.

Barring another economic meltdown, 2014 might be the year that organizations choose to be bullish on the future--and that means more projects and more investments, many of which will have strong IT implications. The last five years created a pent-up backlog of demand for more IT services and capabilities. Add to this the maturing of technologies like cloud computing, social media, big data and more, and you have the ingredients for explosive IT growth within organizations. In fact, …

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