Higher expectations from end users and a larger focus on efficiency and value for money drive change in the public sector. In many cases, these contribute to a fundamental re-evaluation of service delivery and the need for transformational change to achieve the industry’s desired outcomes. Given IT’s role as a key enabler of business transformation, the CIO needs to be at the executive table to share how IT can contribute to transformational initiatives.

For more than 17 years, I have advised government clients on public sector reform and have led large complex transformation projects for their back office functions. In my experience, if technology leaders want their voices heard by chief executives, they must demonstrate that they recognize their key role in business transformation.

Since there is no universal way to do this, I have provided three steps to help CIOs become more influential during transformational projects.

1. Manage government stakeholder needs.
Since IT is a service-driven department, CIOs must be aware of their stakeholders and actively manage them. Stakeholders can include your customers, CEO or company employees. CIOs need to know who they are, understand what they need from your team and communicate the IT department’s requirements to them. By engaging stakeholders in dialogue and fostering relationships with them, CIOs will be able to address concerns at the executive table and build credibility.

2. Obtain clarity on how IT can align with business requirements while competing for scarce resources.
In any corporate environment, the CEO faces competing bids from different departments within the organization to fund strategic projects. With increasing demands on public sector finances, this is becoming ever more relevant to public sector organizations. In order to compete for scarce resources, CIOs must be present at the executive table and demonstrate the value that IT can add to the business requirements.

To prepare, consider how IT investments can help fulfill the business’s objective, the scope of work involved and how the IT department can fit their needs within the broader business strategy and budget. Clearly demonstrating this alignment will contribute to the CIO’s influence during long-term transformation projects.

3. Demonstrate the benefits of technology-driven changes.
If IT departments want to introduce new technology, CIOs must be able to demonstrate the benefits to the end user, how it will contribute to the organization’s strategic goals and its financial and business benefits. This requires a detailed understanding of the end-to-end business processes. The business insight CIOs gain from this will create a unique combination with their technology expertise to help them become a vital and respected contributor in the boardroom.

Large-scale business changes require a business-savvy CIO who is able to articulate the IT department’s benefits to decision-makers and help deliver their agency’s objectives. CIOs who can see how IT aligns with their organization’s business strategy and clearly articulate the alignment to executives will create meaningful transformation that ultimately benefits Canadian citizens.

Roger de Montfort led a panel, The Leadership Role of the CIO, at GTEC’s CIO Boot camp on Monday October 5, 2009.

Online conversations are transforming the relationship between people and organizations. Are government bodies listening? By David Jacobson, PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada LLP

With blended or multimedia search results at our fingertips (including video, images, blog posts, and personalization searches), leisure and business are rapidly and dramatically changing and converging. Welcome to the age of the “selfsumer”. In this new era, Canadians use discussion forums, blogs, email, text messages and a variety of social networking tools to share what, when and how they buy. The way they communicate has changed the rules of business. If government and the public sector wish to participate, they cannot continue using only traditional approaches to connect with their staff and the public.

My experience as an emerging technologies director with PwC Canada indicates that selfsumers are a growing number of consumers and employees who search for, discover and create information on products, services and companies via multiple sources on the web. They collaborate online using various social media to find and make purchase decisions. This is a new type of consumer that is less reliant on hard sell commercials and more reliant on discovering products and brands using the internet and social networking.

With one voice that can morph into a community in minutes, selfsumers’ online influence has begun to alter the relationship between businesses and the public. This shift has challenged business leaders to think more creatively when developing new products, promotional content and e-commerce channels. Public sector leaders can do the same to increase their level of engagement with Canadians.

Analyzing selfsumers’ digital behaviour can help government organizations refine their ability to capture consumer intelligence, gain insight into their changing needs and build connectivity. It can also help cash-strapped agencies save money because targeted campaigns are supported by a deeper understanding of consumers which removes guesswork and decreases the likelihood of wasted time and financial resources.

Government executives must rely on their CIOs to translate selfsumers’ ideas into a business and IT strategy. To be fully effective, the IT centre will need different approaches to read digital behaviour and meet strategic goals.

To stay agile with changing digital conversations, CIOs need to be more creative when strategizing with the executive team. For example, they can deliver new types of lucrative business applications, uncover ways for departments and data servers to share information and knowledge, and improve data-warehousing to keep pace with growing amounts of information exchanged between Canadians on blogs and message boards. This creativity, agility and innovation will become more beneficial as selfsumers’ tastes and skills continue to influence more business applications and practices.

According to PwC’s study How the Consumer Conversation Will Transform Business, the number of online discussions about a customer-facing organization – its brand and reputation – can reach thousands or even millions per day. Aggregating and analyzing these online conversations will require increasingly sophisticated technology and a commitment to continually improve strategies to listen, process and quickly respond. Government agencies that embrace these methods demonstrate their commitment to helping Canadians.

For more information on the dialogue with consumers, read PwC Canada’s 2009 Report on Emerging Canadian Software Companies: A CEO Perspective and Navigating the Era of the Empowered Consumer.