In early 2020, the health crisis presented CIOs with enormous challenges:
- How could telecommuting be introduced on a massive scale for employees whose jobs made it possible?
- How do you ensure IS security in these conditions?
- How do you manage the day-to-day running of your IS when you're confined to your own premises?
Decontamination and post-Covid sealing work do not, however, signal a return to normality. Indeed, the crisis has raised structural issues that require longer-term reflection, all in an uncertain financial context that has even deteriorated in some industries.
Against this backdrop, what are the lessons to be learned from the crisis, and what are the priority levers that CIOs can use to bounce back?
We are proposing ten of them, based on three themes: securing, transforming and reorienting.
CIOs' priorities for bouncing back: Security
1. Securing emergency solutions deployed during the crisis
Once the emergency is over, it's time to take stock of all the actions taken during the crisis: changes to application access rights, modifications to access infrastructures, bypassing the DRP, etc.
The aim of this assessment is to define a rapid action plan, which may include rolling back or perpetuating the solutions implemented in the emergency, correcting any malfunctions that have arisen, documenting the solutions adopted, etc.
2. Adapt IS organization to capitalize on acquired agility
The crisis revealed the strengths and weaknesses of the IS organization. Support, in particular, was often in great demand during this period. In some cases, innovative solutions were put in place: simplification of processes, reinforcement by project teams to cope with multiple requests, etc.
The same applies to other functions: functional administration (whether handled by the business or the IT department), network management, operations management and so on.
A review of the organization put in place during the crisis may enable us to replace certain existing processes with simplified ones where these have proved their worth, but also to rethink the organization of teams, particularly in terms of back-up for future tense situations.
CIOs' priorities for bouncing back: Transforming
3. Developing collaborative solutions to encourage teleworking while preserving creativity and innovation
Many companies, previously reluctant to telework, have come to realize the benefits of doing so when faced with crisis situations such as health crises or transport strikes. But we also know that telecommuting meets a growing demand from employees, particularly digital natives.
Employees no longer want to be confined to a desk and clock in and out like their elders. Their commitment is all the stronger when they have greater freedom of movement, organization, flexibility and autonomy. They want to be able to choose their own schedule, set up third-party workplaces, organize their own workspaces or take part in projects beyond their natural boundaries.
The development of collaborative tools has been one of the responses to the need for teleworking. But beyond the technical deployment of these tools, the IT Department must also help management to change the corporate culture. This requires a change of attitude on the part of managers: managing teams on the basis of objectives rather than hours of presence, giving up the idea of being the focal point of their teams, and so on. And a change of posture for employees: demonstrating autonomy and responsiveness, knowing how to manage their time...
4. Developing the digital company to boost competitiveness
For some companies, the crisis has shown the extent to which the lack of digitization of exchanges with customers, suppliers, partners and even the authorities is hampering operations, and sometimes even preventing them from maintaining their business in critical situations.
In a hurry, some digitalization projects have made more progress in a few months than in several years. This new awareness offers a unique opportunity to accelerate the company's digital transformation in order to develop its business and performance.
Dn this context, the IT Department has a major role to play. By capitalizing on its digital intelligence, it becomes a source of proposals to the business units, to deploy innovative digital solutions adapted to the company's context and ambitions.
5. Reassess outsourcing from a risk/benefit perspective
Outsourcing has its advantages, which are often obvious, but it is not without risks. A company may lose control of its production process, by delegating part of its functions to a service provider. It may also face problems of production quality and on-time delivery.
Against this backdrop, the crisis sometimes brought failures to light, and we saw outsourced development or support teams cease to operate during containment. For some offshore teams, even minimum service was no longer guaranteed.
An objective review of critical services enables us to weigh up the risks against the benefits. This review should lead to an optimization action plan, which may in some cases lead to a change of service provider, including relocation or even re-insourcing. The main questions to ask concern the availability of remote maintenance, the security of hosted data, the technical and financial capabilities of subcontractors, the degree of dependence on certain critical service providers, and the reversibility of services.
6. Embrace the cloud as an opportunity for cost savings and agility
The current crisis has sharply reduced the financial resources available to companies, with General Management under pressure to cut costs by 5, 10 or 15%. Of course, this effort also concerns CIOs, who have several possible cost-cutting levers, including the development of the Cloud.
Indeed, why continue to buy and install IT solutions, mobilizing significant financial and human resources, on the fringe of the company's core business, when ready-made solutions, sometimes more agile, more secure and billed on a pay-per-use basis, are available in the Cloud?
For many companies, the choice of the cloud is an obvious one. Its success requires the development of new skills: knowledge of service models, knowledge of deployment models (public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud...), knowledge of risk analysis, expertise in auditing and managing service providers, ability to lead an implementation strategy...
7. Equip the enterprise with a robust remote access architecture and cybersecurity.
Telecommuting, digitization, outsourcing and the use of cloud computing require secure, robust and redundant infrastructures: networks, access and identity management systems, applications, intrusion detection and protection solutions.
But confidentiality requirements can limit the need for remote access to company resources. Indeed, the risk of an employee being hacked while telecommuting is greater than in the office.
IT must therefore offer private connections (VPN) and restrict access to authenticated and validated equipment only. It must also allocate human resources to supervising remote activity, in order to quickly spot any "abnormal" behavior (connection of a new user, access outside normal hours, connection from an unusual geographical area, downloading of a large volume of data, etc.).
As well as taking charge of the technical aspects, the IT department should consider it its responsibility, in collaboration with the HR department and management, to raise awareness and explain to teleworkers that the use of company-supplied equipment is exclusively professional.
8. Rethink the company's management system to make the right decisions in the event of a crisis
The crisis has revealed to some General Management teams the importance of data for their strategic choices, as well as for their operational decisions.
This is all the more true when the crisis is unprecedented, as is this systemic health crisis, where the outside world no longer supplies and consumes in the same way, and for which few companies were prepared.
To become a data-driven company, the IT department needs to do more than just recommend technology (BI tools). Instead, it needs to promote "data governance" with appropriate decision-making processes. The aim is to encourage creativity in order to make the most of data and improve decision-making.
To be able to simulate the business impacts of different crisis situations, it is sometimes necessary to rethink a company's data processing from top to bottom. This involves transforming the data processing management and analysis system, so as to guide decisions on the basis of up-to-date information.
CIOs' priorities for bouncing back: Reorientation
9. Reorienting the project portfolio while saving money
This action responds both to the new challenges mentioned above (digital, telecommuting, cybersecurity, etc.) and to the strong budgetary constraints of the moment. Given that many CIOs are aware of the increased demand for new projects from the business, this issue is a top priority at the moment, and poses a major challenge to IT governance.
This involves rationalizing the project portfolio, by re-prioritizing projects according to their stakes and ROI. This means stopping or postponing projects, but also adding new ones corresponding to the levers mentioned.
10. Save money on operations
This action is another response to the severe budget constraints resulting from the crisis. It can be implemented very quickly and produce results as early as 2022.
This usually involves a performance review, in which the IT department proposes cost-cutting initiatives with potential savings (top-down approach). These initiatives are then translated into cost-cutting actions at the level of the application teams (bottom-up approach): application decommissioning, rationalization of archiving, automation of non-regression tests, online help to lighten the burden on support, and so on.
In conclusion
Apart from securing the emergency solutions deployed during the crisis, the levers presented can be approached in two ways.
When few levers are activated, and they do not fundamentally impact the overall IS strategy, they can be considered as individual projects, with a minimal update of the project portfolio.
But if CIOs and senior management wish to take advantage of this opportunity to launch a more global reflection on the place of digital in the company, the approach will not be the same. With this ambition in mind, only a master plan-type approach will make it possible to place the IS at the heart of the company's value proposition, and put digital at the service of operational performance.
Against this backdrop, the IT Department will no longer be a mere technology supplier. More than ever, it will have to position itself as a Business Partner to the business lines, and support the transformation of corporate culture and people in their relationship with technology.
This is the key to the IT Department's success in its own transformation to serve the business. It's the key to the company's success in its digital transformation.
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