Strategic and agile equals true business transformation

Linda Tucci raised a great point in her debut CIO Matters column last week. That is, and I’m paraphrasing, how far have CIOs really come in this digital age from being caretakers of technology to leaders of business transformation?

Or are the two roles really inseparable from one another?

It’s both, and that’s the real challenge in business transformation. Technologies are changing fast, but the implications of those technological changes are accelerating even faster. The Facebook idea of “agility above all,” however, is flawed, in my opinion. As Tucci points out, the “shoot first, ask questions later” approach of the Web era is the very antithesis of the kind of business-transformation strategic approach that CIOs need to embrace.

The most successful IT leaders these days are those who are trying to synthesize both worlds: strategic but agile. You are seeing that synthesis in BYOD “implementations”, if you will — empowering the productivity of the employees while ultimately maintaining control of the devices.