IT Strategy

Re-Branding CIO

September 29, 2008 by Raj Sheelvant

The first step in managing IT Manager, CIO brand is understanding one’s environment. IT managers persist in believing their work is about deploying hardware and software when, in fact, their primary job is about deploying change. CIOs are selling change to people who often don’t want it. This is according to SearchCIO article CIOs must learn to brand themselves despite stereotypes.

According to the article good IT leaders need to hone in on how the technology affects their customers, rather than focusing on the technology.  Customers’ decisions are colored by their past emotional experiences, triggered by circumstances and driven by subconscious beliefs. Therefore, CIOs must know their audience and communicate and address those hidden emotional issues.  Article also notes that CIOs also need to understand that the art of persuasion, unlike logical ability and awareness, is “downright irrational.” IT people often have no idea that what they are saying provokes anxiety in the people they’re trying to persuade. IT managers should be striving for a brand that evokes positive feelings.  So, CIO needs to rebrand themselves as ‘transformational leader’.

As it turns out IT managers and CIOs might be under the impression that they are dealing with the IT hardware and software and communicate the technology status to the stake holders (non technical managers and customers). In reality, those stake holders are interested in understanding the impact of that technology on the business.  Not only that IT has continues to be disruptive by challenging the existing business process.  But it becomes the job of CIO and IT Managers to ‘sell’ those technology solutions to the larger audience.

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