Question: Which C-level most closely resembles the CEO?  Surprisingly, it’s not the CFO nor the COO…it’s the CIO. By resemblance, I’m referring to the CEO and CIO possessing similar competencies such as market knowledge, commercial orientation, and customer focus.

A recent article explains the CIO – CEO resemblance after evaluating 25,000 executives. A leader’s level of performance is correlated to his/her proficiency of the 10 leadership competencies defined by Egon Zehnder International (EZI). This type of benchmarking is especially important in today’s climate, as CEOs are increasingly expecting their CIOs to be more proactive and strategic, and command measurable impact within the business by leveraging technology investments.

Benchmarking these competencies does something else to further the role of the CIO. It can be used to elevate the CIO from an “order-taker” role to valuable business strategist. To survive, IT must have a seat at the strategic table and a voice in the evolution and direction of the business. The CIO must drive innovation by leveraging emerging technologies in order to generate operational efficiencies and competitive advantage.

How do you rank in the core C-level competencies? Do you have what it takes to be tomorrow’s “Business Strategist” CIO? Take the self-assessment and begin developing your competencies today.

As people of all ages embrace social media as a part of their daily lives, they have come to expect to use similar tools within the workplace.

If social media has altered the way people communicate in their personal lives, why aren’t organizations experiencing the same level of impact with this emerging technology? How do businesses materialize the enigmatic potential of Enterprise 2.0 –  the strategic integration of Web 2.0 technologies into the enterprises intranet, extranet and business processes? In our meetings with CIOs, Agile sees many of them grappling with how to harvest the raw potential of social collaboration tools to create measurable business value.

What is the real opportunity for organizations to leverage social media to increase productivity, enhance effectiveness, and move the needle for some real business KPIs? In this blog series, Agile explores this opportunity.

To begin, we need to define what social collaboration is not.  It is not:

• A portal of one way communication
• Content controlled by a few
• A fixed structure on how information is controlled
• Impersonal

Agile Solutions sees more and more CIOs and IT staff employing the typical “push” models of sharing information. And although there is every good intention of harnessing the benefits of Enterprise 2.0 technologies, most fall flat because these portals end up controlled, impersonal, and non-collaborative (see above).

If social collaboration ISN’T a one-way street, what is it and how is it properly executed in the workplace? First and foremost, Enterprise 2.0 technologies will only have sizeable impact if the organization has a truly collaborative culture. Key cultural characteristics that will ensure a successful enterprise 2.0 strategy include:

• Promoting a healthy level of consensus-driven thinking
• Fostering knowledge-sharing and mentoring
• Rewarding risk and “putting yourself out there”
• Having a fluid and informal structure

If your organization is the polar opposite in culture, chances are social collaboration tools don’t stand a chance in the near term.  A quick lesson on change management from a previous blog will help you understand how an enterprise can go about adopting change – whether that change is in culture or the use of technology.

Assuming your culture is fertile for social collaboration, what’s the next step to enterprise 2.0 tools?  First, recognize how your business is changing from structure-based processes and activities to knowledge-based empowerment of the workforce. And what can employees contribute to the organization’s collective intelligence? What information, knowledge, and experience can they share with others? What relevant information can they consume from other individuals and areas of the business that can broaden or deepen their understanding of their function and contribution to the value chain?

We’ll get further into examples and a maturity model around collaboration in a future blog.

For now, please share your thoughts and experiences. How is your organization leveraging social collaboration? What collective intelligence are you creating? What results have you seen?

Deciding when to adopt an emerging technology within your business is a critical decision.  Not every business is the same when it comes to emerging technologies. You may be working for an innovative, growth-oriented company that’s always on the lookout for new solutions, or you could have responsibility for an established, structured organization that’s wary of jumping into the latest IT invention.  Either way, if you’re going to stay competitive in today’s marketplace, you’ve got to keep your eye on emerging technologies and know how best to benefit from them.

The question is: how do I know when to embrace an emerging technology?  The bad news is that there is no “silver bullet” that provides the answer to this question.  The good news is that there are a few critical questions that can help you decide.

• Is technology a competitive differentiator for your company? if so, emerging technology is your friend.  You should budget and resource to investigate emerging technologies when they are on the “bleeding edge”.
• How aggressive is your business strategy? If your company has aggressive growth plans that involve innovations, then emerging technology is your friend.  Many emerging technologies can help your organization grow with less initial investment.  Even if the technologies don’t work for the long-term, they may let you be first to market with a new product or service.
• Does your company have a highly structured culture and approach to initiatives? if so, then emerging technology may be your foe.  By their nature emerging technologies are often fraught with starts and stops with projects rarely going as planned.
• Do your company processes involve R&D activities? If not, then emerging technology may be your foe.  Companies without a tolerance for R&D activities will lose patience with emerging technologies.
• Is 100% quality at all times a priority for your company? if so, then emerging technologies may be your foe.  You will be better served to wait until a technology is mature before adoption.
• Do your clients demand innovative solutions? If so, emerging technology is your friend.  By embracing new technologies earlier in their lifecycle you can meet your client demands sooner than the competition.