Category: General

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6 Reasons Why IT Projects Fail

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Technology has forever changed the business world, and many would say for the better. IT has made it easier to work remotely, streamline processes, connect with customers, and much more. However, one question on business leaders’ minds is why do so many technology projects still fail?
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According to one study by McKinsey, more than 40 percent of IT projects fail. In the study, 17 percent of projects with budgets over $15 million failed so badly that they threatened to end the business.
Even when projects do not fail, many run over budget and exceed the deadline. The average large technology project exceeds the budget by 45 percent, runs over the deadline by 7 percent, and in the end, only achieves about 56 percent of the perceived value. However, businesses can learn from others’ failure. Below are the most common reasons why technology projects fail, and how business leaders can avoid making those same mistakes.
Shortage of Resources
One of the most common and obvious reasons why some technology projects are unsuccessful is simply resource limitation. In a survey by Innotas, 74 percent of respondents cited a lack of resources as the primary reason why they were unable to meet project demands.
This could be an easy problem to address if organizations planned thoroughly, ensuring that they have all they need. But, unexpected issues can always arise. For example, one resource mistake some make is not assigning enough players to one project. Giving each team member an unrealistic workload can not only hurt their individual ability to perform but their work morale.
No Clear Business Objective
Before beginning a tech project, organizations need to establish two points:

  1. What do you want to achieve?
  2. How will it be valuable to overall business success?

It feels like there is a new app, software, or device every year, and business IT can be pressured to keep their organizations equipped with the latest. Some organizations may feel like they need new tools, programs, and other IT ventures because everyone else has them. However, this mindset can be devastating for companies. It becomes problematic if the new IT project doesn’t have a clear objective and quantifiable end result.
Objectives help keep teams on track. Without them, they are swerving all over the place, and will inevitably crash. In fact, missing focus and unclear objectives were cited as the top causes of project failure in the McKinsey study.
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Lack of Leadership
Managers and leaders are vital to the success of tech ventures. They help shape the team environment. establish team processes, and motivate other members of the team. Successful IT projects often have leaders that understand the “big picture” and the role their work plays in it too. Intel CIO, Kim Stevenson, reflected this mindset recently saying, “There are no IT projects, only business projects.”
It is important for managers to delegate tasks to ensure that each individual understands how their work fits into the project. Individuals should have a clear set of expectations, which they are capable of meeting. Successful leaders are not only responsible for delegating tasks and setting expectations on a team. They are also maintaining the team morale, especially motivation.
One of the best but overlooked ways that team leaders can foster member motivation is by establishing a continuous, two-way stream of feedback. Asking for feedback from members can be just as important as giving it. This method gives each member a sense of value within the team and can increase motivation. Feedback can also help to reflect on the progress of a project and identify any red flags before they happen. When feedback is absent or lacking though, performance and motivation often suffer.
Micromanaging
Leaders should take an active role in project development, however, they should also know when to take a backseat. One of the worst mistakes that managers can make is to micromanage. Micromanaging is a time suck and motivation killer. By focusing too much on the details and constantly controlling how team members complete tasks, project managers can often lose sight of the big picture. They lose time to devote to other tasks and before they know it, the deadline has arrived and the project is incomplete.
It can be easy to get lost in the details, especially for longer ventures. However, even the most talented workers can struggle to perform when the boss is hovering over their shoulders all the time.
With a talented team, leaders should be able to loosen the reins a little. The key is to provide members with direction and support, but give them the opportunity to work independently. Managers should have regular check-ins with members to review their progress and be available if needed, but remember that each person has a role. Micromanaging will make your team members feel purposeless, undervalued, and stressed.
Poor Collaboration
Strong collaboration is perhaps one of the most influential factors that affect project completion. In fact, 86 percent of execs say failures are caused by poor collaboration and communication. Furthermore, 97 percent of executives and employees agree that a lack of alignment negatively impacts the completion of a task.
Delegating tasks is important, so that every member understands their responsibility to the team. However, where some IT projects go wrong is that team members don’t communicate or collaborate effectively or at all. Some take on the mindset that, “It’s not my job, you do it.” Unfortunately, that is one of the warning signs of a disengaged employee, and they can be toxic to meeting business goals. Incorporating collaboration from the start can help prevent members from falling into this category.
From the beginning and throughout a project, members should establish a team mindset. Even doing a few team-building activities at the start can help foster teamwork and engage members. When everyone is comfortable working in both independent and collaborative environments, the productivity and quality of work is more likely to increase.
It is important to stress that collaboration is designed to make your job easier, rather than give individuals more work. Advanced collaboration tools make it easy for individuals to work on projects together from anywhere.
Missing An Agile Culture
Agility is one of the top words buzzing around boardrooms today, but what is it exactly? The definition of agility will likely change depending on which executive you ask. For some IT leaders, agility is about technology. For others, it is about being able to anticipate and easily adjust to industry and market trends that will affect how you run your business. The companies that do agility best are the ones with a culture that incorporates both of these viewpoints.
Agile organizations are innovative and forward-thinking. Often, they are one step ahead of their competitors, because of their flexibility and ability to embrace change. Companies with agile cultures may even be more likely to complete projects. What does agility have to do with successful IT project management?
Companies with agile cultures are more likely to reach goals. Instead of following a traditional waterfall methodology of project management, moving from one process to the next without evaluation, they’ll take an agile approach. When agile principles are applied to project management, teams finish tasks in weekly or monthly “sprints”. Then, they reflect on their work and make any necessary adjustments to future processes.
There are dozens of reasons why an IT project can fail. Teams can get overwhelmed with user needs, resource limitations, changing technologies, communication, and dozens of other variables that affect completion. However, learning from these common mistakes can help make your next project a success.
Let us know what you think of why IT Projects fail? Do any of these happen to you?

Why You Need Angularjs for a Dashboard Application?

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Here at Ubiq we struggled with the path we would take in developing our device managing dashboard – a web application. This is likely because of our combined experience in web development – limited. The purpose of this software is to allow the owner of a device or devices to setup, configure and observe the use of each or many of them. We had a few requirements that we wanted to achieve. The first was that we could make a single page application, thereby limiting the amount of time a user spent moving between whole web-pages. Second, we wanted a tool that would allow for modular development.
Angularjs, with regards to our first requirement, is an excellent instrument. The ‘directive’, a construct specific to the library, allows for the manipulation and implant of custom html elements into the overarching structure of an application or webpage. Each directive, given a descriptive name, can make your index file easily readable and comprehensible. In making use of the ‘Attribute’ directives one can add functionality to native html objects or using ‘Element’ directives you can make entirely new ones. With the former you could make a particular view appear or disappear on the change of a value. The latter can conceal html within a single html tag. Together, they can efficiently display multiple in a single page. Angularjs will only call for the specific, concealed, html file required by the directive when it is to be displayed. If it has been displayed before the file will be in the cache. This makes the user experience almost seamless.
These directives also contributed to the attainment of our second requirement, modularity. By being able to separate the html of large, yet distinct elements we could also then separate the business logic of the application. A second library specific feature is the ‘service’ or ‘factory’. We used these to limit the access of our controllers to specific APIs, each controller associated with a ‘directive’. The controllers allow for data to be bound to the html. The APIs allow for controller-to-controller and app-to-server communication. With this we were able to  maintain distinct responsibilities between the disparate pieces of our application.
In conclusion, we are coming to the end of our opening salvo of development on the Dashboard application. The learning curve was steep. Much research had to be done in order for us to feel confident in our approach with Angularjs. However, the end result, in our minds is an aesthetically appealing and useful application that should present little difficulty with respect to bug fixing and updating as the company progresses forward in response to customer desires.

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What's Your Leadership Style?

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“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.” – Mahatma Gandhi
In the IT world, many often forget there are people behind technology. CIOs and CTOs, as leaders, are responsible to make the connection between the human and the digital. However, leadership styles can vary in how to relate and work with others to ensure goals, tasks and expectations are being met.
As an IT leader, the manner you conduct yourself can make or break your team’s success. Your style should be adaptable for the setting. Whether you have built your organization structure or it is one you’ve inherited, you should evaluate how individuals contribute and how groups collaborate in your current environment. All leaders wants an “All-Star” team, but it will require getting to know your people, their skills and their styles to see what fits with your style and flexibility as a leader.
Here are 5 types of leadership styles to consider:

  1. Autocratic: This style of leadership puts all decision-making power into your hands. There’s no input for others. In a sense, you, as a leader, are at the top. There’s full control of processes, strategy and task. You manage the expectations of projects and tasks to ensure strategy is working as you have designed and issued to be implemented.This style has the potential to be positive and negative. Positively, it can be a time and cost saver with decisions being made quickly by a single person, the leader. Negatively, it can shut out team members whose expertise may help make better decisions. It can also lead to micromanagement and levels of rigidity in the organization structure.Example: Henry Ford, in creating and leading the Ford Motor Company, took the charge in creating the automobile assembly line and creating an entire industry in the United States.
     
  2. Participative. Contrary to the autocratic style, participative leadership opens the decision-making process to others. As a leader, you gather input from your team members to determine how strategy is formed and how projects are assigned and delegated. It can be viewed as “democratic.”Having input from others is great. However, it can come at a price. This style can open the door to cannibalization of work, inefficiencies and lack of direction from there being “too many cooks in the kitchen.”On the plus side, a participative leader gains levels of expertise and experience from his team. There’s a bit of reliance on subject-matter experts to help make well-informed decisions. This type of leader needs to balance influence with one’s management.Example: Steve Jobs was known to change his leadership style during his career at Apple, during their best and worst moments. However, what has helped Apple succeed in its current form was by hiring experts in the industry and listening to their input. There was a balance in being a guide and a learner, which made him an effective leader and his team, including current CEO Tim Cook, one too.
  1. Laissez-faire. This style can be simply stated as “let nature run its course.” This style of leadership leaves decision-making solely to the team member. It may seem like a “hands-off” approach, but it can be empowering to the worker. With that level of autonomy, the worker looks to the leader for guidance and support, when necessary.While some team members can thrive in autonomous work situations, any lack of communication can be viewed as off-putting or uncaring. In this style, the leader will need to be a bit proactive with the team. Regular check-ins with an open-door policy allows both leaders and team members to have fluid conversation and become transparent about projects, tasks and responsibilities.Example: Jack Welch, former CEO and Chairman of General Electric, was an effective yet hands-off leader in business. He allowed his hired experts to make the decisions without guidance, allowing them to use their experience and skills. Being hands-off wouldn’t mean to be ignorant of the business. His style allowed his employees to shine, and in turn his company’s value increased by 4,000% 
  2. Transactional. This style is based on a set of rules and instruction. It employees a rewards/punishment system. It’s a “quid pro quo” style, where employees experience consequences or benefits based on what and how they perform. It can be incentivizing for teams that require a bit more motivation than others.In this style, it’s important to gauge your team member’s motivation and satisfaction levels. Incentives can be a great boost to improve performance. However, it needs to be done in moderation. Incentives should not always be expected, as they can lose their attraction. Alternatively, if goals are not being met, the “punishments” need to not be demoralizing to stop work. They should be set to help rebuild and re-educate team members through communication. Be careful not to micromanage to get the results you want.Example: While there aren’t noted leaders who have taken to this style, some examples are work directives/orders, having “chains of command” and setting persons or self in supervisory roles to oversee lesser performers.
  3. Transformational. Transformation equates change. As a transformational leader, you seek opportunities to make change for your area and business. Whether it’s implementing new technology across the organization or creating new organization policies, you create the vision, design the strategy and motivate your team to implement.This style works best if you operate in project management, which many IT teams do. Your ability to give directions and develop cross-functional partnerships is essential, as efforts and their much needed support will need to come from other business areas. Communication is critical in giving direction so others can understand and align to your vision for change.
    Example: Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, is a transformational leader who not only changed his style over the years, but how he conducts business. He found opportunities to create change using technological innovations from operating systems to hardware. However, he also used this experience to segue into a career in philanthropy, creating the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to promote initiatives for education, community development and world health.

Author John C. Maxwell said “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” To be an effective leader, you need to have a style that fits with your employees and work environment. In IT, you’re covering a wide range of functional skills and operations from help desk to development. Your ability to work with others and provide guidance and support will be key in how well you all perform as a team
Which leadership style matches you? Which type(s) would you like to adopt? Have you found a way to change styles necessary? Tell us in the comments!

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5 Things IT Administrators Hate about Deployment

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In 2014, TeamViewer conducted their IT Admin Behavioral Study to understand how IT administrators felt about employee habits and company usage. 92% reported frustrations by company behavior viewed as “troublesome” in how employees handled equipment and reached out to IT for support. 70% of IT administrators felt frustrated by their work, and 12% stated that the frustration made them want to quit their jobs. So, how can this frustration be eased, especially in the deployment of new technology?
Whether it’s hardware or software, IT administrators empower their teams to stay focused to complete any implementation correctly. However, such implementations have an impact across a company, in one or more departments. Working together can require a lot of effort, patience and the ability to be flexible, despite frustration.
While project management may seem to be a solution to manage technology deployments, it can also become an obstacle. A lot of the “grunt” work in a project is performed by IT. They are often only viewed the doers, because they have a specific skillset that no one else in the company has. However, IT administrators offer value in their experience and knowledge and keep a business forward-moving.
The goal with any deployment or project is for action to be seamless with minimal disruption. It important to ensure employees understand how your IT department functions. As much as they support the company and its employees, they also need support from them.
Perhaps, this list of 5 frustrations will help to shed some light and gain support for your IT team at work.

  1. “Include us!” Communication is critical, but it is also needs to be a two-exchange. IT may be doing the bulk of the work, but they also should be able to provide feedback and make recommendations on feasibility, approach and implementation. By having a dialogue, others can begin to understand how IT operates and can best serve the intended project.
  2. “Let us take the lead sometime!” Project managers may not fully speak the language of IT. IT administrator should be a partner in managing the deployment. That way, there is proper coverage, tasks are being completed against milestones and make sure resources are being properly managed within the department and in other areas of the business.
  3. “Stop making changes!” Frequent change requests can impact the efficiency of any implementation or update. IT teams manage multiple responsibilities to support the technological needs of your business. Certainly, there may be times when a change is necessary. However, all change requests should be evaluated to determine the priority on whether it’s something that can happen now or later.
  4. “Report errors…PLEASE!” Having a testing phase is a must for any project. Testing by IT and business units can help make deployments run smoothly. Even moreso is reporting of any errors. The earlier someone finds a defect, the sooner it can be addressed. Finding errors late in the game can disrupt business and put more pressure on IT resources.
  5. “We are NOT magicians!” Your IT department is full of talented people. As much as their ability to code, program and install can seem magical, it requires skill, experience and time. While it may seem as if implementing a new technology or upgrading a system is simple, it may not be, as it seems. Allow your team members to set the realistic expectations with your employees, no matter the request.

Deployment can be a stressful time for all involved. It might require “all hands on deck.” As an IT administrator, you can demonstrate the value of your team to the project and overall organization. To do this, give them the proper support to ensure they are performing well, even when under pressure.

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Turn Every Space into a Huddle Space or Conference Room

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The company cafeteria is not just for food service. It can often be the central meeting or huddle space for employees to meet, share ideas, and learn from one another. Based on its design, it’s a place that could be border-free and all-inclusive through conference room technology.
Think about your technology infrastructure and how it connects your team members and external partners. What if that technology was taken outside of the conference room or huddle space? Many mid-size and larger corporations have added audio/visual equipment into their cafeterias. Whether it’s to show a company’s latest commercial or to provide direction on company policy, such tools can increase access and reach of information.
By using the cafeteria for its social aspect and space, you can bring employees together! Presentations, “Town Hall” meetings, brainstorm sessions, etc. bring forth conversations. By layering communication tools like wireless presentations, you can now make the cafeteria your company’s largest conference room or huddle space.
“Town Hall” meetings, corporate training sessions and company presentations can be taken to a whole new level. Location, time, and wires no longer have to be a barrier to be a part of a conversation. The cafeteria becomes a place to inspire and to take action.
Here are 5 ways to make the cafeteria into a communication hive.

  1. Set up wireless presentation access. Wireless presentations are a means to share information with team members no matter where they are. Employees can contribute not only thoughts and ideas, but they can content from their devices, no matter where they are.
  2. Be equipped. Many cafeterias have AV equipment setup to display company messaging or just to air local news. However, take a look at your current conference room design and layout. Examine how the conference room being used and how certain tools and functions, like video conferencing, could work in a larger space. It may not be feasible to use the cafeteria for wireless projection, but connecting your laptop to the cafeteria TV shouldn’t be an issue.
  3. Schedule the “room.” Yes, your cafeteria may need to be scheduled for meetings. People still use the cafeteria to dine and socialize. If your company is using a conference room booking system, make the cafeteria a location or resource. Find out when your cafeteria is at its busiest. Then, make it available for meetings during slow periods. What’s important is to communicate cafeteria’s usage during those times.
  4. Test your connections and security. If your meeting will involve remote access, you should ensure that all parties will be able to connect, and that data shared will be secure. Wireless presentations, like Ubiq, allow for activity monitoring, secured access and data encryption for each session. It’s important to test those capabilities with a small group of employees, both in and out of the office, especially when implementing such communication tools in the cafeteria.

At your company, your goals should be tied to how your employees work. This includes where they work. If you can optimize your space to create more opportunities for collaborative and productive work, your employees will benefit greatly. Stop thinking of the cafeteria as only a place to eat. Look at it as an opportunity to learn, share, motivate and work…together.

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Top 10 Locations for Remote Employees

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Many remote employees enjoy the flexibility of working outside of the office while being connected to the office especially during the summer seasons. While many think about the best at-home office set-up or their co-working space perks, what about the cities in which we work?
Netherlands-based tech entrepreneur Pieter Level started NomadList to rank the best places live and work remotely by city across the globe, based on the following criteria, such as:

  • Cost of living (per month)
  • Weather
  • Internet Speed
  • Transportation
  • Visa requirements
  • Access to WiFi-connected coffee shops

With a multitude of factors to consider, the site has an algorithm that updates the data on an hourly basis. The data is crowdsourced, based on registered user information, emotions (fun levels) and location check-ins throughout the world. That data is used to give each city is given a score as a percentage to determine its rank.
What’s interesting is that one might think the best places for remote employees would be busy business travel destinations, like New York, Toronto, London or Tokyo. The list doesn’t include list any of those cities! Here’s the current list of top 10 locations worldwide!

  1. Natal, Brazil
  2. Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
  3. Varna, Bulgaria
  4. Split, Croatia
  5. Jeju Island, South Korea
  6. Taichung, Taiwan
  7. Cluj, Romania
  8. Thessaloniki, Greece
  9. Monterrey, Mexico
  10. Kigali, Rwanda

Not yet looking to travel the world? You can get the top rankings also by continent or country!
Current Top 10 Locations in North America

  1. Oaxaca, Mexico
  2. Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
  3. Monterrey, Mexico
  4. Queretaro, Mexico
  5. Hermosillo, Mexico
  6. Dallas, Texas, United States
  7. Miami, Florida, United States
  8. Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
  9. Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
  10. Austin, Texas, United States

Do these lists surprise you? Are you ready to pack up, travel and work on the road? See where your ideal destination ranks by visiting NomadList.com and let us know!

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Do Your Meeting Rooms Meet the 'Modern Standard'?

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The way we conduct meetings has changed over the years, thanks to technology. From the telephone to video to the interactive display, meeting rooms and huddle spaces are no longer bound to location and time zones. The tools we use have certainly evolved to help us be more productive, efficient, and collaborative.
Let’s look at how conference room technology has grown:
Telephone conferencing. Alexander Graham-Bell’s telephone in 1877 changed how we communicate from remote locations. Business meetings didn’t need to be in the same room. No need to wait for messages to arrive via telegraph or post. He brought real-time communication!
Since then, we’ve seen the telephone’s purpose change thanks to innovations, such as:

  • The speakerphone allowed groups to speak through a single 1:1 communication flow.
  • Conference functionality allowed a user to connect more than one phone line to another or transfer to another.
  • Conference call systems opened communication to allow multiple phones to connect into a single line.

WATCH: “The Birth of Telecommunications” (History)
Video conferencing added a visual element to work communication. People could see and speak to one another. Video initially was an enhancement to audio. Since then, it flipped with the rise of the Internet and cloud connectivity.
Video communication has changed how we see, hear, and speak with one another. Tools like Skype, Facetime, Google Hangouts and WebEx gives us options to record or live stream our conversations. All the while, we make our business portable and social.
VIEW: “The History of Videoconferencing” (Telemerge, Inc./SlideShare)
Where are we today? The wireless presentation has bridged the gap between teleconferencing and videoconferencing. It has promoted unified communication to allow teams to connect across different platforms, devices, and audio visual setups. It’s changing company cultures by bringing people together through a central access point.
We’re able to contribute and bring value to our meetings no matter our location.
WATCH: “Get Started with Ubiq”
Where do we go next? Take a look at what Lightpath put together in a great timeline infographic on “The Evolution of the Business Meeting.”
Tell us where you see conference room technology and conference room AV equipment are heading!

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Why You Need To Implement New Technology Now

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The planning process to implement any new technology can be a daunting process. A number of factors have to be taken into consideration to make changes as seamless and as timely as possible. All the while, your IT team will be managing priorities to ensure implementation is going smoothly while handing their day-to-day responsibilities.
Here are top 5 ways to optimize new technology implementation:
1. Understand the Business!
New technology doesn’t mean having top of the line hardware or software. It’s not always about being on trend. It’s about providing the right tools and systems into your organization to help it run efficiently to meet its objectives.
It’s important to evaluate current workflows and processes. By identifying gaps, it can help illustrate how new technology can improve current systems, enhance performance and motivate employees. In addition, it helps IT understand how other business areas operation and benefit your organization.
2. Get the Buy-In…Early!
New technology requires support from key stakeholders. You will need to work cross-functionally with other leaders and teams within your organization, and possibly external partners. That is why understanding your business is so key. Being able to speak to their specific areas and business needs can gain support for the new technology. The stakeholders can communicate the reasons and impacts of the new technology, which can translate to quicker adoption by employees across your organization.
3. Choose Your Project Management Style!
New technology implementation requires resources, time and money. While everyone would want projects to go as quickly as possible, you should make sure that the project will run as efficiently as possible. Again, the goal is to make deployment as seamless as possible without much disruption to your business.
Whether you follow Waterfall, Agile, Six Sigma, etc., the project management framework should fit the expectations set for the new technology for yourself and your key stakeholders.
• Consider your resource availability against your allotted budgets.
• Make adjustments where needed during your discovery and planning phases
• Make the project tasks and timeline available to all project team members
The earlier you have your framework outlined, the better prepared everyone will be.
4. Be Transparent!
In addition to being transparent with your stakeholders and project team members, you should also be forthcoming with information to employees who will be impacted by the implementation. Questions will arise during the process. If you can provide the answers sooner than later, it will help employees better manage their priorities and performance.
Some information may not be accessible to all. However, you should work with key stakeholders on the types of details that can be shared. This can be integrated into a communication plan for the implementation. The plan will help everyone to manage what information is shared and when before, during and after the deployment of new technology.
5. Always Be Testing!
Testing is a critical piece for any implementation. Don’t wait until the end of development or right before deployment. Testing should be ongoing throughout stages, or sprints, of your project. Testing isn’t only limited to your IT team. Quality assurance, staging environments and user-acceptance are important to your testing.
Develop an outline with scenarios and user stories to help key stakeholders, team members and partners understand the anticipated results of testing. With proper analysis, regular testing not only will it tell you what works and what does not. It could possibly great new opportunities for enhancements.
What other tips do you have to ensure your new technology implementation goes smoothly? Share with us!

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Can IT Leaders Be Just As Important As the CEO?

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Today, technology is more integral to achieving business success than ever before. Almost every step of the business process from strategy to execution now involves the use of digital technology. Furthermore, studies have shown that its usage━when coupled with great IT leadership━can help improve overall performance.
CIOs, CTOs, and other IT leaders may have been behind the scenes in the past. However, now they are at the forefront of many company initiatives. A recent study by Harvard Business Review reported that companies that combine technology and leadership effectively are more likely to increase their revenue by 10 percent or more in the first two years.
Members of the IT executive team can be your most valuable allies when it comes to implementing technology to improve your business. How can utilizing them help your entire organization grow?
Managing People
Employees are at the heart of every organization. They are the ones that drive your business to success, so it is crucial to know about their working styles, motivations, strengths, and values. Technology is helping organizations learn about what is most important to their employees and identify ways to help them grow professionally. When company leaders are more informed, it can also make it easier to manage teams.
Many companies are initiating innovative benefits programs that reward employees based on their performance and productivity. For example, Google has some of the most expansive employee benefits programs in the world. Employees enjoy free gourmet food, massages, and paid family leave. They have access to bikes, treadmills, nap pods, and even a garden space for planting in the workspace. These perks may sound superfluous, but their success in motivating employees is supported by data that the company tracked and analyzed.
Of course, not every business can offer the same perks as tech-giant Google. But, other organizations can emulate their use of technology to learn more about their workforce to help motivate and manage them.
Optimizing Time With Integration and Automation
Technologies like collaboration tools, wireless presentation software, CRM systems, and more are integrating information between systems. Integration allows organizations to decrease the number of tools they need to log into, and stores their data in a few places instead of several.
Digital technology has also made it easier for organizations to automate menial but time-consuming tasks, giving individuals more time to devote to more valuable projects. Both automation and integration have become crucial for businesses to remain competitive, especially when it comes to marketing and sales.
This is why many CIOs and CMOs have started to collaborate on marketing initiatives. CIOs can help CMOs and other members of the marketing team use integration and automation tools to streamline processes, save time, and optimize revenue. Furthermore, when IT leaders work together with marketing leaders, their data and technology expertise can help improve overall campaign effectiveness.
Paving the Way for Data-Driven Strategy
For the past several years, the term “business intelligence” (BI) has been buzzing in the corporate world. Companies can now collect data about employee engagement, sales, customer behaviors and relationships, marketing, and almost every other facet of a business that affects performance. Data visualization and easy-to-use analytics tools have made it possible for both small and large businesses to take advantage of BI.
Modern-day IT executives are often at the core of these capabilities. Technology makes it easier for companies to learn about their industry trends, competitors, and target audiences. However, the value of business intelligence is only truly realized when organizations turn data into action. The role of a CIO is evolving into a position that works with different verticals within an organization to help make this happen. They are working with CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, and other C-suite executives to promote the use of data and technology in making more informed and strategic decisions.
In nearly every industry in the world, technology has become a crucial part of business growth.
With strong IT leadership, companies are more likely to make data-driven decisions, drive employee productivity, and increase revenue. Ultimately, they learn more about their business, and by doing so, boost their overall performance.
Additional Reading
Why CIOs Don’t Become CEOs
What It Takes for CIOs to be CEOs
Making the CIO to CEO Connection