I recently discovered that our CMO has initiated a project with a development company for a major customer, which I had previously rejected in my role as CIO. I have several concerns about this project: 1) The budget is low, and the deadlines are unrealistic. 2) The project poses significant risks and could potentially harm the company. 3) We lack the necessary certifications required for this project. 4) There is a high likelihood of uncontrolled cost escalation. While this project might provide immediate financial benefits, especially given our current sales challenges and unmet objectives, I worry that the long-term risks may outweigh these short-term gains. Given these factors, should we proceed with this project or not? I would appreciate any advice or insights on how to handle this situation effectively.
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Director of IT4 months ago
Do you need to accept the project? Why not let the CMO do it as they selected the supplier? Director, Experience Design in Education3 months ago
Hi there,There's a risk here with saying no: you individually and IT in general could be seen as a barrier to solving a problem that seems important to solve: sales challenges and unmet customer acquisition objectives, plus an enticing upside of immediate financial benefits.
My guess is that you probably don't want to get in the way of that (or even to be seen to be getting in the way of that). Plus, if you say yes now to something you already rejected, you set a bad precedent.
If you don't fully understand the problem to be solved, start by analyzing the current situation before making recommendations before doing the next step.
If you understand the problem they're trying to solve, then go back with alternatives. You need to do X. We can do A and B help you address that problem within a short timeframe, and we can do C and D to support you with the longer-term solution.
The benefit to the CMO is that the issue is addressed, short term financial gains are realized. The benefit to the organization is that certain risks are avoided. Everyone wins.
I hope this is helpful. Good luck!
Chief Information Technology Officer in IT Services3 months ago
Operating without necessary certifications can result in non-compliance and potential legal trouble so i guess i would make a pause and fix itHead of Transformation in Government3 months ago
Every CIO has encountered the dynamics of power, the failures of governance and the intrigues of politics. The good news is that you are in good company and it is not an uncommon thing for rogue initiatives to come out of the CMO area, but in today's era of digital democratisation it can come out of anywhere. If you are the CIO, your experience and nose for financial woes are probably spot on. Here are just a few of the approaches I have taken in real world scenarios. I list them in order of priority - I prefer 1 before 3.1. Collaborate and support.
The CMO launches a CRM project for sales automation direct with a vendor which platform is incompatible with the enterprise architecture. Furthermore, the estimate was 25% of benchmarks and CIO office estimates. But this company was live-or-die by sales targets, so the CMO had lots of power. Rather than confront the project head on, the approach was to pitch a comprehensive vision of the CRM integrated with the production backoffice, enlisting also the COO in supporting the business case (more value, bigger budget) and then committing resource to help define requirements, document and build the business case for the corporate board. This easy first win led to a nod for a demo of the corporate platform's CRM. Which led to narrowing down the use cases to help with the business analysis to identify where the real need, pain and value lay. This led to keeping the original budget but reducing the scope to fit the budget. Try and find win-win. In most cases you want the same thing: corporate performance and in most cases given where you are in your careers, you are all talented and skilled at cooperation (ymmv)
2. Document and distance
Another example involved the implementation of a custom software platform which the executive believed was a perfect fit but which enterprise architecture advised was a nightmare - both for the business and end users and for the cost, as well as the customer. The IT position was very weak, from a politics and power perspective and the overwhelming forces of the powerful business sponsors showed a clear likelihood of failure. The approach was to document and explain the issues, through a series of white papers and formal letters to the leadership team and the private sessions of the board to explain the issue. Here what was forecast came to happen (of course, there are only IT failures and business successes, so despite the host of issues and runaway cost, the project continued to poor money into the doomed project - in any case, it was, like the financial crisis of the last decade - too big to fail). But the significant documentation at least led to being distanced from any of the fallout. Sometimes you just have to accept that despite being right, the decision will go another way, and work on harmony and loyalty to the decision without picking a battle that cannot be won. I am reminder here of Thomas-Kilmann's Conflict Modes, which with some study is an excellent analysis of the options available in corporate governance to a CIO.
3. Leverage and suppress
In other cases, the power and reasoning capabilities of the IT teams is strong enough to squash the issue with a few meetings and presentations. Don't hesitate to use theatrics and FUD to make your point --- but only if you are truly convinced and have tried option 1.
Board Member in Healthcare and Biotech3 months ago
If you are being asked to run with the project even when you disagree, here are your options:1. Easy way out, run away, you can state any number of reasons like a) lack of bandwidth, b) no technology skills in the solution chosen, c) make a list of things that can and will go wrong and then socialise it to make sure that when it does go wrong, you can say "I told you so" !
2. The difficult way works only if you have credibility within the enterprise and a strong personality; take things head-on and challenge the CMO with your technical prowess and experience. It could turn unpleasant but there is a high probability you will succeed. If you do, you better have a plan that works as a replacement
3. Practical option, help the CMO succeed irrespective of the decision s/he took while working with the customer. Give them part of your budget if it helps solve the issue; add your SWAT team to the initiative. At the end of the project, in the CXO meeting which typically happens with defined periodicity (monthly/quarterly or even the annual meeting), put across the case study with data to demonstrate the fallacy of the decision and how it took effort beyond the normal for your team to prevent it from becoming a disaster.
In my decades of being a practitioner, I have taken the practical route most of the time, but also the difficult path because the situation was irretrievable from where it was.