By Andy McCue, 11 November 2004 12:22
NEWS Boardroom pressure on UK IT bosses is for high returns and innovation rather than a low-risk IT strategy, according to silicon.com's CIO Jury.
IT investment has come under more scrutiny than ever following the huge amounts spent on Y2K and the dot-com boom and with ever-increasing amounts of regulatory compliance red tape to contend with we asked the silicon.com CIO Jury if there is pressure on them to be risk averse in the way they run IT.
Two-thirds (eight) delivered a resounding 'no' verdict, with a third (four) saying 'yes' there is pressure to avoid a high-risk approach to IT.
Steve Ritchie, CIO at Investcorp said there is a distinction between risk aware and risk averse. "There is always a healthy amount of pressure to be risk aware, being risk averse in IT would equate to stagnation," he said.
David Lister, CIO at Reuters, said IT's contribution to the company has to have an appropriate mix of risk and that the challenge is managing the balance.
"At the higher end we should be investing in some projects which have a very high risk/return ratio because if we don't try to innovate or to establish forms of differentiation we'll always be laggards," he said.
Kevin Fitzpatrick, CTO at Manpower, said not taking risks can leave your organisation as an "also-ran".
"Making exceptional progress means taking risks thats what great leaders do. For any company to move substantially ahead of the competition it needs to be different which means being first which means doing things that others havent," he said.
Neil Hammond, IT director at British Sugar, said there is expectation from the board that he is prudent regarding risk but also that IT should be a catalyst for change. "I'm finding the business is looking to IT to be more innovative. IT is seen as an enabler," he said.
Bill Gibbons, CIO, Abbey Group, argued that IT supports and shares the same risk analyses and decisions as the rest of the business because of its potential impact on the company.
But others argued there is tremendous pressure to be risk averse with one serious mistake likely to wipe out years of goodwill.
Ian Cohen, IT director at the Financial Times, said: "In the current climate, where cost control and short term ROI are still key issues, there is a general level of caution that precludes the more speculative IT investments. Combine this with the 'climate of fear' generated by Sarbanes-Oxley and its easy to see why 2005 is the year of the risk averse."
Ted Woodhouse, IT director at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said it all comes down to what each business wants from its IT function.
"What they want from me is deploy technology innovatively, not to innovate with technology. 'Risk averse' not only keeps your job, it also serves the business better. And it certainly serves patients better," he said.
Do you agree with our CIOs that there isn't pressure for IT to avoid taking risks? Is your company's IT department risk averse? Vote in the silicon.com poll here on the right-hand-side of the page.
Today's CIO Jury was
Ian Cohen, IT director, Financial Times
Frank Coyle, IT director John Menzies Distribution
Kevin Fitzpatrick, CTO, Manpower
Mark Foulsham, head of IT, eSure
Neil Hammond, IT director, British Sugar
Rob Neil, head of ICT services, Ashford Borough Council
Dr John Odell, group IT director, BBA Group
Steve Ritchie, CIO, Investcorp
Ted Woodhouse, IT director, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Phil Young, head of IT, Amtrak
If you are a CIO, IT director or equivalent at a large or small company in the private or public sector and want to be part of silicon.com's CIO Jury pool, or you know an IT chief who should be, then drop us a line at editorial@silicon.com
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.
Log in or create your silicon.com account below