Strategic Planning for CIOs – Two Points to Consider

Each year, we receive invaluable data from our proprietary Leadership Perspective Survey, in which thousands of CIOs across our communities provide their key priorities and challenges for the year ahead. This data is used to inform the agendas, topics, and discussions at our CIO programs, aligning to our ‘by CIO, for CIO’ model. 

Occasionally, we also have the opportunity to compare notes with our Gartner peers on what they are hearing from CIOs and their teams about priorities and challenges on a monthly basis. Recently, my Gartner colleague in the Industries Research Group shared highlights from the September edition of their Voice of the Customer Survey with CIOs.

Here are two recent findings that resonate with what we are hearing from IT leaders:

1. CIOs are Challenged to Connect IT Strategy to Business Strategy.

As CIOs strategize for 2025, they know IT strategy and business strategy have to be closely aligned, but my Gartner colleagues found in their survey that IT leaders do not know how to connect the two. Some CIOs report they do not have a documented business strategy or clear enterprise priorities to reference.

In addition, the importance and urgency around AI adoption is pushing CIOs to attempt to integrate an AI strategy, which is “highlighting the disparate strategic landscape and reigniting the conversation of strategic linkage between IT and business strategies,” according to the survey.

The solution? Some CIOs are “leading up” and spearheading strategic planning for the business – and embedding their IT strategy into it. As Gartner explained it, they are “proactively unearthing and shaping business strategy - to solve it.” Some IT leaders also noted that they can better articulate the value of IT and digital initiatives to help support their strategies for 2025.

Here are a few Gartner resources to help CIOs create and articulate their strategies:

• eBook: Gartner CIO Agenda 2025
• Webinar: Use Storytelling to Bring Your 1-Page Strategy to Life
• Webinar: Plan Your IT Strategy Execution for Maximum Impact

We’ve also found in our Evanta CIO community data and in qualitative conversations with CIOs that IT-Business Alignment is a top priority – currently ranking #7 on CIOs’ priorities for the year. As one CIO noted, they are making progress in transitioning IT “past a cost center – but not yet to being seen as a business enabler.” Another IT leader shared that “in some industries, technology IS the business; in others, it is an enabler.” Yet another CIO connected the IT-Business Alignment issue to AI, saying, “Everyone is worried about AI-business alignment.”

1. CIOs Missing Power Skills Also Miss the Offered Seat at the Strategy Table.

We know that CIOs wear two hats as both business and technology leaders, but the Gartner survey results found that many struggle with developing the soft skills needed to transition to the business executive role. They write further that “personal branding, storytelling, and executive communication become essential for CIOs to better influence their peers and the board.”

External factors – like the pace of technological change and the introduction of AI – are creating an environment in which CIOs are influencers across the business. As Gartner notes, “CIOs are realizing that delivering stable IT services is not enough to build a strategic brand.”

CIOs are beginning to realize that as their role evolves, they might need to focus on how their personal brand can overcome change resistance and drive organizational transformation.

Here are a few Gartner resources to help CIOs develop these soft skills:

• Webinar: CIOs, The Skills You Need to Deliver More Effectively for the Business
• Webinar: Impactful Storytelling: Enhance Your Value & Influence
• Webinar: The Art of Storytelling: Lead Key Initiatives, Such as Return to Work and GenAI

In our Evanta communities, we have also found that CIOs want to talk to their peers about the evolution of their role. With the advent of AI, one executive shared that they “think the role is increasing in importance, direct scope and accountability.” Another CIO said, “IT is becoming closer to the business than ever before and now empowering employees to use IT for themselves.”  

One CIO even commented on the personal branding aspect of the role, noting that “you have a brand or a legacy whether you curate it or not." 

If you are a CIO trying to align IT strategy with business strategy or adjusting to the evolution of the CIO role, join an Evanta CIO Community to discuss these topics with peers in your region. Or, if you are already a member of a CIO community, sign in to MyEvanta to register for an upcoming community program on topics like these.