How technology leaders are navigating the COVID-19 Crisis

As we have seen over the past number of weeks the world has changed. Not only have our personal lives seen a big shift but also the way in which we work is more different than we could ever imagine. It is now more important than ever that technology leaders navigate an emerging ‘new normal’ across technology, people, and process. In addition, CIOs are having to provide flexible operations and services and essentially enabling businesses to pivot in response to the problem and opportunity businesses currently face. In this paper we explore a range of Senior technology leaders perspectives as well as a reflection on the current market conditions in the Executive Technology space. 

All Hail the CIO

As we are all aware, technology has become the ‘saving grace’ for many companies with remote working being the norm and those who have been able to seamlessly transition into this may not recognise how change can be a challenge for a CIO. There is so much more to think about beyond picking up the laptop and continuing as normal. Questions such as ‘Who doesn’t have a laptop and how do we roll-out quickly?’, ‘How are we going to cope with the extra employees on our network?’, ‘What’s our security like to deal with the worst case scenario?’, ‘How are we implementing best practice within our teams when we don’t know where they are?!’. And that’s just the technology-based questions racing through a technology leader’s mind. As we know, the CIO has become a board level influencer, sometimes even a CEO’s ‘right hand’. Which means they have a broader remit than years gone by: people. ‘How are we engaging the team to work collaboratively?’, ‘What tools do we have to share ideas?’, ‘How are we inspiring the highly influential members of the business to continue doing their best work?’, ‘What support network do we have in place for individuals who may need it through this tough time?’. These are all related to the bigger picture which some will embrace and excel, and some will not. One thing that is for certain is that if you have a CIO/IT Director/senior technology leader in your business, they have just become one of your most (if not THE most) critical members of the team at the moment. 

Technology

Of course, one of the top priorities for any technology leader is the technology itself. Making sure it is fit for purpose and sat on strong foundations is a key requirement to everything working as it should. However, things are not always straight forward and those projects that were either on the back burner or halfway through may have just made it to the top of the list. 

It raised a few eyebrows asking how quickly we could move 1500 people to homeworking. Coronavirus hadn’t hit the UK at that point and we only had a handful of people who regularly worked from home. The existing solution wasn’t scalable or reliable. Building a network from scratch in under two weeks isn’t recommended and neither is benching enough devices in the same time frame to support all critical functions in the university whilst off campus. But we achieved it and four weeks later we are successful in connecting all staff and students to a new virtual campus. Early feedback is positive but with hackers looking to leverage an opportunity, we haven’t had time to ease back too much.”

How technology leaders deal with the pace and quality of work will be essential to navigating through this period. However, it remains that you don’t have to be a specialist in everything technology. Leaning on key individuals who are subject matter experts who you can trust will be more beneficial, and quicker, to get to the desired solution. I know many CIOs who see the entire estate as their responsibility but have struck the balance of overall responsibility and technically hands-on. Trust and delegation will be your next best friend over the coming weeks and months. 

The desktop environment is slightly different – laptops rock and remote desktop applications (Citrix, anyone?) are good but potentially expensive. And over time some of this might be overkill, but I suspect that homeworking will be proven in lots of industries over this period. Telephony exchanges in the cloud also easily support this transition. One question I still have is how deep organisational change or transformation will happen in a homeworking world? Not the transformation to homeworking, but rather the transformation of business process in a world where homeworking is dominant or at least significant. Teams need to work together to drive transformation agendas, and how this will be supported will be challenging. Sure, MS Teams works great in small “agile” type environments, but does it scale or will lots of time in front of whiteboards still be needed?”

Back in 2017 Harvey Nash published their annual CIO survey titled ‘Navigating Uncertainty’. Never has this title been more apt for today. Jonathan Mitchell (NED for the CIO practice at the time) commented that ‘CIOs are no strangers to rapidly changing environments and perhaps the odd crisis or two. They responded with measured calmness. Our survey results suggest that many decided to wait and see, while they made careful preparations behind the scenes. More than half our respondents told us they are creating more nimble technology platforms to deal with unpredictable circumstances’. Let’s hope that the work back in 2017 reaps rewards in the challenge technology leaders are facing today. 

This pandemic will, I believe, act as a catalyst for Cloud migration not just for user productivity applications but for ‘Line of Business’ applications too. Many organisations worry about the costs and security implications of rolling out mobile devices, this current situation will, I believe, establish both the strategic, risk and economic business cases for organisational wide deployments of laptops, tablets and smartphones”

People

As mentioned above, the role of the CIO has evolved over the years to include a wider remit including influencing at a higher level than ever before. Technology teams have grown considerably which has provided a different challenge for technology leaders. In today’s world, CIOs will have to be in tune with their teams’ thoughts, feelings, and state of mind to keep engagement. 

However, like any change or transformation programme, change management is critical. Either undertaken before or after a change, it is important to ensure it is done and that a focus remains on training, skills, behaviours and ensuring the adoption of digital tools are utilised consistently and proficiently.  It is also vitally important that a focus remains on the staff and students themselves - not only from a learning and development perspective, but ensuring that a wider support network is in place.  A focus needs to be maintained on welfare and access to support services.  We cannot ignore the fact that these are unprecedented times and that anxieties, concern for relatives and friends and adjusting to isolation will all take its toll.  As leaders we have a personal accountability for our people, so checking in with them regularly, helping develop a routine but also being flexible with working patterns, encouraging physical and mental wellbeing and being open and accepting of the situation we're all in - whether it is a child walking into shot on the video conference or that dog barking in the background.  Whilst this is often referred to as the 'new normal', for many people this isn't normal and how we embrace and support each other during these difficult situations and how we focus on the bigger goal will demonstrate real emphatic and authentic leadership.”

Typically, the benefit of a CIO having strong leadership skills in their arsenal is so that they can influence their environment and not react to it. They apply the full range of their people skills to collaboratively involve others, not only to shape the future, but to achieve a common vision and purpose. However, this has been flipped on its head. It is now using the people skills to shape the ‘now’ not the future, and help the business get through rather than add value for a long-term goal. 

Younger kids are a welcome feature of team meetings and older kids and partners are regulars at our weekly social on Friday, when we get together for a ‘pub quiz’ and rounds of ‘Drawful’. Productivity is up and so is morale.”

CIOs across the globe have been looking for opportunities to show how they can be a business leader, not only a technology figurehead. During a very serious and challenging time, the opportunity just presented itself. By no means is this an opportunity to ‘gain’ from a dire time. More a chance to show the leadership qualities you must have to help the broader effort. Recognising the time to do this is key to how senior technology leaders will be viewed by the business in twelve months. Don’t show the qualities and that will be louder than doing something. 

“Helping your people stay safe, healthy and productive during this pandemic is key. During a catastrophic cyber incident in 2017 (that wiped 6,500 desktop computers), we implemented a number of measures to help people including back massages, free food, hotels near the office and a big celebration afterwards (the whole Leeds office clapped the IT team much like clap for carers, afterwards). 

This is a different situation however similar appropriate measures can be implemented. Such as mental health counselling, exercise leader board (think Strava/Zwift), virtual team drinks evenings, and so forth”

Process

The word that brings a sigh from many reading this article, but perhaps the most important aspect of the technology leader’s role now is identifying and setting up new processes. Never sexy and you won’t be hailed as the greatest CIO by having excellent process, but they are a necessity and a foundation for success. One thing that many technology leaders will have in common at this time is that when there is pace and urgency to get things over the line, how you get there tends to slip. However, those in, for example, regulated industries will have to adapt to the ‘new normal’ and it will be interesting to see how businesses in this sector react to a different environment. 

I believe that these problems provide technology, technology service providers and in-house technology functions a real opportunity to enhance their perceived value in the eyes of executive sponsors, management and users alike.”

The reality is that with a more flexible way of working, comes more flexible processes. What CIOs and technology leaders have put in place over the past few weeks will have a fundamental impact on the way the technology operates in the future. Will these processes see some sectors transform (or be forced into at least disruption) given the ‘new way of working’? Possibly. Many CIOs are preparing for that change including the NHS, Financial Services and Higher Education.

Throughout 2019 it has been evident that there has been no time more important to have a strategic figurehead from technology on the board. If not on the board directly, certainly having influence. I think that in today’s crisis world, the position is extremely important. We are seeing businesses turn to CIOs for help and that role has become vital to the organisation, if it weren’t already. There has been a slowing down of hiring executive technology talent however that is expected. Roles being held for the foreseeable future whilst businesses get used to the ‘new normal’ was always going to happen. However, in times of change, history shows that relationships are everything. When hiring returns, many CIOs are planning to do more work with familiar long-term partners whom they can trust. That said the interim market is still buoyant with key projects and programmes continuing alongside business continuity programmes, so the market is still active. Of course, there are regional nuances due to the scale at which the virus is moving through cities, and there is demand driven by those sectors who support key workers such as food manufacturing or the NHS itself. 

I predict that how CIOs deal with navigating through this period will be a key focus of interviews alongside the standard competencies in the coming years. Those ‘soft’ skills that are always difficult to describe when in an interview situation have now got a story to go with them, so it is imperative that technology leaders recognise what they are doing and why. Juliette Atkinson, IT Director at the University of Bradford summed it up perfectly, ‘We have learned so much in a short time and we have an opportunity to create the new working culture. One that gives the very best of us.’ The truth is that we will get past this period and look back on it with various perspectives. However, the CIOs that navigate the uncertainty with poise and precision are likely to come out the back of this and have more influence with the board going forward. 

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Juliette Atkinson, Dan Simms, Ken Hampton, Greig Sharman, and Rich Jones for their input into this article. I appreciate your world is extremely busy at the moment and taking time out to comment is hugely appreciated. Thanks, Dan