I have just provided the following article to CIO magazine, which resulted in interviews with a number of others on how to promote ICT governance in organisations.

Click here to read it on the CIO NZ Magazine site

I am please to say that it has also been picked up by the following publications – proof that ICT governance is a topic which is of interest worldwide:

• Computerworld India
• IT World Canada
• Computerworld Norway

Click on the following link for a discussion on this topic by Murray Wills in the NZ Computer Society Newsline online magazine.

http://www.nzcs.org.nz/newsletter/article/40

Here is the latest CIO magazine contribution made by Murray Wills, Director of Maxsys:

http://cio.co.nz/cio.nsf/spot/D5BAA04AB448B64ACC2577BA008390A7

http://cio.co.nz/cio.nsf/depth/55A895CBBD4F4C8DCC25779F00738CA9

Murray Wills (aka the VirtualCIO) has been selected as one of three judges for this year’s Computerworld Excellence in the Use of ICT in Government Award. 

Computerworld, together with the support of Hewlett Packard New Zealand, will recognise Excellence in the Use of ICT in Government through a special award to be announced in Wellington on 27 October 2010.

Murray, who has extensive senior IT and business experience and is a NZCS IT Certified Professional (ITCP), acts as a senior consultant/advisor, and VirtualCIO to a number of private sector and government organisations. “I was a thrill to be asked, and I’m looking forward to getting together with the other judges, and assessing the applications for the award. This award is for government agencies, rather than vendors, and this is good in terms of recognising the IP and contribution that government agencies make to ICT projects” says Mr Wills.

Those companies who have been shortsighted and let staff go that they should have retained, or who have made the life of their IT contractors or staff uncomfortable during the last few months may be in for a few sleepless nights as they figure out how to retain and attract resources going forward.

This article in infotech today tells the story.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/3621039/Shortage-in-Australian-IT-skills-threat-to-projects

For further reading on this topic, follow the links below:

The IT Skills Shortage – It’s Back!

http://cio.co.nz/cio.nsf/opin/9D32E090AA8FF940CC257702006B7F43

This article discusses the unhealthy situation of not considering information technology as a critical strategic enabler.   

Click on the attached link to read the story which talks about the benefit of the Virtual CIO concept.

http://cio.co.nz/cio.nsf/spot/74070C5887FE0CE4CC2576E9002966FE

1 April 2010  STOP PRESS

The same article is now also on Various other international websites including the US  CIO website, CIO Germany, Networkworld USA, MIS Asia, Computerworld Norway and Hong Kong and more.

http://www.cio.com/article/588278/Rent_a_CIO?taxonomyId=3174

http://mis-asia.com/cio_focus/profiles/rent-a-cio

 http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/032510-.html

http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=975D55B3-1A64-6A71-CE781DC0AAFAFCE7

http://www.cio.de/news/cio_worldnews/2229241/index.html

 It is amazing how news travels and who picks up the story round the world!

http://cio.co.nz/cio.nsf/depth/DFC18A4D92BDED3ECC2576AF006BF91B

According to the story and recruitment and human resource outsourcing specialists Robert Walters, “the Asia Pacific is currently experiencing what is likely to be the fastest turnaround in the IT recruitment market in history. This is particularly evident in markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore, where job opportunities available through Robert Walters in IT have more than doubled in the last six months.”

The article contains a warning to employers that they need to constantly examine compensation models “to make sure they are being calibrated with a fast-moving market in order to stay competitive”.  They also need to prepare for a shortage of talent and examine how they plan to attract and then keep senior people.

In the New Zealand market last year I think we had two issues that affected the roles for IT professionals:

1. The recession
2. The change of Government, line by line reviews for government agencies and ,much overdue for some, reorganisation.

Private sector organisations, apart from consultancy companies were of course mainly affected by the recession.

The CIO article makes the point that banks are leading the hiring recovery and that  ”the level of hiring going on currently is competitive and bringing up compensation levels quickly, especially at the VP level.”

The Government sector has been slow to recover.  Some government agencies “froze” for some months; not helped, I suspect, by a  lack of direction by central government, and a lack of  IT governance knowledge.  This put, and continues to put, major pressure on the IT industry in Wellington. The issue is when the work to be done is prioritied which companies and contractors will still be around to complete it? 

Already the 2010 year has started off much more boyantly than 2009. It is as if organisations woke up just before Christmas and decided that their legacy systems did still need to be replaced, that they did need to add value to the business through new systems and processes, and that citizens still deserved to see efficencies in government, enabled by IT. In fact this investment will make them more competitive and better able to ride out the turbulent next few years.

I remain optimistic that if the right people engage on government-wide education, and then co-ordination of IT governance then we can meet both government and private sector goals for cost savings and IT enablement at a much quicker pace (see http://www.maxsys.co.nz/?p=517 by what we mean by IT Governance).  Of course, we at Maxsys can help with this.

So where will this lead us skills-wise. Well, I direct you back to the article written in 2005. I believe it still holds true and will do for many years to come.

Well, it doesn’t look like it!!

If the following article is correct, then it looks like some really old school thinking has crept into one of our newest and most strategic organisations.

http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/CFBB5E92DDF95D40CC25766A006D37F1

I agree with Rob O’Neill here. What on earth are they thinking?

It is inappropriate, given the strategic nature of Information Technology and Information Management in this organisation for the role not to be one of Chief Information Officer, reporting to the CEO and on the same level as the CFO. 

If  the CIO is on par with the other functional areas of ATA; it sends a message that IT and IM is important, strategic and integral to ATA functions. If ATA is structured to have an IS Manager reporting to the CFO – a clear message is sent that technology is not part of the strategy of ATA – but rather a support function subordinate to financial concerns.

In a smaller organisation or Government Agency it may be appropriate because of the number of direct reports, to have a dotted line to the CEO and a direct reporting line to the Corporate Services Manager, but in these organisations the CIO is involved in strategic decisions and  discussions, is the recognised specialist in this area and has direct access to the CEO.

In my article  “Appalling News – Cost Focus Changes CIO Reporting Lines” I make the point that “The trend of CIOs not reporting to the CEO flies in the face of a strategic, IT enabled and future focused organisation, be it a company or government agency”. I also make the point that  a “Chief Information Officer”, possesses a senior information technology and management background and experience (including strategic planning and risk management in an IT context), business background and experience. ATA may well be faced with re-specifying the role from one of IS Manager to CIO so they get the right skills and experience.

Other articles relevant to this discussion are: CIO Background – Is IT Experience Mandatory? - The answer is “yes” by the way.

The second, and one that I suspect those responsible for Governance of ATA may wish to read is: IT Governance Skills on Boards

Of course none of what I have discussed here is new. Another excellent example of a requirement for professional development in this area. 

This is something that we are very happy to undertake, and if you are a CEO, Board Member or CIO and would like to discuss this further, please contact me.

Murray