Machen Sie sich zur Marke!

I also realized that marketing skills are essential to a commercial orientation. I must be able to showcase a business opportunity and create momentum around it to appeal for resources. I market commercial ideas throughout the company (not just at the top) to build momentum, because if an idea takes off, I´ll need engagement at all levels.

One way to get your message across is to use every available resource on your team to help. I achieve this by creating very simple elevator scripts that every IS staff member who may get an opportunity to market an idea can pass along. These are messages that people can readily identify with an idea. You need one or two paragraphs that you want not only the CEO to remember, but that even the desktop support engineer will internalize and be able to bring up when he interacts with a business partner. Consistency and simplicity in message will do the trick.

Another path to marketing success is to give your idea to someone else. I try to ensure that the executive who would be the natural beneficiary of a successful outcome is the one who owns an initiative as part of his strategy. You might be the kick-starter for an idea, but you may not be the best-placed executive to promote or deliver on it. For example, the spare parts management idea I cited above came from someone in IS who supports the business. The idea was quickly adopted by the operations and engineering groups and incorporated into their strategy.

No one´s going to stop you

Finally, let yourself participate in the commercial discussion. No one puts constraints around IT´s capability as much as we do ourselves, by limiting ourselves based on our job descriptions. All the job description does is tell you to run the engine room. If you want to expand your role - to exercise business leadership - no one´s going to stop you. Or tell you you´re not required or your comments aren´t valuable. When you´re wearing your business leadership hat, you have as much weight as anyone else.

Darin Brumby war CIO der FirstGroup und ist Mitglied im CIO Executive Council. Das englische Magazin "Computing" wählte ihn 2006 zum IT-Direktor des Jahres. Kürzlich wechselte Brumby zur Nationwide Building Society als Director of Business Systems Transformation.