娇色导航

For IT leaders stepping into a new 娇色导航role, laying the groundwork for IT success can be difficult. Shannon Gath, 娇色导航of $3.7B high-tech solutions provider Teradyne, has a playbook for addressing this challenge, and it starts with listening.

鈥淚 do a deep dive with my business partners to learn how IT can help them solve their business problems and accelerate them on their journey,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut once I have that understanding, I need to take action fast to show that we are committed to their, and our, success.鈥�

Structuring IT around stakeholders

After Gath joined Teradyne in April 2021, that action was to restructure the IT organization around stakeholders, rather than technology. 鈥淲hen you are organized around technology, one person has to know the ins and outs of a system, which leaves very little time to spend with business partners thinking about investment opportunities,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he technology-focused approach forces you to be too honed in on the tactical view, not the strategic.鈥�

By dedicating an IT leader to each of Teradyne鈥檚 three business areas 鈥� industrial automation, automated test equipment, and corporate functions 鈥� Gath not only encourages IT to be more strategic, she also builds her bench. During her career, she has seen several people she has placed in these roles evolve into full 娇色导航roles. 鈥淭he business-centric organizational structure pays for itself; in addition to setting your current business up for success, the model becomes a platform for developing next-gen talent,鈥� she says.

With her reorg under way, Gath turned to another key lever in creating IT value: governance.

鈥淪ometimes governance is a dirty word, but it is the key to transforming from a cost center to a value center,鈥� says Gath. 鈥淕overnance is simply a cross-functional team using an objective process to weigh every investment opportunity.鈥�

To make the governance process effective, Gath and her team use the same tracking and communications tools they use in their internal IT operations meetings. 鈥淭his way everything is reusable and our messaging is consistent, no matter what the forum is,鈥� she says.聽

IT governance clarifies priorities

In governance meetings, Gath and her peers create a stack ranking of all investment opportunities, 鈥渂ecause we need to be crystal clear about the leadership team鈥檚 priorities,鈥� she says. 鈥淭his way, teams who work across multiple projects don鈥檛 need to escalate tradeoff decisions to the leadership team. Because they understand the priorities, those teams can make those decisions themselves.鈥�

In companies that do not have a formal governance process, departments that appeal (and complain) the most are the ones that often get the investments, which results in siloed investments and lack of an enterprise mindset. That is why Gath sometimes 鈥渞uffles feathers鈥� when, as a new CIO, she puts in a formal governance process.

In one role, she was asked, at the last minute, to present on the status of governance process. 鈥淚 was put in the hot seat to defend the new model,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o, I created one slide that described what was working, what wasn鈥檛, and what I am doing about it. People put down their pitchforks because they saw that I didn鈥檛 think our new governance model was perfect.鈥�

While a stakeholder-centric IT organizational structure and an effective governance model are foundational to IT value, they are not sufficient. For Gath, IT value comes from her team鈥檚 ability to help their business partners create value, and to shift from order takers to true strategic business partners. 聽

Forecasting value and risk

Shifting a team from order takers to business partners is a perennial challenge for CIOs. As such, Gath solicited the help of Gartner鈥檚 Tina Nunno, who has developed a list of questions that IT leaders can use to drive for business value.

鈥淎 stakeholder will tell the governance body that they need a new technology, because without it, the business will be at risk,鈥� Gath says. 鈥淏ut when you ask questions to drill down on the specific nature of the risk, you might find that the technology is really not about risk; it鈥檚 about cost savings. I鈥檝e never worked in a business where creating value statements was easy. It鈥檚 hard for every single investment, especially when the investment is risk-oriented. The right questions get everyone to a well-articulated value statement that we can weigh against other investment opportunities for a true apples-to-apples comparison. It鈥檚 not hard; it just takes thoughtful questioning.鈥�

Such questions include: 鈥淗ow is this investment supporting your business strategy?鈥� 鈥淲hat risk does this initiative create?鈥� 鈥淎re we growing the top line or benefitting the bottom line?鈥� 鈥淚s this a 鈥榯ry鈥� or a capability that we鈥檙e going to embed into the organization?鈥� Addressing questions like these enables Gath鈥檚 leadership team to get to the ultimate question: 鈥淲hat is the value of this initiative and when we can expect it?鈥�

With that final question answered, Gath and her team can put in place another key to IT value: measuring the ROI of initiative after it is implemented.

Measuring IT ROI

Gath鈥檚 IT PMO leader is charged with measuring the actual ROI of a technology investment. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 create a business case for an investment that will grow us by $500M and then not measure it on the other side,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he feedback loop improves the governance process. It makes the business sponsor and the governance process accountable for being realistic about the return on an investment.鈥�

Ultimately, for Gath, the stakeholder-centric organizational design, governance process, and encouraging her team to ask the right questions, are all about one thing: transparency. 鈥淚n every 娇色导航role I鈥檝e had, one of the biggest obstacles is a lack of transparency around how we are reducing operating costs so that we can free up funding for growth opportunities,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f we have a strong bottom-up understanding of the spend, when the business asks, 鈥榃hy are you so expensive?鈥� we can show them.鈥�

Gath鈥檚 advice to CIOs looking to build a culture of business partnership is to be accountable, transparent, and objective. 鈥淟et them know that you are on their side, because ultimately, we are all in this together.鈥�