Guest lecture: A Framework for Sustainable CIO Leadership Practice

By professor Eng K. Chew from the Factulty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

Abstract: Enterprise Chief Information Officer (CIO) leadership role is constantly evolving due to the dynamically changing business and technological environments. Business environment is increasingly being digitized by the so-called SMAC (social, mobile, analytics, and cloud) technologies. Consequently, enabled by these technologies, organizations are becoming more networked, modular and collaborative operating in an ecosystem context. Such ecosystem-like networked organizational model will be adaptable to change, in response to or in driving the market and customer changes. The networked organization will expand or contract seeking continuous value creation, through M&A or collaborative partnership, in accordance with prevailing competitive strategies and corresponding business model changes. How will CIO leadership practice adapt and continuously contribute to sustainable value creation in the face of these dynamic, at times volatile, changes in the 21^st Century?

In this talk, based on prior research, we propose a hierarchical framework of three value-creation types of CIO leadership: type 1 is focused principally on managing and provisioning cost-effective and reliable information systems (IS) services to support business operations; type 2 is focused on both IS operational excellence and, particularly, business strategy formulation and business model design by leveraging IT to create the firm’s competitive advantage; and type 3 possesses type 2 attributes plus holding additional corporate responsibilities beyond IS – such as shared services, business innovation functions.

Type 1 is the traditional technically-oriented foundational CIO. Type 2 and type 3 CIOs have particularly strong business acumen and relationships. Type 3 CIOs play active corporate leadership role beyond IS – e.g. in merger and acquisition for international expansion. Both types 2 and 3 are adept to leading ambidextrously – exploiting current IS and corporate capabilities and exploring or innovating possible future business capabilities through creative use of IT to maximize value creation. Type 3 in addition contributes to the firm’s agility by providing the capabilities to reconfigure the networked knowledge and process assets in response to or in anticipation of market changes.

The three-tier framework represents a possible sustainable leadership model for the evolving CIO role. Empirically, this framework was found to reflect the staged evolution of CIO role in China’s current rapidly evolving business landscape. The talk will conclude with a discussion on managerial and theoretical implications for practitioners and researchers, respectively.

Brief Bio

Eng Chew is Professor of Business and IT Strategy at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and a part-time industry advisor. A former Chief Information Officer of SingTel Optus, Eng has held various executive roles, over 25 years, in IT and telecommunications industries in Australia. His achievements include delivery of several hundreds of million Australian dollars of business value through business innovation and organizational transformation. He had also served as ISO Convener (1992-97) for the Open Distributed Processing (ODP) Standards Working Group.

Currently, Eng leads the Digital Organization of the Future Research Group in UTS, and has recently co-authored a book, entitled “Knowledge Driven Service Innovation and Management”. His technology-enabled service innovation research aims to understand the interrelationships of strategy, innovation and leadership in an enterprise. This research together with his prior industry experience informs his Strategic Management courses as part of the Masters of Business program for IT managers at UTS. He received B.E. (University of Melbourne) and Ph.D. (University of Sydney).

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