The New Book “IT Innovation” Introduction Chapter 4 Fine-Tune IT as the Digital “Whole Brain” of the Organization

IT is the steward to manage business information, it is like the business’s nervous system to ensure the right information getting to the right people at the right time to make right decisions. IT also helps the business to optimize processes, cost and capture the business insight for growth opportunities. But is digital IT more like the LEFT brain, RiGHT brain, or the WHOLE brain of the organization?
Running “I” information driven IT to improve the overall business’s “digital IQ”: Information Management means that the business has information, that information has the right quality, that the information is used properly. Information is the foundation of creating business insight, insights perceive the new business opportunities and risks. IT stands out as a value-added function by managing information effectively and efficiently. It can abstract business and customer insight from abundant information, and bring to the table tailored solutions that meet customers’ needs, while reducing the cost to market, without sacrifice of strategic goals. Hence, be rational as the left side of the brain, works on improving process efficiency and optimizing operational cost, and be creative as the right side of the brain; Digital is the age of options and innovation, it provides the opportunity to think the new way to do things. So it forces IT leaders to get really creative on how they implement changes, to ensure IT is strategically positioned to be ahead of where the business is moving next. Regardless of sectors, IT needs to become an innovation engine and transform from a mere enabler to the digital whole brain of the business.
Setting key principles to ensure Information Management effectiveness in order to run highly cognitive digital IT: Information management entails organizing, retrieving, acquiring, securing, maintaining, updating, distributing, sharing, publishing and achieving information. The key principles of information management are to ensure that information management activities are effective and successful via delivering tangible and visible benefits and providing a seamless user experience. IT needs to engage with the business units to find out how the department is perceived, what the pain points are and identify opportunities for developing new services/solutions, or improving/optimizing current ones. The value of information technology must be qualitative, measurable, and defined uniquely by an organization. A digital IT organization with highly cognitive connectivity plays a crucial role in building a high-responsive, and high mature digital business.
Information Management as a differentiator between digital master and digital laggard: IT has to get more involved in the business as solutioneering. CIOs that are successfully showing how much money IT can save and how much it can make are the ones that get true buy-in and commitment from the boards. It is important to identify how information is associated with the valued tangibles of businesses, products, and resources. IT has to step into businesses with knowledge and confidence as a strategic business partner, and IT being part of decision-making is the only way to bridge the gap between business and IT, and the industrial age and the digital era. Therefore, Information Management is the key differentiator between digital leaders and laggards, high-performing organizations, and mediocre companies.
Running IT as the “whole brain” of the business with both high digital IQ and EQ can proactively build all different management capabilities and play a different role to the situation at hand. Technology is the disruptive force behind the digital transformation, information is a gold mine. And information can bring businesses the transformational value and huge wealth to any organization if it is well managed and wisely used.  IT can stand out as a value-added organization by managing information effectively and efficiently, that will allow IT to shine in both roles -an enabler and driver.


Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu