7 project priority checks for overloaded IT agendas

Obtain stakeholder support

Building trust with stakeholders is paramount, emphasizes enterprise software provider Rimini Street CIO Steven Salaets. Transparency and business involvement in the decision-making processes is a must, as is consistently communicating the reasoning behind choices and bringing in key stakeholders in the evaluation phases.

“By involving them in the process, they have ownership of a project’s success as well,” he says. “This collaborative approach not only garners support but also brings diverse perspectives, refining the full digital transformation journey and lessening the chance of overlooking key components to its success.”

Jim Palermo, VP and CIO at software company Red Hat, agrees.

“The CIO has to be able to clearly articulate the outcomes needed to achieve company goals across the entire organization, and enable the teams to plan capabilities to achieve them,” he says. “This can be complex and difficult to maneuver. They have to manage stakeholder expectations since the business often lacks knowledge of competing resources from project to project.”

CIOs also need to be able to help business partners understand the cost and how to best leverage resources to get the biggest bang for the buck, Palermo says.

“Prioritization against outcomes is key and it requires all the organization leaders to be in agreement and hold their organizations accountable,” he says.

Put data into action

Software developer Alteryx CIO Trevor Schulze says the best way to balance continuous digital transformation efforts, maintain stakeholder support, and align with business objectives is by using an asset CIOs already have: data.

“Data is the lifeblood of the intelligent systems supporting digital transformation efforts, which is why CIOs need to prioritize and deploy the key components of the modern data stack that will impact broader business outcomes through analytics,” he says. “It’s also critical to democratize data and analytics so everyone has access to the insights to make informed decisions. Siloed data that’s available to only a few people or departments within an organization will severely hinder that organization’s transformation aspirations.”

One way using data and analytics intentionally can help CIOs and IT leaders prioritize work is by enabling them to derive strategic and operational insights to make more informed decisions without hindering innovation, Schulze says.

Empowering stakeholders with key actionable data insights to help make informed and timely decisions is critical, adds Chetna Mahajan, CDIO at digital analytics company Amplitude.

“The most successful CIOs and IT organizations are data-driven, so it’ll be no surprise that my advice for prioritization is to let data guide your path,” she says. “By taking a data-driven approach, modern CIOs can turn their organizations into massive growth drivers for their companies.”

Consider existing technology roadmaps

When it comes to deciding which promising initiatives to approve and which to pass on, Aflac CIO Shelia Anderson assesses whether they align to the company’s existing technology roadmaps, or if they’d require new architectural directions.

“We consider not only the investment required but also things like what the operational impact would be and if [the initiative] would require added costs or resources with new skills,” she says. “[We also consider] if the initiative would replace an existing capability, and if so, do we have the investment and decommission plans needed to reduce any future technical debt and [duplicate] costs we may encounter.”

Innovate with purpose

There are many ways to look at innovation, says Nate Kurtz, CIO at Veeam Software. It doesn’t always come as a brand new technology or by trying to completely change how businesses work. Rather, innovation simply helps businesses become more efficient, agile, and resilient.

“CIOs need to look at digital transformation through this lens,” he says. “Projects that align with business goals and make the business more effective, if even in a small way, should always be considered first.”