CIO intangibles: 6 abilities that set effective IT execs apart

Shaklik was once working with a large cruise line where the CIO learned by asking the right questions that the first 48 hours passengers are on a cruise ship are typically the time they spend the least. To build revenue during that time, the cruise line used technology to first streamline the lengthy boarding process, and then offer targeted incentives such as an extra spa treatment for passengers who visited the spa on the first days of the cruise. It all began, he says, with asking the right questions.

Intangible 4: Strategic thinking

“Most organizations believe strategic thinking happens one time a year in the fall, at a retreat,” Struckman says. “Strategic thinking can happen all through the organization, throughout the year, and based on different conversations.” That means CIOs and other IT leaders have countless opportunities to support their organizations through strategic thinking.

“An example might be, instead of just at the retreat in the fall, you reach out to your finance department on a regular basis,” she says. “You might find they are trying to respond to new legislation that requires them to report things a different way. They’re not just figuring out mechanically how to do that. They also have to think about how this will impact the bottom line. How will it influence where we might make investments or disinvestments? Does it impact our mergers and acquisitions strategy? This one thing becomes an opportunity to help them through that strategic thinking, and ideally in some way, technology can support them.”