At the beginning of the pandemic, the CIO was responsible for enabling the continuity of operations and customer fulfilment in some cases.
The CIO is continuing to simplify the technology landscape based on the learnings from the pandemic; they are aligning technology to support proven processes and, as such, are challenging others to consider their role in reducing the complexity and the opportunity this provides.
Contemporary technologies can also simplify and secure the supply chain, but the threat of disruption to operations remains ever-present due to integrated global operations and Cybersecurity risks. The IT and Procurement teams continue prioritising supply chains to maintain and secure operations.
There is an excellent opportunity for organisations to now explore;
Their processes post the initial pandemic; do they scale? What has this taught us? Where can these learnings be applied?
Geopolitical tensions, the supply chain security risks, and the threat of a risk factor disrupting operations. What could the consequences be?
Further, how are these enabling or contributing to improving an organisation's sustainability agenda? Any simplification or change to operations ideally should edge an organisation closer to net zero.
For some organisations, the sustainability agenda may not be as pressing as secure continuity of operations, but consider the support for Mike Cannon Brookes and his recent company takeover effort. MCB (co-founder of Atlassian and Australia's third-richest person) unsuccessfully tried twice to take over AGL and retire fossil fuel operations. The sentiment within my peer group was very supportive of MCB's actions, and tension is now created within the energy industry.
So beyond simplifying and securing your operations, it now might be the time to apply the same level of determination to sustainable operations. It may be a secondary benefit for the organisation but a primary expectation of many employees.
A bespoke workshop was developed for a client on this topic, learn more about these at my Speaker Services.