WSJ CIO Network Summit: CIOs need to start thinking more like CFOs or they will slowly forfeit their power to other C-level colleagues.
CIO Insight recently reported on the second Wall Street Journal CIO Network conference. For those not familiar with this event, it is a series of open sessions and private meetings of rock star Fortune 500 CIOs. The nature of the meetings enabled the CIOs to speak freely among themselves – there were actually guards posted outside the rooms – and a few lucky journalists got to observe the open sessions.
In the article, titled: New-Gen IT Requiring CIOs to Think More Like CFOs, 4 key findings from the conference were reported:
- CEOs are now asking CIOs to think more like CFOs. This year, CIOs will be required to better convey their value in pure financial terms...
- CIOs will not permit do-it-yourself IT simply for its own sake or because it's easier, ostensibly more efficient, and unshackled to corporate red tape… Even among mid-range and smaller enterprises, the idea of building a custom solution is becoming more and more a liability.
- 2014 is clearly the Year of the End User... CIOs must cater to those using their services—or else they will lose to easy-to-use and free-to-obtain external services.
- 4. CIOs will also need to become more advanced marketers within their own realms. Some may go so far as to hire internal marketers to keep end-user market share within the company.
I read this with my PLM hat on of course, and I couldn't help but think how Aras and the Aras business model make even more sense for corporate CIOs than ever.
CIOs are being asked to think like CFOs and convey value in financial terms – Aras is an enterprise scale product lifecycle management solution with no PLM license fees. This means start-up costs are dramatically lower than other PLM / PDM alternatives and there is no cost when you expand to more employees, supply chain partners, customers, etc. What's more, if you're looking to replace a legacy PLM system, all you need to do is transition your maintenance dollars over to your Aras subscription. No capital expenditure required. It really is that easy.
CIOs will not permit do-it-yourself IT; building a custom solution is becoming a liability – Of course it is. It always has been. But you did it because it was the fastest, easiest and most reliable way to get what you and your users needed. Aras gives you the best of both worlds: a highly-secure, standards-based PLM platform that is designed to be tailored to your business needs. And we include upgrade services in our annual subscription fee, so you never have worry about costly upgrade expenses or being stuck on outdated technology.
2014 is the Year of the End User; CIOs must cater to those using their services – Aras enables you to give your users what they want, as fast as they want it. Our modeling engine approach means that nobody is writing code every time they need to add a field or change a process. Our drag and drop environment enables real-time changes at the speed of business. With Aras you can stay responsive to end users, and maintain data integrity and IP security without becoming a deep-dive expert in yet another obscure proprietary programming tool.
Some CIOs will hire internal marketers to keep end-user market share within the company – Sorry, we can't provide marketing services but you won't need them with Aras. When your users are happy, your CFO is happy, your external business partners are happy and your corporate IT support teams are happy, the good news travels all by itself.
If you're thinking about PLM for the first time or you need to replace an outdated system that doesn't meet the needs of your growing, modern business, take a look at Aras. You can download Aras PLM right now and get started or give this paper from CIMdata a read to find out why Aras is the future of PLM.