7

The
Habits of
Highly Effective Technology
do CEOs expect from technology?
Leaders What
What do they expect from their technology
leaders? How should technology leaders brand themselves? Todays
technology leaders would do best to learn the specific leadership skills
required to meet ITs ever-changing challenges.

L
By Stephen J. Andriole

ong before Nicholas Carr published his now-famous article IT

Doesnt Matter in the Harvard Business Review, technology leadership was changing [3]. The technology heroes of the 1970s and
1980s were different from the heroes of the 1990s, and the heroes of
the early 21st century would not even recognize their 20th century
counterparts. This article looks at seven habits that early 21st century
technology leaders practice day-in and day-out. These habits are
derived from survey data weve collected and analyzed at the Cutter
Consortium since 2001, when we posted our first online survey
about business, technology, and management
[1]. The list is clearly about businessnot technologyprocesses and outcomes. The article
describes the changes that define new IT leadership challenges as well as the specific leadership

Illustration by Jason Schneider

COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM March 2007/Vol. 50, No. 3

67

skills that highly effective technology professionals

must have.
So what should business technology leaders do?
Among other things, they should build business scenarios; track technology that matters to business;
identify business pain and pleasure; organize adaptively; manage infrastructure cost-effectively; communicate well and often; and market.

should be developed independently of technologyenabled opportunities? No, but they should lead the
process. There will be times when new business models are difficult if not impossible to imagine without
technology knowledge. Since business technology
leaders understand technology, they are in a good
position to exploit the business technology intersection. Several analysts have documented this trend [2,
46].

BUILDING BUSINESS SCENARIOS

In the 1990s, when I was CTO of CIGNA, we TRACKING TECHNOLOGY THAT MATTERS
engaged IBM to develop a set of business scenarios Technology leaders acknowledge the distinction
that described where the insurance and financial ser- between operational technology and strategic techvices industries would be
nology as suggested in
in the early 21st century.
Figure 1, which identiMy group at CIGNA was
fies five levels of busiStrategic Technology
The Technology Group,
ness technology. These
Business Strategy
which was responsible for
levels help us undersetting technology stanstand how senior manStrategic Business Applications
dards, defining the overall
agement
sees
Business Technology Architecture
computing and commutechnology and where
Infrastructure
nications architecture,
the leadership opportumaintaining security, and
nities and challenges
Support
managing the R&D budlie. Everything below
Operational Technology
get. In order to develop
the line in Figure 1 is a
credibility with the
commodity. But comCIGNA lines of business,
petitive advantage is
we suspended all talk
still quite possible
about technology and
through
the
right
above-the-line
investments in
Figure 1. Operational and
strategic
technology
layers.
instead focused on curstrategic technology.
Andriole fig 1Strategic
(3/07) technology investments are those that
rent and emerging business
models
and
speak directly to customers, market share, the compeprocesses. Needless to say, in the mid-1990s this dis- tition, and collaboration. Operational technology
armed the business executives, since their image of investments speak directly to the computing and
systems was that we were always late, always communications infrastructure. CRMwhen well
expensive, not fully competent, and too often even a done, of courseis strategic, as are investments in
little arrogant. Realizing this, we used business sce- business intelligence and business analytics, supply
narios as a Trojan horse. It worked well. Why? chain optimization, dynamic forecasting, distribution
Because all of the effort was about business, not and pricing, and product/service personalization, and
technology.
customization. Desktop, laptop, and personal digital
assistant (PDA) acquisition, deployment, and support
Habit #1: Business technology leaders focus on are operational, as are routers, hubs, storage area netbusiness models and processes before they focus on works, and database management platforms.
Leaders exploit the operational/strategic distinctechnology infrastructure or applications.
tion; they also track technology trends, especially
What good scenarios really do is profile market- trends that really matter to the business, that is, all
places and profitable transactions. They also identify technologies that can impact business, not technology
constraints. They are compasses that influence the concepts or even prototypes. Examples? The
direction that strategic decisions take. Highly effective Semantic Webthe intelligent Internetis a
business technology leaders develop, package, and sell tremendously interesting concept, but is a long way
business scenarios. They work with the business to from implementation. Real-time synchronization and
profile as is andespeciallyto be business mod- real-time computing generally are also fascinating
concepts but, again, we are some years away from
els and processes.
Is this to say that business models and processes widespread implementation.
68

March 2007/Vol. 50, No. 3 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM

Leaders should track the more interesting concepts but

resist temptations to hype technologies that are still in the early stages of
development: THE LAST THING A BUSINESS EXECUTIVE WANTS TO
HEAR ABOUT IS HOW COOL A TECHNOLOGY IS, or how great its
going to be (in, say, five years).
On the other hand, utility computingthe technology acquisition and support model that uses the
electricity model to describe its pay-by-the-drink
approach to technology acquisitionis emerging as a
prototype with some real potential, though it is far too
early to commit to a major investment in whole technology subscription models. Similarly, grid comput-

Clusters

Prototypes

Concepts

ERP
CRM
B2B Commerce
Business
Intelligence
Wireless
Grid Computing
Communications
Utility Computing
Application
Nanotechnology
Servers
Web Services
Security
Personalization
Services
Customization
Technology
Voice Recognition
Real-Time
Outsourcing
Thin Clients
Synchronization
The Segway
Semantic Web
Dynamic BPM

Fake or
Real?

Critical Success
Factors

ing is showing solid promise in

Figure 2. Technology
distinctions and the
some industries as is Web Serchasm that leaders
vices technology, thin clients,
track.
and the newestAndriole
voice recognition
fig 2 (3/07)
technologies. These all bear watching so long as they
map onto the business scenarios that the same business technology leaders develop.
Technology clusters are real and powerful and ripe
for exploitation. Clusters are proven technologies with
large supporting casts of developers and support vendors; they are also supported by well-funded R&D
infrastructures.
Leaders should track the more interesting concepts
but resist temptations to hype technologies that are
still in the early stages of development: the last thing
a business executive wants to hear about is how cool a
technology is, or how great its going to be (in, say, five
years).
Habit #2: Business technology leaders track technology that matters by focusing on the distinction

between operational and strategic technology and

the chasm between technology concepts, prototypes, and bona fide technology clusters.
IDENTIFYING BUSINESS PAIN AND PLEASURE
Business technology leaders should speak the language of business. They should focus on the pain
that business managers and executives feel. The
really good ones keep a running list of the most difficult problemsthe sharpest pain points.

Habit #3: Business technology leaders identify and

prioritize business painand approaches to pain
reliefas they move toward the creation of business pleasure.
Business pain comes in many forms. Some comes
in the form of cost control, such as headcount and
overhead cost. Pain relief comes in the form of
improved business response and control, such as
improved management effectiveness, employee productivity, and supplier relations. Business pleasure
includes revenue generation, up-selling, cross-selling,
organic growth, acquisitive growth, and, of course,
increased profit.
The whole pleasure/pain exercise focuses on business success. It also focuses on what individual business professionals will personally find excitingand
rewarding. Leaders understand what makes people
heroes, what the organization values.
Figure 3 identifies three paths in the alignment-topartnership journey. Effective technology leaders
appreciate business pain and pleasure, become more
than just credible, and define business value around
strategy. Influential technologists shape both operations and strategy. If they get operations correct, they
can spend most of their time with their new partners
thinking about competitive advantages, revenue generation, and profitability.
ORGANIZE ADAPTIVELY
Lots of companies are decentralized these days,
though the number recentralizing is increasing. The
essence of the centralization/decentralization dance
spins around the value of shared services. But it is
COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM March 2007/Vol. 50, No. 3

69

skills that highly effective technology professionals

must have.
So what should business technology leaders do?
Among other things, they should build business scenarios; track technology that matters to business;
identify business pain and pleasure; organize adaptively; manage infrastructure cost-effectively; communicate well and often; and market.

should be developed independently of technologyenabled opportunities? No, but they should lead the
process. There will be times when new business models are difficult if not impossible to imagine without
technology knowledge. Since business technology
leaders understand technology, they are in a good
position to exploit the business technology intersection. Several analysts have documented this trend [2,
46].

BUILDING BUSINESS SCENARIOS

In the 1990s, when I was CTO of CIGNA, we TRACKING TECHNOLOGY THAT MATTERS
engaged IBM to develop a set of business scenarios Technology leaders acknowledge the distinction
that described where the insurance and financial ser- between operational technology and strategic techvices industries would be
nology as suggested in
in the early 21st century.
Figure 1, which identiMy group at CIGNA was
fies five levels of busiStrategic Technology
The Technology Group,
ness technology. These
Business Strategy
which was responsible for
levels help us undersetting technology stanstand how senior manStrategic Business Applications
dards, defining the overall
agement
sees
Business Technology Architecture
computing and commutechnology and where
Infrastructure
nications architecture,
the leadership opportumaintaining security, and
nities and challenges
Support
managing the R&D budlie. Everything below
Operational Technology
get. In order to develop
the line in Figure 1 is a
credibility with the
commodity. But comCIGNA lines of business,
petitive advantage is
we suspended all talk
still quite possible
about technology and
through
the
right
above-the-line
investments in
Figure 1. Operational and
strategic
technology
layers.
instead focused on curstrategic technology.
Andriole fig 1Strategic
(3/07) technology investments are those that
rent and emerging business
models
and
speak directly to customers, market share, the compeprocesses. Needless to say, in the mid-1990s this dis- tition, and collaboration. Operational technology
armed the business executives, since their image of investments speak directly to the computing and
systems was that we were always late, always communications infrastructure. CRMwhen well
expensive, not fully competent, and too often even a done, of courseis strategic, as are investments in
little arrogant. Realizing this, we used business sce- business intelligence and business analytics, supply
narios as a Trojan horse. It worked well. Why? chain optimization, dynamic forecasting, distribution
Because all of the effort was about business, not and pricing, and product/service personalization, and
technology.
customization. Desktop, laptop, and personal digital
assistant (PDA) acquisition, deployment, and support
Habit #1: Business technology leaders focus on are operational, as are routers, hubs, storage area netbusiness models and processes before they focus on works, and database management platforms.
Leaders exploit the operational/strategic distinctechnology infrastructure or applications.
tion; they also track technology trends, especially
What good scenarios really do is profile market- trends that really matter to the business, that is, all
places and profitable transactions. They also identify technologies that can impact business, not technology
constraints. They are compasses that influence the concepts or even prototypes. Examples? The
direction that strategic decisions take. Highly effective Semantic Webthe intelligent Internetis a
business technology leaders develop, package, and sell tremendously interesting concept, but is a long way
business scenarios. They work with the business to from implementation. Real-time synchronization and
profile as is andespeciallyto be business mod- real-time computing generally are also fascinating
concepts but, again, we are some years away from
els and processes.
Is this to say that business models and processes widespread implementation.
68

March 2007/Vol. 50, No. 3 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM

Leaders should track the more interesting concepts but

resist temptations to hype technologies that are still in the early stages of
development: THE LAST THING A BUSINESS EXECUTIVE WANTS TO
HEAR ABOUT IS HOW COOL A TECHNOLOGY IS, or how great its
going to be (in, say, five years).
On the other hand, utility computingthe technology acquisition and support model that uses the
electricity model to describe its pay-by-the-drink
approach to technology acquisitionis emerging as a
prototype with some real potential, though it is far too
early to commit to a major investment in whole technology subscription models. Similarly, grid comput-

Clusters

Prototypes

Concepts

ERP
CRM
B2B Commerce
Business
Intelligence
Wireless
Grid Computing
Communications
Utility Computing
Application
Nanotechnology
Servers
Web Services
Security
Personalization
Services
Customization
Technology
Voice Recognition
Real-Time
Outsourcing
Thin Clients
Synchronization
The Segway
Semantic Web
Dynamic BPM

Fake or
Real?

Critical Success
Factors

ing is showing solid promise in

Figure 2. Technology
distinctions and the
some industries as is Web Serchasm that leaders
vices technology, thin clients,
track.
and the newestAndriole
voice recognition
fig 2 (3/07)
technologies. These all bear watching so long as they
map onto the business scenarios that the same business technology leaders develop.
Technology clusters are real and powerful and ripe
for exploitation. Clusters are proven technologies with
large supporting casts of developers and support vendors; they are also supported by well-funded R&D
infrastructures.
Leaders should track the more interesting concepts
but resist temptations to hype technologies that are
still in the early stages of development: the last thing
a business executive wants to hear about is how cool a
technology is, or how great its going to be (in, say, five
years).
Habit #2: Business technology leaders track technology that matters by focusing on the distinction

between operational and strategic technology and

the chasm between technology concepts, prototypes, and bona fide technology clusters.
IDENTIFYING BUSINESS PAIN AND PLEASURE
Business technology leaders should speak the language of business. They should focus on the pain
that business managers and executives feel. The
really good ones keep a running list of the most difficult problemsthe sharpest pain points.

Habit #3: Business technology leaders identify and

prioritize business painand approaches to pain
reliefas they move toward the creation of business pleasure.
Business pain comes in many forms. Some comes
in the form of cost control, such as headcount and
overhead cost. Pain relief comes in the form of
improved business response and control, such as
improved management effectiveness, employee productivity, and supplier relations. Business pleasure
includes revenue generation, up-selling, cross-selling,
organic growth, acquisitive growth, and, of course,
increased profit.
The whole pleasure/pain exercise focuses on business success. It also focuses on what individual business professionals will personally find excitingand
rewarding. Leaders understand what makes people
heroes, what the organization values.
Figure 3 identifies three paths in the alignment-topartnership journey. Effective technology leaders
appreciate business pain and pleasure, become more
than just credible, and define business value around
strategy. Influential technologists shape both operations and strategy. If they get operations correct, they
can spend most of their time with their new partners
thinking about competitive advantages, revenue generation, and profitability.
ORGANIZE ADAPTIVELY
Lots of companies are decentralized these days,
though the number recentralizing is increasing. The
essence of the centralization/decentralization dance
spins around the value of shared services. But it is
COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM March 2007/Vol. 50, No. 3

69

also about discipline and governance.

Habit #4: Business technology leaders optimize the
value of shared services in centralized and decentralized companies, and they organize around the
distinction between operational and strategic technology. Technology leaders
also
champion
governance above and
below the operational and
strategic line.

business processes. CIOs and CTOs should report to

the CEO or the COO, not the CFO, whose incentive
is usually to hold costs down. CIOs and CTOs
should organize their organizations around the five
layers, but should also make sure that they organize
around hardware, software and processes.1

MANAGE INFRASTRUCTURE
Leaders make certain
the computing and communications infrastructure is secure, reliable,
Pain
Pleasure
scalable, and cost-effecThe above-the-line/belowAlignment
Partnership
Credibility
Influence
tive. Leaders understand
the-line distinction in Figthere are alternative ways
ure 1 is important to optiOperations
Strategy
to acquire, deploy, and
mal organization. But the
support computing and
wild card is governance. If
communications infraan organization is without
structures. They optiunambiguous governance
mize the alternatives
its chances for effective
with
reference
to
their
organizations
core competenorganization are pretty
Figure 3. Paths to business
much non-existent.
technology partnership. cies, culture, and evolving business strategy.
Given the amount of infrastructure outsourcing,
The key to going forward
is to define the business technology organization as leaders can write diagnostic requests for proposals
though there is onenot twoorganizations. (RFPs) for infrastructure technologies and processes,
Andriole as
fig well
3 (3/07)
as the effective service-level agreements
Below-the-line infrastructure should be managed
transparently. While this is not to say that it is unim- (SLAs).
portant (the opposite argument to be discussed later),
it is to affirm its relative unimportance compared to Habit #5: Business technology leaders manage
above-the-line projects, programs, and impact. (This computing and communications infrastructure
is the concession to the IT-is-a-commodity arguments professionally and cost-effectively through negotiated service-level agreements (SLAs) and measurethat are accurate only to a point.)
Organizational leadership focuses first on the gov- ment best practices.
ernance of business technology resources, investAnother skill is measurement. How well is the
ments, responsibilities, principles, and priorities. The
business value of technology should be the primary infrastructure performing? What does industry
governance philosophy. Below-the-line infrastructure benchmarking data tell you? Leaders are aware of
and support should be shared across the organization what is happening in their industry and in their enviregardless if the business structure is centralized or ronment, especially with acquisition trends. When
decentralized. Above-the-line applications should be outsourcing makes sense, leaders manage the SWOT
identified by the business regardless of whether the (strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats) analysis:
structure is centralized or decentralized. Enterprise Leaders direct all of the technology acquisition
architecture should be jointly owned by the lines of processes (once joint decisions are made about what
business and the infrastructure support provider.
to acquire).
Reporting relationships are always complicated,
especially in decentralized organizations. The key is to COMMUNICATE
organize around the five business technology layers Leaders understand that the essence of communica(see Figure 1) that share decision-making authority tion (and its cousin, influence) is hard and soft facts,
through explicit governance (and Business Technology Councils for handling exceptions). Flexibility is
1
Motors, for example, has recently identified five process officers responsiessential, since the business technology relationship is bleGeneral
for key processes like supply chain efficiency and program management. Since GM
fluid and continuous and not defined around a num- is a decentralized organization, there are lines of business CIOswho report to the
heads of the lines of business (with a dotted line to the enterprise CIO). The addition
ber of discrete rules.
of the process officers is the enterprises way of creating synergy across enterprise and
Reporting relationships should speak directly to line of business objectives [7].
70

March 2007/Vol. 50, No. 3 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM

I cannot emphasize enough the value of internal and

external technology marketing. The technology story at your company
assuming it is mostly goodmust be packaged and sold on a continuous
basis. A SMALL INVESTMENT WILL YIELD SUBSTANTIAL RETURNS.
Business technology leaders understand all this.
and hard and soft communications skills. Are your
technology leaders good communicators? Do people
understand what they say and what they mean?
Communication is a continuous process. When
things are relatively quiet, leaders still need to communicate what they are doing, the status of their projects, and their strategies. When things are bad, they
can call upon a deep continuous relationship with
their partners and stakeholders to jointly solve problems; and when things are good, leaders can exploit
their communications investments to make sure
everyone understands the significance of the victory at
hand.
Habit #6: Business technology leaders communicate often and predictably; leaders communicate
good news and bad news in business terms and
provide transparent insight into technology initiatives through tools like dashboards.
Most communication is routine, that is, how well
the infrastructure is performing, technology costs,
technology total cost of ownership (TCO) models,
and the return on investment (ROI) of business technology projects and programs. Regardless of how
mundane it might be, insight into the availability, vulnerability, and effectiveness of the technology infrastructure and key strategic applications is
necessaryjust as necessary as monthly sales reports.
Project/program/portfolio dashboards are preferred by managers: everyone likes easy-to-read status
reports on key projects and whole programs. It is also
a good idea to develop some form of scorecard that
communicates the overall impact that business technology is having at the company.
MARKET
Leaders think about who creates, distributes, and
maintains the technology message inside and outside
of the company. Business technology leaders are sensitive to the need to internally and externally market
their business technology accomplishments and
strategies.
So what are the pieces of a good technology mar-

keting strategy? First, consider what is being sold.

Obviously there is hardware, software, and services,
but there is also image, perceptions, and strategies.
When everything goes well everyone thinks the technology people are really pretty good, that things work
reasonably well and for a fair price. If the hardware
and software works well, but the image is poor, technology is perceived to be a failure, just as bad hardware and softwarebut good perceptionswill buy
some time. Like other business leaders, technology
leaders sell hard and soft information and insights,
tangible and intangible assets, and processes.
Habit #7: Business technology leaders actively
market their roles in the company as well as technologys ongoing contribution to the business
through a variety of tools and techniques.
Public companies have a unique challenge. Increasingly, technology is included as a variable in company
valuation models. The analysts that cover public company stocks look at technology infrastructures, applications, and best practices in order to determine the
maturity of a companys technology acquisition,
deployment, and support strategies. CIOs and CTOs
who are bona fide business technology leaders talk to
these analysts, fielding their questions and otherwise
molding their understanding of the role that technology plays in the current and anticipated business.
What is the brand of your technology organization? If you were a professional sports team, what
would be a good name for your technology organization? Would you be the Innovators? The Terminators?
Put another way, if you asked the analysts who cover
your stock to word-associate technology and your
company, what would they say? Disciplined? Strategic? Weak? What about collateral materials? Does the
technology organization have its own Web site? Its
own brochures? Case studies? White papers? Reference-able accounts (internal customers who are happy
with technologys services)? Are there newsletters and
technology primers? Is there information about the
competition?
Is there a technology road show? A consistent
COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM March 2007/Vol. 50, No. 3

71

also about discipline and governance.

Habit #4: Business technology leaders optimize the
value of shared services in centralized and decentralized companies, and they organize around the
distinction between operational and strategic technology. Technology leaders
also
champion
governance above and
below the operational and
strategic line.

business processes. CIOs and CTOs should report to

the CEO or the COO, not the CFO, whose incentive
is usually to hold costs down. CIOs and CTOs
should organize their organizations around the five
layers, but should also make sure that they organize
around hardware, software and processes.1

MANAGE INFRASTRUCTURE
Leaders make certain
the computing and communications infrastructure is secure, reliable,
Pain
Pleasure
scalable, and cost-effecThe above-the-line/belowAlignment
Partnership
Credibility
Influence
tive. Leaders understand
the-line distinction in Figthere are alternative ways
ure 1 is important to optiOperations
Strategy
to acquire, deploy, and
mal organization. But the
support computing and
wild card is governance. If
communications infraan organization is without
structures. They optiunambiguous governance
mize the alternatives
its chances for effective
with
reference
to
their
organizations
core competenorganization are pretty
Figure 3. Paths to business
much non-existent.
technology partnership. cies, culture, and evolving business strategy.
Given the amount of infrastructure outsourcing,
The key to going forward
is to define the business technology organization as leaders can write diagnostic requests for proposals
though there is onenot twoorganizations. (RFPs) for infrastructure technologies and processes,
Andriole as
fig well
3 (3/07)
as the effective service-level agreements
Below-the-line infrastructure should be managed
transparently. While this is not to say that it is unim- (SLAs).
portant (the opposite argument to be discussed later),
it is to affirm its relative unimportance compared to Habit #5: Business technology leaders manage
above-the-line projects, programs, and impact. (This computing and communications infrastructure
is the concession to the IT-is-a-commodity arguments professionally and cost-effectively through negotiated service-level agreements (SLAs) and measurethat are accurate only to a point.)
Organizational leadership focuses first on the gov- ment best practices.
ernance of business technology resources, investAnother skill is measurement. How well is the
ments, responsibilities, principles, and priorities. The
business value of technology should be the primary infrastructure performing? What does industry
governance philosophy. Below-the-line infrastructure benchmarking data tell you? Leaders are aware of
and support should be shared across the organization what is happening in their industry and in their enviregardless if the business structure is centralized or ronment, especially with acquisition trends. When
decentralized. Above-the-line applications should be outsourcing makes sense, leaders manage the SWOT
identified by the business regardless of whether the (strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats) analysis:
structure is centralized or decentralized. Enterprise Leaders direct all of the technology acquisition
architecture should be jointly owned by the lines of processes (once joint decisions are made about what
business and the infrastructure support provider.
to acquire).
Reporting relationships are always complicated,
especially in decentralized organizations. The key is to COMMUNICATE
organize around the five business technology layers Leaders understand that the essence of communica(see Figure 1) that share decision-making authority tion (and its cousin, influence) is hard and soft facts,
through explicit governance (and Business Technology Councils for handling exceptions). Flexibility is
1
Motors, for example, has recently identified five process officers responsiessential, since the business technology relationship is bleGeneral
for key processes like supply chain efficiency and program management. Since GM
fluid and continuous and not defined around a num- is a decentralized organization, there are lines of business CIOswho report to the
heads of the lines of business (with a dotted line to the enterprise CIO). The addition
ber of discrete rules.
of the process officers is the enterprises way of creating synergy across enterprise and
Reporting relationships should speak directly to line of business objectives [7].
70

March 2007/Vol. 50, No. 3 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM

I cannot emphasize enough the value of internal and

external technology marketing. The technology story at your company
assuming it is mostly goodmust be packaged and sold on a continuous
basis. A SMALL INVESTMENT WILL YIELD SUBSTANTIAL RETURNS.
Business technology leaders understand all this.
and hard and soft communications skills. Are your
technology leaders good communicators? Do people
understand what they say and what they mean?
Communication is a continuous process. When
things are relatively quiet, leaders still need to communicate what they are doing, the status of their projects, and their strategies. When things are bad, they
can call upon a deep continuous relationship with
their partners and stakeholders to jointly solve problems; and when things are good, leaders can exploit
their communications investments to make sure
everyone understands the significance of the victory at
hand.
Habit #6: Business technology leaders communicate often and predictably; leaders communicate
good news and bad news in business terms and
provide transparent insight into technology initiatives through tools like dashboards.
Most communication is routine, that is, how well
the infrastructure is performing, technology costs,
technology total cost of ownership (TCO) models,
and the return on investment (ROI) of business technology projects and programs. Regardless of how
mundane it might be, insight into the availability, vulnerability, and effectiveness of the technology infrastructure and key strategic applications is
necessaryjust as necessary as monthly sales reports.
Project/program/portfolio dashboards are preferred by managers: everyone likes easy-to-read status
reports on key projects and whole programs. It is also
a good idea to develop some form of scorecard that
communicates the overall impact that business technology is having at the company.
MARKET
Leaders think about who creates, distributes, and
maintains the technology message inside and outside
of the company. Business technology leaders are sensitive to the need to internally and externally market
their business technology accomplishments and
strategies.
So what are the pieces of a good technology mar-

keting strategy? First, consider what is being sold.

Obviously there is hardware, software, and services,
but there is also image, perceptions, and strategies.
When everything goes well everyone thinks the technology people are really pretty good, that things work
reasonably well and for a fair price. If the hardware
and software works well, but the image is poor, technology is perceived to be a failure, just as bad hardware and softwarebut good perceptionswill buy
some time. Like other business leaders, technology
leaders sell hard and soft information and insights,
tangible and intangible assets, and processes.
Habit #7: Business technology leaders actively
market their roles in the company as well as technologys ongoing contribution to the business
through a variety of tools and techniques.
Public companies have a unique challenge. Increasingly, technology is included as a variable in company
valuation models. The analysts that cover public company stocks look at technology infrastructures, applications, and best practices in order to determine the
maturity of a companys technology acquisition,
deployment, and support strategies. CIOs and CTOs
who are bona fide business technology leaders talk to
these analysts, fielding their questions and otherwise
molding their understanding of the role that technology plays in the current and anticipated business.
What is the brand of your technology organization? If you were a professional sports team, what
would be a good name for your technology organization? Would you be the Innovators? The Terminators?
Put another way, if you asked the analysts who cover
your stock to word-associate technology and your
company, what would they say? Disciplined? Strategic? Weak? What about collateral materials? Does the
technology organization have its own Web site? Its
own brochures? Case studies? White papers? Reference-able accounts (internal customers who are happy
with technologys services)? Are there newsletters and
technology primers? Is there information about the
competition?
Is there a technology road show? A consistent
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message about the role technology plays in the company, how technology is organized, what matters
most, the major projects, and technologys contribution to profitable growth, among other key messages
is essential to running technology like a business.
Most importantly, are there dedicated resources for
technology marketing? I cannot emphasize enough
the value of internal and external technology marketing. The technology story at your companyassuming it is mostly goodmust be packaged and sold on
a continuous basis. A small investment will yield substantial returns. Business technology leaders understand all this.
WHAT NEXT?
Are leaders born or are they developed? The seven
habits described here should provide enough clues
to the answer. Many leadership qualities are, of
course, inherent to specific personalities, but just as
many can be developed over time with the right
insight and coaching
Without question, the nature of business technology leadership is changing. This article tries to profile
the trends and the leadership requirements that will
be rewarded in the early 21st century. Is this a wakeup call? To some extent it is, but it is also a framework
for thinking about 21st century leadership as we put
more and more distance between us and the business
technology alignment debates of the 1990s. c

References
1. Andriole, S.J. Todays Best Practices in Business Technology Management.
Cutter Consortium 6, 5 (2004).
2. Bassellier, G. and Benbassat, I. Business competence of information
technology professionals: Conceptual development and influence on ITbusiness partnerships. MIS Q. 28, 4 (2004), 673694.
3. Carr, N. IT doesnt matter. Harvard Business Review (May 2003),
4149.
4. Chan, S., Huff, D., Barclay, W., and Copland, D.G. Business strategic
orientation, information systems strategic orientation, and strategic
alignment. Information Systems Research 8, 2 (1997), 125150.
5. Sabherwal, R. and Chan, Y. Alignment between business and IS strategies: A study of prospectors, analyzers, and defenders. Information Systems Research 12, 1 (2001), 1133.
6. Sabherwal, R., Hirscheim, R., and Goles, T. The dynamics of alignment: Insights from a punctuated equilibrium model. Organization Science 12, 2 (2001), 179197.
7. Wolf, C. General Motors Process Information Officers. Technical brief.
Business Process Trends (Oct. 2003), 12.

Stephen J. Andriole (stephen.andriole@villanova.edu) is the

Thomas G. Labrecque Professor of Business at Villanova University,
Villanova, PA, where he conducts applied research in business
technology convergence. He is also the founder and CTO of
TechVestCo, a economy consortium that focuses on optimizing
investments in information technology.
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