Understanding and Advising CIOs

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May 29, 2024

Tim Crawford, CIO Advisor at AVOAcom, discusses the challenges of modern CIOs balancing stability vs. innovation, and the importance of understanding the business value of technology. Topics include CIO mindset, balancing operational stability with innovation, and real-world examples of managing stable vs. innovative technologies.

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INSIGHT

CIO Role Is Business Leadership With Tech Ownership

The modern CIO must be a business leader first who happens to own technology and must think about company-wide priorities.
Tim Crawford says CIOs now enable essential operations and cannot run companies without technology or revert to manual processes.

ADVICE

Stabilize Operations Before Pushing Innovation

Stabilize operations before chasing innovation so you can credibly pursue strategic projects.
Crawford recommends surrounding yourself with leaders who own operations to free headspace for transformative initiatives.

INSIGHT

Vendor Price Shocks Create Strategic Distraction

Big vendor price shocks force CIOs to evaluate value vs switching costs and often create a temporary strategic distraction.
Using VMware/Broadcom as example, Crawford notes sticker shock prompts rapid searches for private/public cloud or SaaS alternatives.

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Tim Crawford (@tcrawford, CIO Advisor at @AVOAcom) talks about the challenges of the modern CIO, managing stability vs. innovation, and understanding the business value of tech.

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SHOW NOTES:

Topic 1 - Tim, welcome back to the show! We’ve been friends for years, and it’s great to get you on today! We will discuss everything at the top of CIOs' minds today. Why don’t you give everyone a quick background on how you became known as the CIO Advisor?

Topic 2 - Before we go into trends over the last few years. Put everyone in a CIO mindset. What do they care about? How do they think about the intersection of technology and business? What keeps them up at night?

Topic 3 - We’ve heard many times CIOs have to balance two things: keeping the lights on (the boring side of the business that is often undifferentiated, and the innovative side that often moves the needle. A CIO’s job is to minimize the former and maximize the latter. Do you agree? How accurate is that statement?

Topic 4 - I’ll follow that up with a real-world example many organizations might be facing, one we’ve discussed on the show in the past. We’ll discuss VMware on one end of the stable, the keep the lights on model, and AI on the other end as an innovative technology that could differentiate. Let’s talk about VMware first…

Topic 4b - Now the other end of the spectrum, AI. Have we reached peak AI washing and craziness? Is the trough of disillusionment coming? How should a CIO think about it?

Topic 5 - Let’s talk about economics over the last few years. Zero-interest money has gone away for VCs and startups and we are seeing some big changes on the vendor side. How does this impact the people you talk to?

Topic 6 - Last topic, you were there and talked about Hashicorp when they rang the bell last week and then were bought 24 hours later. What was that like as someone who was there?

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