Nicholas Carr Is At It Again...

Carr's new book, The Big Switch, isn't really about IT - and he dumps on the IT profession only once (in chapter six). However, a theme similar to his premise, that IT doesn't matter, clearly emerges.

Carr reminds us that once a technology reaches mainstream adoption to the point where all you have to do is turn it on and let it run, it's no longer a differentiator. And he's right about infrastructure technologies (like computers and networking) whose maturity and saturation have made them ubiquitous and affordable.

Carr is comfortable talking about the "supply side" of technology - namely the side of the IT profession that is responsible for procuring and maintaining products that keep the infrastructure up and running. These are the people that love to hash out those "five nines" clauses in SLAs and beat IT sales people up for sport. (Hey, someone has to do it.)

But before their was supply, there was invention, also known as "demand."

In some IT shops, business people think, IT people implement
IT organizations that fall into Carr's definition, don't see themselves as the inventors, and like good soldiers, they move out of the way when the creative thinking needs to happen. They think of themselves as people who operationalize and maintain.

I met with a CIO of an energy company the other day that I would consider a "supply side" type. He stated with pride that his job is to squeeze costs from business processes as much as he can, which in turn, improves the firm's margins and profitability. I'm sure he considers himself a good businessperson. And he is, for organizations that compete on price.

But, it's not surprising that CIOs who reside comfortably on the supply side have made the biggest contributions to the "Career Is Over" culture.

Which type of CIO are you selling?
How can you tell a demand-side CIO from one that is more supply-side oriented? It's a question more complex than a blog post and if you pick up a book like The New CIO Leader, you'll see that demand siders:

1, Typically report to CEOs

2. Leave supply side management to CTOs

3. Base their business plans on those of their CxO peers. 

4. Often have MBAs and come from the business side of the house

5. Often staff senior people on their teams that have experience communicating the business value of IT to senior managers, users and investors

As far the supply side CIOs, they pretty much define the other side of the coin. They don't report to the CEO, they assume the CTO position themselves, they aren't very good at business strategy (nor do they think it's their job) and they place little value on marketing and communications people.

The other day, I asked a demand-side CIO to share the highlights of her business plan with me - something she was happy to do since she was hiring me to develop her organization's value proposition. When I asked my supply-side CIO prospect to share the highlights of his business plan, he responded with, "Why would I have a business plan?"

If you sell technology solutions, how important is it - that your solution's value proposition align with that of the type of CIO you're selling?

Let's just say, if it doesn't match up, you'll be selling the wrong benefits.