ABSTRACT
Another reason CIOs get stuck on operational issues, according to Fluor’s Ray Barnard, is that the company perceives IT as a support function and is incapable of changing that bias. “If the company’s leadership views IT as a cost center, you many never get out of the weeds,” he says. “If that is the case, you may as well report to the CFO and maintain operations, because it’s out of your hands.” While Barnard acknowledges that there are many CIOs who have changed the perception of IT at their companies, just as he has done at Fluor, if the operational perception is old enough or deep enough, change may be too much of an uphill battle. In instances where IT is entrenched as an operations function and there is resistance to changing that approach, you would be better o working elsewhere.
