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Some of the IT-related challenges faced by business executives are to communicate the business requirements with those in IT management, obtain timely response to / support for business needs and process changes, make informed decisions about outsourcing, and address IT governance and compliance issues.
Cooperation and support from the IT department
One of the challenges is getting the communication between IT and business executives right and building an IT environment that truly supports your business operations.
The ability to implement changes rapidly is one of the key issues for growth and competitiveness. The requirement for agile business technology supporting all business processes is of great importance for an organization’s success. Monolithic legacy solutions may not bend quickly enough to your urgent business changes.
Compliance
For both CEOs and CIOs, the compliance issue is of huge importance. Regulatory compliance (Sarbanes–Oxley, Basel II) requires an organization to be able to prove the requisite control of financial and business processes. These processes rely on IT infrastructure solutions, and an IT-generated failure can result in legal action and financial penalties.
Executives need to receive comprehensive reports on certain required and other specified IT compliance. Continuous reporting is required in order to ensure that the applications used by critical business processes are clearly mapped and monitored. The management need contract and ownership information for audits, risk management, and continuity plans.
Outsourcing and multisourcing
Outsourcing is becoming a more and more integral part of successful IT operations. Using external service providers to cut costs and achieve better cost predictability has become commonplace. Hurried outsourcing is still widespread and does not necessarily lead to good results. Multisourcing, a combination of outsourcing and in-house IT service production, is a common way of organizing IT operations to create an optimal set of services from the offerings of both internal and external providers.
When planning outsourcing operations, a CIO must know exactly what will be outsourced and be able to monitor the quality of the bought-in services of the service provider. The main challenge is how to manage a portfolio of service providers efficiently alongside management of your own service production and business processes. Another challenge involves how to arrange vendor management and negotiate SLAs successfully. Several outsourcing projects have led to progressive costs and decreased service quality.
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