Value and effectiveness provide the "why" and "how" for project goals, according to Maria Claudia Romero, director of information technology for Asia-Pacific at Unisys.
"In today's environment, you cannot afford to run projects that do not provide value [and] outcome directly related to business goals," Romero said. "That is a given and it is easy. The challenge is to balance the resulting value to the business with the effectiveness of the [IT] solution."
She believes the main challenge for IT departments remains how to partner with the business to deliver more value, while dealing with fewer resources such as time and budgets.
"What has changed is the pace and risk in the environment," Romero said. "Rapid change in both business and technology directions, financial uncertainty, security and privacy focus."
Although Romero admits this isn't an easy task for senior IT professionals, she believes it's achievable by focusing on a few principles. These include simplification and standardisation, as well as strategic alignment, and managing change.
"Reducing your complexity will allow you to reduce cost, increase efficiency, manage risk, and more importantly, increase your ability to change or transform your baseline," Romero said.
She also suggested that by positioning the IT department as a strategic enabler -rather than simply as a technology or service provider--allows CIOs and IT managers to align their strategies with overall business goals and become an integral part of the core capabilities of a company.
The IT veteran said one of the things she loves about IT is the constant balancing act centred around people. "Independent of the levels of sophistication of processes and technology, the difference between success and failure is related to how they are used," Romero said.
"This premise takes you into a complex and fascinating area that groups various disciplines: cultural and organisation behaviour, business acumen, as well as interpersonal and technical skills."
She believes that building, developing and retaining talent within an organisation is important and, mentoring and guidance--whether formal or informal--is a partnership. "To be effective, you need to focus your efforts on two fronts: first, fostering an environment that provides opportunities for individuals to grow, learn and develop professional experiences."
"Second, establishing an ongoing communication cycle with your team members: listen, observe, provide on-time feedback."
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