2009 CIO New Year's resolutions

With a potentially tough 2009 looming, Tim Ferguson as picked the brains of experts across the tech industry to come up with some of the areas CIOs should focus on when making their New Year's resolutions.

Be more efficient
With the economic downturn looking like it will continue in 2009, one of the first things CIOs should look at is how technology could be used to make their business more efficient, as well as secure quick returns on investment.

By looking at how to re-engineer processes that are less efficient than they could be, CIOs can help the business become more productive by saving time and money. Small tweaks in the way purchase orders are processed, for example, could lead to an increase in revenue.

With job cuts inevitable across many businesses, CIOs may also need to look at where automation could be brought in to help with tasks for which there are no longer people to do them.

Learn to let go
Some CIOs may need to accept that, in the short term at least, giving some of the responsibility to IT services providers could be one of the best ways to save money, with greater outsourcing one potential cost-cutting measure likely to find increasing favour among CIOs.

Even if outsourcing goes against the cultural ethos of the business, it could be something that might just keep the wolf from the door when the pressure to save money really bites in 2009.

By pursuing outsourcing arrangements for less business-critical processes that can easily be shifted outside the company, companies may see quick financial rewards that may otherwise not have been realised.

Embrace flexibility

The flip side is there's little point in sticking to existing outsourcing agreements if they're going to cause problems for the business. CIOs need to be aware of the contracts they have and work out the best way to adjust them in order to benefit the business.

With outsourcing contracts, timescales may need to be changed and new elements added so CIOs will need to work out what they can feasibly afford to pay compared to the money that can be saved, and take this to the vendor negotiating table.

Improved terms and more manageable payment options need to be explored so companies can offset payment until their financial position is less precarious.

Get your priorities straight
With all of the economic turmoil leading to IT budgets being slashed, CIOs need to think harder about where this money is going to be spent.

For example, starting a huge project to revamp the back office infrastructure, although extremely valuable in the long-term, may be something that can wait until there is more money to spend.

But investment in technologies to retain customers – such as analytics or more effective CRM - could be something that is much more worth investing in. In the current economic climate, keeping customers and revenue is going to be more important to the businesses than ripping and replacing an entire IT infrastructure.

Stick to your guns
Having said this, although the economic downturn is obviously going to have a significant impact, it shouldn't be forgotten that it won't last forever. If CIOs fail to continue investing in their IT to some extent, it could leave them lagging behind when the economy picks up again.

Where projects are underway and are going to be easy to complete, there's no point in putting them on hold due to budget cuts.

In addition, technologies what should buck the economic trend - server and storage virtualisation, data loss prevention and identity and access management for example - should be pursued.

Manage people as well as tech
The role of the CIO isn't just about the technology side of things – CIOs also need to be involved with managing their team and smoothing relations between the IT department and the rest of the business.

In 2009, collaboration across the business will be even more important as organisations pull together and the business and technology become even more intertwined.

So as well as managing the tech strategy, CIOs will need to keep their teams motivated as they will face some significant challenges - and also work with other parts of the business to make the use of technology really count.