CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 11

11
Moreover, cloud presents its own
challenges. "People think cloud simplifies
things," says Bill Blausey, Senior Vice
President and CIO at Eaton. "Cloud gives us
more options that are more complex. The
architecture decisions are harder. The only
way to sort through all of that is to have very
strong strategic partners."
The Power of Data and Analytics. Finally,
the shift to digital business has resulted in

WINNING TRAITS OF
STRATEGIC PARTNERS
CIOs expect their solution providers to offer
state-of-the-art capabilities at a competitive
price. But that's just the beginning. To qualify
as a true strategic partner, technology
companies need to embody certain qualities.
Specifically, they need to be:

more data-driven organizations, with CIOs
valuing partners who use sophisticated

Transparent. Partners should have nothing to

analytics to deliver their services and who

hide. CIOs who want to get the most from these

share that information with them. "Clients

relationships share strategies, plans, and challenges

expect to know a lot more about what's

with their vendors- and expect their partners to be

going on inside their suppliers' organizations,

open with them, too.

because that information is increasingly

Accountable. CIOs want their partners to be

available," says Xiao-Fe Zhang, a research

as accountable to the company for delivering IT

director at market-research firm IDC and

capabilities and innovation as they are themselves.

co-author with Brendan R. McGowan of the

Proactive. Companies that merely react to

CIO Executive Council report on strategic

problems and opportunities as they arise will get left

partnerships. Monsanto's Jim Swanson wants

behind in the shift to digital business. Consequently,

to know that his partners are using analytics

CIOs value partners who assess and anticipate

to predict outcomes and be proactive, not

needs at a sophisticated level, and that means being

just to respond to events as they occur. "I

data-driven.

want them to embed analytics and data into

Passionate. Strategic partners should care about

everything they do," he says.

outcomes - not just meet service levels. They go

Implications for Partner Relations

beyond managing a problem more efficiently to
eliminating the source of the problem altogether.

Collaborative. It's a heterogeneous world. Vendors
These four forces affect how CIOs acquire
technology services and how they manage
relationships with their strategic partners.

have to be willing to work with others to achieve an
outcome. CIOs are wary of vendors who say they
have the answer for everything.

Trustworthy. Trust is essential to any good
partnership - and sometimes the CIO has to make
the first move. When he took on the CIO role at
Eaton, Bill Blausey seriously disliked a few of Eaton's
IT partners. But he made a commitment to make it
work. "Coming out of the chute, I set an expectation
that we were going to trust each other and waited
to see if that got destroyed or built upon," he says.
"Now those are some of our best relationships."



CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8

Contents
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - Cover1
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - Cover2
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 1
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - Contents
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 3
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 4
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 5
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 6
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 7
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 8
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 9
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 10
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 11
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 12
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 13
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 14
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 15
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 16
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 17
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 18
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 19
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 20
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 21
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 22
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 23
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 24
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 25
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 26
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 27
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 28
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 29
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 30
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 31
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 32
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 33
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 34
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 35
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 36
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 37
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 38
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 39
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 40
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 41
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 42
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 43
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 44
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 45
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 46
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 47
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 48
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 49
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 50
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 51
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 52
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 53
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 54
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 55
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 56
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 57
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 58
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 59
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 60
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 61
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 62
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 63
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 64
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 65
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 66
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 67
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 68
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 69
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 70
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 71
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 72
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 73
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 74
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - 75
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - Cover3
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 8 - Cover4
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