CIO Straight Talk - Issue 7 - 60

60

I'm interested in how to make technology work for the company and
its end users. It's the result that is important. The how is nothing more than
a means to get there.

When I was approached three years

I've had the opportunity to

an IT leadership role, you are not

ago to take on the role of CIO at

experience many different aspects of

confined to the finance area or

Sulzer, an industrial technology

corporate leadership, both in IT and

the supply chain area or to sales

company that was embarking on a

on the business side, from product

or product development. You are

comprehensive transformation, I

manager in consumer electronics

involved with it all. The CIO is not

seized the opportunity.

at Philips to head of IT strategy at

owner of the technology or system

Novartis. So, when Sulzer offered me

or business process, but she can

was decentralized among five local

the role of CIO, I was intrigued-it

negotiate the best solution to a

business units, each IT group of equal

was another opportunity to grow

problem with her business partners.

status. They worked together only as

and learn.

IT is a function that really spans the

Why? The IT function at Sulzer

opportunities arose. The challenge

In a discussion with the CEO, to

enterprise. And by its very nature,

of integrating these separate IT

whom I report, he described his

IT is extremely dynamic. It's all

operations into a single function was

ambitious plan for transforming

about change.

somewhat daunting.

Sulzer from a decentralized

That means that the CIO role is

manufacturing conglomerate to a

full of potential. We're not talking

change, as the company embarked on

market-oriented globally operating

about the traditional IT role of a

a major strategic transformation, was

company. It was clear that all those

technology order taker. We're not

- and still is - tremendous.

new global business processes would

talking about improving operational

have to be enabled by IT. To be part of

efficiency by, for example, moving

that undertaking from hour zero, as a

people and processes to a lower cost

CIO working alongside the CEO, was

country. We're talking about leading

a unique and exciting opportunity.

change that directly enables a

But the potential for positive

An Exciting Challenge
I'm a curious person by nature. I
graduated with a degree in economics
and then studied philosophy and

The Allure of the CIO Role

computer science. That combination

company's strategy.

Transforming the
Organization -
Incrementally

made perfect sense for me, as

I have always wanted to be a CIO.

technology is only one part of the

That may be hard for the typical

business equation. I'm interested in

business executive to understand.

how to make technology work for the

After all, IT is a difficult area. When

The first thing I did was to make

company and its end users. It's the

the lights are on, no one pats you on

sure we had an overall vision for

result that is important. The how is

the back.

this transformative organizational

nothing more than a means to
get there.

But the CIO has such an important
role in making things happen. In

change. Within the first year of my
arrival, we had created a three-year
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 7

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CIO Straight Talk - Issue 7
