Observations on Partnering to Capture the Potential Value of Change
It is an axiom in business—which too often goes unexploited—that change brings opportunity. Regardless of whether the change is planned and welcome or it has been sprung on you, the more disruptive the change, the greater the opportunities it presents.
A change in leadership is one example. When a CIO steps into a new role, it’s natural to look around and see what’s working well and where there are opportunities. It’s a good time to update practices or policies, review the nature and mix of the work done in-house or outsourced, and identify which suppliers show the best promise to become or remain strategic partners.
"The strongest resistance to change can come from within an organization, whether it’s Procurement or IT"
At DuPont, we are in the midst of an historic merger with plans to create three separate companies. We have new CIOs who are in the process of designing IT and Business Process capabilities to support these new companies. Everywhere you turn, we are looking for more effective and efficient ways to do things, where we can find savings, and where we need to invest in our future.
I sat down with one of our new CIOs, Steve Larrabee, CIO for the Specialty Products Division of the merged Dow DuPont, to get his view. At the junction of two mega-drivers–a complete restructuring and a new CIO–we have an unpreceded opportunity. We agree that change of this magnitude doesn’t simply allow you to take a fresh look at things: it demands it. And we agree that your CPO can help, especially when it comes to factoring in external insights and capabilities to build any top-level IT organization.
Here are a few thoughts we tossed around on how a good partnership between the CIO and the CPO provides support in the midst of change, applicable to any scale of change.