CIO's Urged to Think Outside the Box

If you think the need for innovation hasn't touched every corner of the workplace, think again. According to Network World, IT personnel who have their sights on becoming CIO's need to think out of the box. With the complexity of issues facing CIO's, it is no wonder creative and innovative attitudes are required to get the job done. Issues like globalization, the need for acceleration, more and more data, a push to digitize, increasing proliferation of personal devices in the workplace, and having to do more with less budget, requires a great deal of out of the box thinking. Some advice for inviting innovation into the world of IT includes encouraging IT staff to spend 10% of their time working on non-operational tasks. Makes sense, right? If Google can implement 20% time, then surely IT departments can implement 10% time. Not so fast, though. Extra time in the work week doesn't come easily. CIO's report 10% time works best when supported by management. In fact, when managers are measured on enforcement of time away from the daily grind to focus on innovation, compliance improves. Moving from the "server room to the boardroom" isn't an easy task. Getting on board with innovation might be one way CIO's can speak the same language as CEO's.