As integral members of the C-suite, CIOs are expected to do more than simply act as technology stewards. CIOs are expected to help drive the business forward.
This includes leveraging technology and thinking creatively to identify ways to generate new revenue streams and optimize operational efficiency business performance.
CIOs may not necessarily serve as the analytics leads within their organizations, but they should be deeply involved in using, promoting, and enabling the use of analytics throughout the company to drive disruptive change and help transform the enterprise.
For instance, the use of analytics can enable the CIO to identify new ways to mitigate risk, strengthen operational efficiency, and generate new revenue streams.
This could include uncovering opportunities that can be shared with the CFO to better identify and mitigate potential risks (e.g., the risks associated with changing product suppliers, including potential disruptions to supply chain operations and revenue).
Providing these types of insights to senior management can help demonstrate the value that the CIO brings to the table as well as the benefits that can be obtained through more pervasive use of analytics tools and market/customer/operational data across the enterprise.
CIOs are also being asked to help their companies become more customer-centric. The use of analytics offers a prime opportunity for CIOs and other decision-makers to identify insights about customer needs and preferences that can be acted on ahead of the market.
For instance, analysis of customer sentiment that’s shared in contact center interactions, surveys, and social media posts can help a consumer packaged goods company identify a need for a new cleaning product that fills a gap in the market and can create a new source of revenue.
CIOs can also use analytics tools to shape an architecture better aligned with customer needs and preferences that can be used to distinguish the customer experience.
For instance, a hotel chain is able to use customer data and analytics to determine that a high percentage of the hotel’s customers would prefer to use their smartphones to bypass check-in at the front desk and then use their loyalty cards as room keys. The CIO is able to map business requirements against an architecture designed to deliver these types of actionable insights.
Creating these types of experiences can improve customer satisfaction while strengthening loyalty and boosting customer lifetime value.
Next Steps:
- For more stories of Enterprise disruption, join us in San Francisco this November for Analytics NOW.
- Subscribe to our blog to stay up to date on the latest insights and trends in big data and big data analytics.
