3 ways CIOs can turn strategy into execution

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Enterprises have big plans for this year as IT budgets grow larger and initiatives become more intertwined with the business’s overall success. Yet tech leaders still grapple to turn strategy into action. 

Less than half of enterprises reach the majority of the strategic goals IT leaders set out to achieve, according to Gartner research. 

“Meeting half of your goals, for example, is better than meeting none, but there is a missed opportunity in not being fully successful,” Ian Cox, senior director analyst at Gartner, said during a webinar Friday. “The ability to execute strategy has a real impact on the success of the enterprise.”

Whether it’s exploring generative AI, classic blocking and tackling or managing app sprawl, crafting winning strategies and executing them appropriately are core to the success of tech leaders. 

Here are three ways CIOs can improve the foundations of their strategy and set the business up for success while executing plans:

1. Planning

No matter how good an enterprise is at executing, it’s unlikely to deliver the types of results leaders are aiming for if it fails to plan strategically, Cox said. A good strategy defines success, indicates how to get there and outlines what information and technology will contribute.

“That all sounds fairly obvious and you would think fairly straightforward to do, however, many of the strategy documents I see fail to provide this clarity of direction,” Cox said. 

An unclear, incomplete or confusing strategy puts enterprises at a disadvantage before even getting to the execution stage.

When creating a strategy, tech leaders should:

  • Understand the business context
  • Set a direction related to objectives, goals and IT principles
  • Define steps to reach goals

Including potential weaknesses in planning documents can enhance the insights of a strategic plan. A history of underinvestment in certain areas, for example, should be noted as part of the business context, ensuring strategies address the challenge and preventing unforeseen execution roadblocks down the road.

As enterprises have embarked on generative AI plans, analysts have urged business leaders to create a holistic strategy that looks at risk profiles alongside implementation projects. While workplace use grows, most businesses are lacking a clear AI adoption roadmap, according to McKinsey research published in June. 

Rushing the planning process can lead to buyer’s remorse, with around 1 in 4 IT leaders expressing regret for investing in AI too quickly, according to a March Asana survey. 

2. Measuring

Identifying the right metrics can let CIOs spot potential issues. 

Metrics should answer five key questions:

  • What is being measured? 
  • Where is the organization today?
  • What is the target goal?
  • What is the desired business outcome?
  • What is the balance point, or an indicator that will suggest when an initiative has gone too far, such as customer satisfaction levels?

Metrics are useless without purpose. Predictive measures can provide an early indication of whether organizations are on track, but the majority of tech leaders lean on metrics that wait until execution is complete to measure. 

Predictive metrics can tell an organization the percentage of customers it can serve with personalized recommendations. The number of personalized offers customers have clicked on is a lagging metric. Both have a role to play in strategy, according to Tomas Nielsen, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner. 

“Metrics are important in terms of the role they play in helping to quantify the contribution to success, but they are also important in ensuring we keep our execution on track to deliver that success,” Nielsen said. “It’s one thing to capture the KPI, it’s another thing to actually act on it.”

While some organizations have struggled to show the value of AI projects, early adopters have reported success when explicitly aligning use cases with success metrics and business goals, CIO Dive previously reported. 

3. Staying on track

Reviewing strategies, metrics and priorities once a strategy is in motion is key to how enterprises can stay on track. 

“Given the rate of change and disruption we’ve seen over the last three or four years, and in an increasingly volatile and uncertain world, regularly reviewing and, where necessary, adjusting your strategy and execution can make sense,” Cox said. 

Generative AI’s introduction, for example, upended existing priorities as businesses pivoted to test the technology. There’s now another moment of recalibration on the horizon as enthusiasm for the technology shows signs of waning and the pressure builds for CIOs to identify the tangible benefits of pilots.  

But not all strategy reviews will result in an adjustment. More than three-quarters of business leaders review strategy at least twice a year, while 37% opt to update, according to Gartner research.

“Deciding to leave your strategy as-is is an entirely valid and useful outcome of a strategy review,” said Cox. 

Accountability throughout the organization is also key. 

Company objectives often cascade down, requiring shared responsibility among executives and lower-level managers. 

“If you have no executive commitment, or if you have nobody who’s willing to sponsor it, you should really think: is this an initiative worth doing?” Nielsen said. 

“That’s what differentiates leaders when executing,” he added. “They execute based on making sure that we have the right capabilities, we have the right setup and we are committed.”