What to look for in 2023

The saying goes, "as time goes by," but these days, we should say "as speed picks up."  We're already in month two, so high time we take a look at the priorities you hopefully already set at the end of last year.

The challenge

In IT, we're facing these challenges in 2023:

• Trying to understand the implications of external trends.
• Determining what capabilities are most important to support the organization.
• Understanding how to help the organization pursue new opportunities.
• Preparing to mitigate new sources of organizational risk.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

• Ensure your IT organization has contextual awareness,  As the CIO you already have that, as you can see all the pieces. Bring this insight to your people, assess gaps, prepare the next steps, and prioritize.
•  Each next step presents new opportunities for companies that pursue them.
• At each step, you need to assess potential risks and mitigate them.

Impact and result

•  Inform your IT department about the strategy and tactics for the coming year.
• Identify what capabilities you need to improve.
• Add the required initiatives to your roadmap.

 Analyst Perspective

• for the ITRG Tech Trends 2023 report, we called on CIOs to think of themselves as chess grandmasters. To view strategy as playing both sides of the board, simultaneously attacking the opponent's pieces while defending your own. Just like at TY, we visualize the Strategy and Governance domain with chess pieces. In our CIO Priorities 2023 report, we'll continue with that metaphor as we reflect on IT's capability to respond to trends.
• If the trends report is a study of the state of the board that CIOs are playing with, the priorities report is about what move they should make next. We must consider all the pieces we have at our disposal and determine which ones we can afford to use to seize on the opportunity. Other pieces are best used by staying put to defend their position.
• In examining the different capabilities that CIOs will require to succeed in the year ahead, it’s apparent that a siloed view of IT isn't going to work. Just like a chess player in a competitive match would never limit themselves to only using their knights or their rooks, a CIO's responsibility is to deploy each of their pieces to win the day. While functional leaders may only see their next move, as head of the organization with a complete view of all the pieces, the CIO has full awareness of the board state.
• It's up to them to assess their gaps, consider the present scenario, and then make their next move.