The importance of information technology and its drivers in the company continues to rise rapidly against the background of new business opportunities through digitization and industry 4.0. By starting with other technologies such as Big Data, Data Analytics, Social Media, Mobility / Connectivity and Cloud Computing, new products and services, as well as business models, processes and value chains emerge. This development and changing expectations of the enterprises put IT departments under pressure to rethink their existing operating models and set-up.
The CIO team has to overcome a very difficult balancing act: on the one hand, the business lines expect IT in the context of digital transformation to implement important innovations quickly and dynamically with unchanged attention to and performance in existing IT services and systems. They are to be offered solid, secure and cost-effective as a reliable backend for future digital services.
Read More …Hamburg IT Strategy Days 2024
We support the Hamburg IT Strategy Days as a partner!
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The Hamburg IT Strategy Days are Germany's leading CIO and IT management congress.
We are pleased to announce that we will continue to support the Hamburg IT Strategy Days as partners next year.
The agenda includes presentations by top CIOs on current issues.
You can find more information here.
Publications & Studies
CIO Studies 2020 - 2023
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4C study 2021: “Key factors of successful CIOs”
What makes CIOs successful? 60 exceptionally successful CIOs shared their experiences and recipes for success with us.
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In today's digital age, the role of the CIO is at a crossroads: do CIOs manage to meet the challenges and requirements of digitization and thus continue to gain influence implicitly and explicitly? Or is the role evolving back to its origins due to the failure to meet the requirements, and CIOs are once again operating in the task and responsibility set of an "IT manager"?
But how do CIOs manage to meet the challenges and, above all, how can their work be measured and assessed? In practice, the question of successful action in top management positions is answered in a simplified way with the (further) "commissioning" of the manager, i.e., if the work is successful, a contractual extension of employment can be assumed, which is reflected in the length of stay in the position. There is also robust scientific evidence: Those who are successful stay in the position for a long time, and those who stay in the position for a long time are successful.
However, if we look at the length of time CIOs stay in their position in Germany, we find that the average length of stay is rather short, especially compared to other C-level positions. The CIO community therefore not only has to meet the challenges of digitization and resolve the associated issues of tasks and responsibilities, but also faces a very critical appraisal of its own performance by executive boards.
Our study "Key Factors of Successful CIOs" now provides the first detailed and comprehensive insight into the working environment of CIOs at major German companies. We analyzed 384 CIO profiles from the "Top 500" companies in Germany. We also personally interviewed 60 successful CIOs about their experiences and views. You can get an overview of our key findings in this recent article in the "CIO Magazin".
If you have any questions about the study, feel free to get in touch with our experts Martin Stephany and Markus Matschi.
4C study 2021/22: “Attracting and retaining IT talent”
The “war for talent” continues to accelerate. We explored how non-IT companies successfully recruit and retain employees with top IT talent.
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The demand for IT talent will continue to rise across all industries and lead to an ever tougher "war for talent". To secure their competitiveness, companies must specifically increase their attractiveness for IT talent. This is especially true for companies outside the IT sector (so-called non-IT companies). This is the only way that small, medium-sized and traditional multinational companies can master the digital transformation in the long term.
In order to find out which factors are particularly relevant for the attractiveness of non-IT companies, we conducted a study in cooperation with the Technical University of Munich to talk to young IT professionals. The study participants were selected on the basis of their very good final grades, highly sought-after positions and employment in non-IT companies, often hidden champions.
If you have any questions about the study, feel free to get in touch with our experts Martin Stephany and Markus Matschi.
4C Study 2021/22: "Attracting and retaining IT talent"
The following key questions are answered in the study:
- What criteria are important for attracting IT talent?
- Why do IT talents choose non-IT companies? Why not?
- What do IT talents expect from the recruitment and interview process?
- Where and how are IT talents best approached?
4C study 2022: “Measuring and communicating IT business value”
The challenge is to make the value contribution of IT measurable. In the context of case studies, we have developed a practical model with leading CIOs.
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How can CIOs measure IT business value and successfully communicate it to their stakeholders?
We asked ourselves this question as part of a study with OTH Regensburg. Despite years of research in this area, many CIOs still face the challenge of making the value contribution of IT measurable. This challenge is matched by rising expectations in the business, which expects measurable success from increasing IT investments. Fundamental to solving the problem is to develop an understanding of how stakeholders perceive IT business value. This is the only way to communicate achieved and measured IT business value in a transparent and target group-oriented manner. To answer these questions, practical models were developed with leading CIOs as part of the study.
If you have any questions about the study, feel free to get in touch with our experts Martin Stephany and Markus Matschi.
4C Study 2022: "Measuring and communicating IT business value" (preview)
The following key questions are answered in the study:
- What is IT Business Value?
- How can IT Business Value be measured?
- What does IT business value show?
- How high is the share of IT in the company's success?
IT Business Value
_A multi dimensional concept
_Measurement and communication approach
_Deep dive into challenges and possible solutions
_3W + 1H of IT Business Value
4C Artikel CIO Magazin 2020: „Agilität ist keine Wunderwaffe“
Many IT organizations meet the challenges of digitization by focusing on agility alone. However, rethinking the entire organization is crucial to success.
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Agility is seen as a kind of "silver bullet" by many IT managers. They believe they can solve not only the challenges of digital transformation, but also qualitative and capacity-related problems. Unfortunately, however, agility is anything but that. Above all, it is a misconception for IT managers to believe that they can achieve more results in less time with the same use of resources. For a successful agile transformation, IT organizations must instead question themselves holistically and focus on customer benefits in order to work out their fundamental added value.
In this article, we first shed light on why agile projects fail. We also present a structural model for IT service delivery and derive factors for successful organizational implementation.
If you have any questions about the article, feel free to get in touch with our experts Markus Matschi and Christopher Kaetz.
4C Artikel CIO Magazin 2020: Agilität ist keine Wunderwaffe
- Why do agile projects fail?
- Which solution approach is suitable for a successful transformation to a flexible IT organization?
- How can IT services be delivered in a customer-centric manner?
- What roles and structures are needed in a flexible IT organization?
4C Study 2022/2023 Leadership styles of successful CIOs (Preview)
Leadership is a daily exercise that is pursued with consistency. We focus on identifying leadership styles of successful CIOs.
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4C Study 2022/2023: "Leadership styles of successful CIOs" - Preview
4C Study 2023 Effective Governance of IT/OT Convergence (Preview)
The main focus of convergence so far has been on IT security. We look at other aspects of governance for successful convergence.
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4C Study 2023: "Effective Governance of IT/OT Convergence" - Preview
4C Study Contribution and Success Factors of Sustainable IT (Preview)
Sustainability or CSR in IT is a new management challenge. But how do CIOs and IT sustainability managers benefit from CSR practices?
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4C Study 2023: "Contribution and Success Factors of Sustainable IT" - Preview
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