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CIO Advisory | Information Technology

Information Technology in the Era of Digitalization and Industry 4.0

The significance of information technology and its drivers within companies is rapidly increasing against the backdrop of new business opportunities arising from digitalization and Industry 4.0. The use of other technologies such as Big Data, Data Analytics, Social Media, Mobility/Connectivity, and Cloud Computing is leading to the creation of new products and services, as well as new business models, processes, and value chains. This development, along with changing expectations within companies, is putting pressure on IT departments to reconsider their existing operating models and organizational structures.

 

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Chief Information Office

The CIO team faces the challenge of balancing two critical demands: On one hand, business units expect IT to quickly and dynamically implement key innovations as part of the digital transformation. On the other hand, they also expect the existing IT services and systems to remain robust, secure, and cost-effective, serving as a reliable backend for future digital services.

This pressure is further intensified by unrealistic expectations to create financial and resource leeway for digitalization investments and innovations through efficiency improvements in legacy operations. The approach to achieving this involves standardizing and consolidating the IT landscape, migrating to cloud computing models (whether SaaS, PaaS, or IaaS), and intensifying nearshoring and offshoring efforts.

 

IT Strategy

Consulting Expertise
IT Strategy:

  • Strategy Roadmap
  • Business & IT-Capability Model
  • Target Operating Model
  • Enterprise Architecture
  • Sourcing & Suppliers
  • Workforce Planning

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IT Transformation

Consulting Expertise
IT Transformation:

  • Sustainability Implementation
  • Cyber Security Implementation
  • Sourcing Transformation
  • Cloud Implementation
  • Project Portfolio Assessment
  • Project Turnaround

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Operational
Excellence

Consulting Expertise
Operational Excellence:

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IT Readiness Assessment - Is Your IT fit for the Future?

The 4C GROUP's IT Readiness Assessment offers a non-committal analysis of your IT organization to evaluate your company's technological infrastructure and preparedness for the digital future. By identifying strengths, weaknesses, risks, and opportunities for innovation, you gain insights into how your company compares to the industry. The assessment includes:

  • Comprehensive Analysis: Thorough examination of your IT infrastructure to identify strengths and weaknesses.
  • Tailored Recommendations: Development of individual strategies to optimize your IT and advance your digital transformation.
  • Future Roadmap: Creation of a clear plan to implement improvements, ensuring successful navigation of the digital era.

Take this opportunity to discover our expertise and proactively equip your company for a successful digital future.

IT Readiness Assessment

Sustainable design
Positioning

Development of a forward-looking IT organization model

It remains to be seen which IT organization (target operating model) promises the greatest efficiency and probability of success given this range of tasks and balances the balancing act between evolution and revolution in the best possible way. In our view, trends such as bimodal or two-speed IT misjudge the reality in companies and make acceptance and feasibility in IT organizations more difficult. It is much more important to address the following dimensions for the entire IT organization and to work on them in a corresponding transformation process:

  • Aligning IT management with new requirements and management responsibility
  • Initiating the change process in the IT organization and among employees to apply new technologies, agile methods and new forms of cooperation
  • Establishing and maintaining an integrative innovation process for IT and business
  • Aligning IT, its systems and innovations with the user (customers, employees)
  • Utilizing new sourcing options where appropriate and value-creating (e.g. cloud computing, cloud services) and establishing corresponding governance and control structures
  • Analyzing and positioning the company in new areas such as IoT, blockchain or data analytics
  • Providing flexible data exchange platforms and mechanisms (e.g. API architectures, data management)
  • Securing increasingly open IT platforms and systems against misuse and data theft (e.g. cyber security, data security)

Positioning IT in the digital transformation

In addition to the realignment of IT, the IT strategy processes should clarify how IT can position itself within the company in the course of digitalization. If the business units set up their own platform products, this is often done without IT. It is also unclear to many departments why they need internal IT when they can obtain entire systems as a cloud service directly from the provider. The question of how these systems can be integrated from a data and security perspective is often initially ignored. The aim is for IT to actively introduce such SaaS or PaaS offerings itself and then act as a competent integrator and data architect/manager of the entire IT landscape.

Insights

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Top 4C Study: "Key factors of successful CIOs"

What makes CIOs successful?

60 above-average successful CIOs have shared their experiences and recipes for success with us.

We are in a time of unstoppable change. While uncertainty is growing in many companies, digitalization continues to advance. How can CIOs meet this growing challenge? Our study "Key factors of successful CIOs" now provides the first comprehensive insight into the working world of CIOs at top German companies:

  • Which factors influence the success of CIOs
  • Why leadership skills are more important for CIOs than technical and business know-how
  • What particularly attracts German CIOs to their position
  • Where the IT bosses themselves see their greatest successes

You can find an overview of our most important findings in our article in CIO Magazine.

 

4C Study 2023: "Contribution and Success Factors of Sustainable IT"

Discover the growing importance of sustainability in the IT world in our latest study. Based on in-depth interviews with 20 leading CIOs and Sustainable IT Managers, this study sheds light on the current practices and benefits of sustainability-oriented IT strategies. Learn how sustainable IT contributes not only to Corporate Social Responsibility but also leads to significant cost savings and competitive advantages.

This study highlights how CIOs and IT Managers can enhance their visibility and reputation within the company through the implementation of Sustainable IT, opening up new career paths. Additionally, the report provides insights into various approaches and success factors for the implementation of sustainable IT, enabling IT organizations to be perceived as responsible and future-oriented.

Learn more about Sustainable IT and discover how you can optimally utilize the potentials and opportunities in your company.

Download now

Or read the interesting CIO-Magazin Article about our Study.

Cooperation

Hamburger IT Strategietage

The 4C GROUP as official network partner of the Hamburg IT Strategy Days 2024

The 4C GROUP is pleased to announce that it is an official network partner of the renowned Hamburg IT Strategy Days. In February 2024, the Hamburg IT Strategy Days have gathered the Who's Who of the IT management community in Hamburg for the 22nd time!

The Hamburg IT Strategy Days offer numerous opportunities for personal exchange and networking as well as a wide variety of presentations by renowned speakers from business and science on the most relevant topics.

Our experts Martin Stephany and Markus Matschi will also be on site to hold interesting discussions with the CIO community and share valuable insights.

More about the IT Strategy Days

Your Experts

Martin Stephany

Partner

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Markus Matschi

Senior Manager

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Stefan Hornke

Senior Manager

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Christopher Kaetz

Senior Manager

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Anna Leddin

Manager

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Martin Vogel

Manager

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Claudia Bauer

Head of Marketing & Business Development

+49 89 599 882 0

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Maike Ring

Expert Marketing & Business Development

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