{"id":61195,"date":"2022-12-06T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=61195"},"modified":"2023-04-12T16:56:13","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T23:56:13","slug":"salesforce-cio-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/news\/stories\/salesforce-cio-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Salesforce CIO: 4 Ways to Fuel Growth, Efficiency, and Success Now Amid Economic Uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From the CEO to the CFO, the CHRO to the CMO, every leader has been asked to be more efficient and productive as economic conditions worsen. For their part, CIOs and IT leaders must identify where technology can drive growth, increase efficiency, and create more business value faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the stakes are high, CIOs and their teams must help the entire company do more with the tools and resources at their disposal. To be successful in this effort, CIOs must embrace what I call \u201cbusiness intimacy\u201d \u2014 direct alignment with colleagues across every line of business to truly understand their needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ninety-one percent of <\/strong>senior IT leaders say<\/a> that existing IT processes are hindering productivity. With efficiency as the goal, and business intimacy as the strategy, CIOs must prioritize automation, a simplified tech stack, and partnerships with the right vendors to improve results and lower costs.<\/p>Juan Perez, CIO and EVP, Salesforce<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been a CIO for many years, through economic ups and downs. Here are four ways I have learned that CIOs can drive growth \u2014 during ANY economic environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduce business intimacy to elevate the CIO\u2019s seat at the table<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

CIOs can increase their relevance and ability to deliver business value by bringing a new set of skills and operating processes to the executive table during a radically different business environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This begins by truly understanding broader business needs \u2014 what are the priorities, the pain points, the processes, the investments and, most importantly, the technologies their colleagues are dealing with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is called business intimacy, and it is key to better understanding the strategic priorities of business partners across sales, service, marketing, commerce, IT, HR, finance, and other teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delivering transformative technology to the company and its customers should always be the priority, but exponentially so amid challenging and uncertain economic times. CIOs must be laser focused on delivering business value. <\/p>JUAN PEREZ, CIO AND EVP, SALESFORCE<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

CIOs have a dotted line to every business leader \u2014 including the CEO, CFO, CMO, and others \u2014 each of whom is being asked to do more with less. By closely partnering with their key business leaders, CIOs can help prioritize amid budget constraints and deliver the technology they need to increase efficiency, improve results, and lower costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find ways to do \u201cmore with more\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Gone is the tired adage of “doing more with less.” What got a company to where it is today is not necessarily what will enable its success in the future. As companies mature, companies must shift from a \u201chigh-growth at high-cost\u201d startup mindset to one that is dedicated to operational excellence and profitability by doing \u201cmore with more.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For CIOs, that means activities like scaling services to support future business growth without a commensurate increase in headcount. Scaling IT support without headcount is the very definition of \u2018more, with more\u2019 <\/strong>\u2014 more operational rigor, more automation, more training, more clarity on roles and responsibilities, more simplification, more process and practice standardization, more flexibility and agility, and more process excellence, to name a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By leaning more into the fundamentals of operational excellence and profitability, CIOs will see more success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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