The Wall Street Journal
As technology permeates all sectors of the enterprise, it is increasingly difficult for leaders to draw a line between business strategy and the technology that enables it. CIOs can serve as the necessary connective tissue: identifying, vetting, and using technology in ways that transform business processes.
This role as chief integration officer poses particular challenges at large public sector agencies, where technology touches not only every department and government function, but arguably every business and citizen. These agencies often have dozens of technical assets in place to support a disparate range of business processes, from email platforms to data centers to grant systems. Meanwhile, rising expectations regarding citizen engagement and digital government services are putting integration architectures in the spotlight. In this environment, CIOs have a unique vantage point to lead integration from an enterprisewide perspective.
But public sector CIOs also confront a range of challenges when stepping into this integrator role. They face a growing maze of laws and regulations that both dictate the government structures in which they operate and establish data and privacy practices they must follow. In addition, some CIOs who “grew up” in the public sector may find themselves in unfamiliar territory, striving to meet expectations regarding business integration and visibility that were not traditionally part of the job.
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