Communicating the value that IT brings to an organization can be a difficult task. Between IT and business team miscommunications, mismatches in value metrics, shadow IT organizations, and general bureaucracy, IT leads have long faced an uphill battle when pitching and implementing complex IT initiatives. However, recent events have shredded preexisting red tape, catapulted IT teams into positions of greater visibility, and allowed them to build a proven track record of fast pivots and flexible thinking. IT teams should take advantage of this unique opportunity to effect real change across the whole business.
Last Friday, I hosted the fifth Virtual Meeting of the Novarica Women’s Network on the topic of Communicating the Value of IT. Our panelists, Electric Insurance CIO Kimberly Koury, Pennsylvania Lumbermens Mutual VP Erin Selfe, Society Insurance Director Cheryl Starling, Society Insurance Director Brandi Dauer, Pinnacol Assurance Director Dani Baresel-Pavlik, and MMG Insurance Business Architect Sandy Flewelling shared candid and valuable insights into achieving stronger IT/business alignment, improving IT/business communication, and securing business leadership buy-in for IT initiatives. I’ve included some highlights from our Virtual Meeting below.
Creating business/IT alignment requires regular collaboration between IT and business leaders.
IT team members should start nurturing relationships with the business early on during a project; building mutual trust and camaraderie takes time and effort to achieve. Camaraderie can help interdepartmental communications become smoother, allowing for quicker decision-making and fewer friction points. Leaders can foster these relationships by including business team members on IT development teams and involving them in key meetings.
IT leaders working to improve IT/business communications must be ready to speak the same language as their counterparts.
It can be difficult to achieve mutual understanding between IT and business when each party is speaking a different language. IT leaders should keep in mind that business leads often do not share the same technical background. Keeping the audience in mind is the foundation of effective communication; using metaphors to simplify complex IT concepts can help those who are less technologically savvy understand project goals.
IT leaders can also encourage IT/business alignment by having IT teams study the business of insurance. IT teams that understand the foundations of insurance are more capable of speaking the same language as business team members.
Securing business leadership support for IT initiatives requires a three-pronged approach: leverage Novarica’s Three Levers of Value, demonstrate value early on, and gather positive customer testimonials.
IT leaders can leverage Novarica’s Three Levers of Value framework to contextualize IT projects using business-friendly terms. The three primary ways to create value in insurance—selling more, managing risk better, and costing less to operate—are the same levers that investors, boards, and business leaders will understand and care about the most.
If an IT project requires significant time and funding to undergo, CIOs can consider demonstrating tangible value early on via quick and effective proofs of concept. Additionally, to ensure business buy-in for the duration of the IT project, IT leaders can periodically gather and present positive customer testimonials to show the business incremental and continuous successes.
The next Novarica Women’s Network Virtual Meeting will take place on September 11, 2020, at 1 PM ET on the topic of “Career Advancement.” Speakers include Deb Zawisza, Vice President of Research and Consulting at Novarica. More information is available at https://novarica.com/womensnetwork.
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