The Transformational CIO: Leadership and Innovation Strategies for IT Executives in a Rapidly Changing World

Great Things Happen to Great CIOs

This introduction is intended to set the stage for the chapters that follow. Before we dive into the deep end of the pool, however, I wanted to offer two brief examples of CIOs who really understand the value of building great relationships with the business.

Dave Smoley is the CIO at Flextronics, a leading electronics manufacturing services provider. Based in Singapore and operating in 30 countries, Flextronics is a large, complex enterprise—exactly the kind of organization that might find it difficult to stop on a dime and reverse course at a moment's notice. But that's just what Dave asked it to do a few months ago—and the speedy change of direction resulted in huge cost savings and greater efficiencies.

Here's what happened: The company had planned to implement a new HR system using an expensive software package from an established vendor. Financing for the new system was in place and it looked like a done deal—until Dave's IT team discovered an alternative software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that would cost far less and impose far fewer burdens on the IT department. I'll let Dave tell the rest of the story in his own words.

We had been heading down a traditional path, people were feeling pretty good about it and this disruptive technology pops up at the last minute. I had a relationship with the CEO, the CFO, the head of HR . . . and I said to them, “Okay guys, I know we've been working on going down path A, but I want you to know this disruptive ...