A CIO studying a computer

Workday Podcast: Why Context Is Everything for Today’s CIO

Workday · Why Context Is Everything for Today’s CIO

Charles Ewen, CIO at the Met Office, the UK’s national weather service, joins us to talk about why there’s no one-size-fits-all approach for today’s CIOs. Informed by the findings of our latest global research, we also discuss how IT’s role within the business must evolve for a new hybrid world of work.

The IT department, as far as business functions go, is still relatively new to organizational structure. Why? Because technology itself is nascent, says Charles Ewen, technology director and CIO at the Met Office, the UK’s national weather service.

So uniformity is not possible for CIOs in the same way as it is for CFOs and CHROs. “The system is changing all the time, and what works for one [CIO] in one context will not necessarily work for another in another context,” says Ewen. “Everybody's different. Every organization's different. Everybody perceives this stuff differently. There isn't a single right answer.” 

In this episode of the Workday Podcast, Ewen joins guest host Megan Wright, senior editor at Longitude, to talk about why there’s no one-size-fits-all approach for today’s CIOs, and to share some of the findings from our latest global study, “Closing the Acceleration Gap: Toward Sustainable Digital Transformation.” They also discuss how the role of IT within the business must evolve for a new hybrid world of work. 

Below are a few highlights from the conversation, edited for clarity. You can find our other podcast episodes here. Be sure to follow us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts so you don’t miss an episode.

  • “COVID's been an interesting social experiment from a number of directions, but one of the things, specifically around IT, that it's done is really honed the degree to which IT can make or break business benefit. Only one small dimension of business benefits, but nonetheless, at the end of the day, if people can't work and at certain times, during COVID, they can't work from home, then, it's going to scupper any kind of business.” —Charles Ewen

  • “Workday has just conducted a study of 1,150 business executives and about 430 of those were IT leaders. And the results painted a really interesting, mixed picture. We found that half of IT leaders are saying they can usually or always keep up with business upgrade needs, while the other half are saying they often or always fall into triage mode and they're unable to keep up with business demands. I wonder, in a world where we're talking about this pace of change being expected to accelerate, how do CIOs start to work at the pace that their organization really needs and to ensure there's that continuity that's often needed across the broader business?” —Megan Wright

  • “Unfortunately, there are still organizations out there that do see IT as an overhead. It tends to be the organization that has a CIO, CTO, CDO—whichever your preferred direction is—that isn't really an embedded part of the senior team. You'll see the senior technology person reporting to the CFO or the COO and often, it's those organizations that tend to see IT as an overhead—something to go down by 10% year on year. One of the ways to keep up is to change the nature of that relationship in such a fashion that the organization sees IT at the table, not subservient to the table, and COVID's been very helpful for that.”  —Charles Ewen

Public Sector Executive, Feb/March, Cover

PSE Feb/March, 23

Greater choice, greater results

Our February/March 2023 edition of PSE brings you expert comment and analysis on a range of key public sector topics, from EV infrastructure to Digital transformation and reducing carbon emissions. Learn how the UK Government is investing in highway and freight innovation or read Cllr Matthew Hicks discuss the first step towards an exciting future for Suffolk, alongside so much more…

Videos...

View all videos
#PSE365: Public Sector Decarbonisation

Be A Part Of It!

PSE365: Public Sector Decarbonisation Virtual Event | 21 Mar 2023

PSE has created a full calendar of events to address the most important issues that influence the delivery of public sector services. 

Over 365 days you’ll have the opportunity to hear from a range of highly motivating, informative and inspirational speakers. These speakers will equip you with knowledge and unique insight to enable you to overcome the challenges that you face.

Industry Survey

What are the biggest issues facing the Public Sector?

 Public Sector Executive is undergoing some in-depth research around the issues the Public Sector is facing and the importance of deploying and using new technology within Public Sector organisations. 

We are asking for your help to better understand how public sector organisations are utilising technology to support their digital strategy and your opinion on what the biggest issues facing the public sector are.

This survey only takes a couple of minutes to complete and to thank you for your time and for filling out our survey, we'll enter you into a prize draw to win a £50 Amazon voucher.

In order to assist public sector organisations with improving their existing technology estate, we hope to leverage our findings to share best practises and innovations across the public sector.

More articles...

View all