by Christina Yue, Customer Learning Manager |

Wow, sometimes you know the steps you need to take, but when you see someone else map it out, you have to catch your breath. It is going to be quite a journey. The Top 10 Strategic CIO Priorities of 2018 in Forbes Magazine BrandVoice is one of those times. In this article, it is clear that the journey for Chief Information Officers now comes with many game-changing opportunities. CIOs need to keep priorities front and center to make the best choices. Rob Preston of Oracle compiled that critical list of priorities with explanations and examples, but here’s a quick summary.

Preston prefaces the list by acknowledging that CIOs have incredibly challenging jobs in 2018. Not too long ago, he remembers, CIOs were told their roles might not even exist and today they are critical to the mission. They make the decisions that drive change for a business and this year there are plenty of decisions to be made.

You’ve got the power (Thanks, James Brown) 
2018 is the year that CIOs must step forward, as Preston says, “to establish or re-establish their digital credibility and authority.” Be confident and take the lead in making the decisions that call for information and technology to transform your business. Simply put, this is how you are valuable as the CIO to your business.

Security 
The most recent annual Society for Information Management survey results show that cybersecurity is the number one IT challenge of businesses. The CIOs and IT leaders surveyed responded that it’s the issue that’s most personally worrisome to them. Surprisingly (but not surprisingly), the survey results showed that most companies actually spent less money on cybersecurity in 2017 (as a percentage of their IT budgets) than they did in 2016.

Consumers are demanding security. It’s time to take action and there are tools to make this possible. The built-in security of the Oracle Autonomous Database Cloud prioritizes security by automatically and continuously patching (as well as tuning, backing up, and upgrading) itself without human intervention, all while the system is running. Oracle CEO Mark Hurd said, “100% of the data there is encrypted, whereas customers encrypt only about 0.5% of the data they store and manage in the Oracle databases in their own data centers.” During an interview with Recode’s Kara Swisher at a conference last year, Hurd said, “It’s hard to imagine that customers’ data could be more secure on their own premises,”

Cross-Industry Opportunities
In many ways, cross-industry opportunities are among the most exciting and simultaneously scary priorities for CIOs. In this leadership role, CIOs are in the position to identify opportunities for shifting the entire business model and moving into adjacent spaces. The opportunities are unparalleled. Preston give lots of inspiring examples including seatbelts serving as heart monitors, postal workers providing elder care and pharmacies offering health insurance.

Subscription Services
Consider ways your business can start offering its products as subscription services, if it doesn’t already. Everywhere you look (including, very likely, in your personal spending habits), you see subscription-based models. Businesses are offering products as subscription services for everything from dinner (Blue Apron and others) to formal wear to business software (Oracle).
“Every company is becoming a cloud company, and that creates massive opportunities,” says Jason Maynard, senior vice president of strategy and marketing with Oracle NetSuite. NetSuite’s cloud ecommerce and financial applications help subscription-based customer companies manage.

Prioritizing 101 
Preston advises CIOs, “to emulate other senior business leaders who spend much of their valuable time figuring out which critical priorities are worthy of their A efforts, and in which areas it’s OK for their organizations to earn just a C.” What you don’t want, Preston argues, is to end up doing B work across the board.

Automate (You knew this one would make the list!) 
Make it possible for your company’s employees to focus on high-value work. Automate. You’ll improve the accuracy and efficiency of work while putting human intellects to more productive use. Preston gives examples of opportunities for automation including chatbots and patching. He also gives interesting projections about how automation will impact the job market.

Machine Learning 
Applications imbued with machine learning algorithms are already in place in companies across the industry landscape. Machine learning makes it possible to analyze and continually learn from the massive amounts of data. Ultimately this information is used to improve business decision-making and initiate actions.

Blockchain 
Blockchain is an emerging technology that makes it possible for multiple entities in a transaction to share data on a universal ledger without a central authority. This is the foundation of the bitcoin cryptocurrency but can also be used to manage payment records, invoices, mortgages, etc. As Preston says, “CIOs can’t ignore blockchain’s potential to simplify transaction processes and lower their costs, while speeding their execution and making them more secure. Figure out how it could fit into your company’s transaction network.”

The Language of Technology
Technology is fundamental to business. As a result, CIOs shouldn’t have to keep translating for CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CMOs and other business leaders. These leaders need to understand technology thoroughly – and that means knowing the language – so that they have the information they need to make the necessary investments in cloud architecture, engineering, design, etc.

Innovate 
CIOs often get in the trap of spending the greatest percentage of their IT budgets on maintenance. CEOs and Board of Directors want growth, but the IT budget gets stuck in maintenance. Cloud computing makes it possible for CIOs to escape the maintenance rut. Cloud computing offloads maintenance/support work to service providers that are better equipped to manage those tech workloads. IT organizations can then focus on innovations that truly deliver a competitive advantage.

To learn more about emerging technologies that can drive innovation for your organization, join us atCOLLABORATE 18, April 22 – 26. Hear first-hand from other Oracle Cloud customers who have successfully navigated the cloud journey to get insight and best practices. Plus, choose from 500 Cloud educational sessions.Register before March 8 to save up to 40 percent. Stay up to date with the latest conference news by following @QuestUserGroup on Twitter and look for the official COLLABORATE 18 hashtag, #C18LV.

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