What Google’s CIO Can Teach Us About Becoming Better CIOs

The CIO job was never given any guidelines. Since we now have the CIO job it is our responsibility to be aware of what we need to do and when and who we should involve when doing it. I’m speaking about my own self, yet I would like the chance to speak with someone who actually understood the work was going on. Someone as smart and knowledgeable Ben Fried, Google’s CIO is probably aware of the things he’s working on. Perhaps he’d give some of his insight for our readers…

The Best Approach to Corporate Technology

One of the most difficult issues that every CIO faces in the present is the question of what kind of technology employees at a company are required to get. In the day when prices for technology had fallen to a point where anyone could buy their own gadgets and equipment, it was the company had been the only supplier of employee technology. You gave out laptops and an Blackberry and that was it.

Ben states that Google has never operated like this. Ben believes it’s up to the IT department’s responsibility part in shaping the tone of the company by using technology. Google’s policy has always been to provide its employees with the tools they feel that they require to be able to do their work.

Ben is of the opinion that when an CIO restricts the choice of technology that employees are offered and employees, it can create a culture where the company is perceived as inflexible and even patriarchal. What an company must be doing, Ben says, is to know what tools its employees need to do their job. Once you’ve identified this then the company should provide their employees with the equipment they require to be as efficient as they can be.

How Do You Help An IT Environment That Has A Myriad of Things

I can feel you grumbling. The entire BYOD phenomenon where employees are in the office with an assortment of devices is enough to make the person who holds the CIO post to go through a lot of sleep. But over on Google, Ben sees things slightly differently.

In the majority of companies, CIO are always on seeking ways in which they can cut costs out of their support organisation. This generally means it is that support department is taken away from some distant location around the globe. However, it can also mean that frequently, when users are finally successful in getting in touch directly with the support team and ask for help, the user might have more information about the issue that the support team.

Google has a completely different approach in support. Ben says that they employ the equivalent of an administrator of systems to work on in their front line support department. This means that 90 percent of the support calls are answered with the help of the initial responder. The outcome from this effort to invest on support is that users are pleased with the support they get. The company now has the capability to make changes in technology much more easily. Google believes that ultimately it’s less expensive to employ experts in their support department than to dumb down the whole support system.

What Does This All Mean for What Does This Mean For

The work of a CIO isn’t easy. Even if you recognize the importance of technology in information but not everyone else in the company understands the significance of IT. Too often, we have to “sell the value for the department’s IT to other employees in the company. One company that doesn’t have this occur is Google. Ben Fried is their CIO and has some insight on what it will require to become successful CIOs.

Ben believes that the job for The role of the IT department should be to aid the employees of the company become as efficient as they can. This is why they should be able to select the tools they feel they require to complete their tasks. When they’re allowed to choose this method they’ll feel as though the company is in their corner and won’t feel that the company is requiring them to choose tools they don’t would like to use. Furthermore, Ben believes that the IT support department isn’t an area that any cost must be trimmed out of. Instead Ben believes in manning the IT support department with highly skilled employees who can solve issues for users so that they can return to their work.

Absolutely Google is a highly successful company. Its IT division has been an important key role in their success. What this means to the others is that we all can learn from the way Ben Fried has performed his CIO job. Letting employees of the company choose the best technology and helping them to do so will enable us to be an IT CIO who could be good enough to be employed at Google!