Is your IT department in crisis? I'm on my way!

Podcast with Catherine Meyer

Catherine Meyer, a member of the Infortive Community, is Transition CIO and VP Transformation. She is often called upon for missions where the Information System is at a standstill.

With us, she analyzes the different types of IT crises and proposes solutions to overcome these bottlenecks.

Catherine Meyer answers the following questions in her interview:

• What are the reasons for a crisis in the IT department?
• How to make a successful transition after the departure of a CIO?
• How do you create the "CIO of tomorrow"?

‍Good listening!

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How to make a successful transition after the departure of a CIO?

"When you make the transition, you reach a situation where it's a dead end. So we're obliged to listen at least a little, otherwise it only gets worse."

Catherine Meyer has gained valuable experience in preserving what can be preserved, making processes more agile and creating a roadmap that meets the constraints of budget and business life.

Leveraging your network

‍Anotheradvantage of experience: its network. This "network" enables him to find the right people for the right context, to integrate rare profiles...

Adopt a policy of small steps

‍Thispolicy enables him to provide concrete, achievable organizational solutions in line with the planned transformation. It federates the various stakeholders and avoids imposing unattainable objectives on them.

"Confidence is built because we show that we're moving forward, because we unite the teams. In other words, we have to stop beating people up, saying 'You've only got to, we've got to'! "It's the Himalayas. We set things straight, we share the work, we pilot it, as close as possible to the teams and the business".

Plea for a true CIO strategist + CIO operational pairing

‍"Today you'd need 2 CIOs! Given how fast the world is moving, we need one to keep the store running and another to look after the projection and steering of the transformation."

The position of CIO is a complex one, always requiring a compromise between projection, build, policy, Comex, and operations, security, run, project committees, steering committees, delivery... Catherine advocates a two-person organization with a CIO focused on strategy and transformation, supported by a CIO focused on day-to-day operations.

Knowing how to say "yes, and..."

‍CatherineMeyer remembers her training in marketing and the rule that you should never say no to a customer. Thus, she strives to tell her senior management "Yes, and...".

Drawing on her experience in Anglo-Saxon countries, she explains:

"As a good Frenchwoman, I used to be given a budget and an objective, and I tried to make the two stick together".

In the past, she was given a budget and an objective and tried to match the two. Today, she doesn't settle for the default mission. She revises objectives that have changed, resizes expectations, assesses what she can really do with which teams, and makes the situation clear and logical to top management. Budgets are then different. In a way, it assesses the company's ability to transform itself, enabling CIOs to move forward.

Training, mentoring: how do you create the "CIO of tomorrow"?

The interconnected economic environment has changed the expectations companies have of their CIOs. How can we upgrade the skills of today's CIOs to meet the needs of today's and tomorrow's businesses?

In-house training through mentoring with an interim CIO

Catherine is convinced that training young people is essential. She believes in mentoring, from which she has benefited. She would like to develop this good practice.

"We don't have enough young people in management positions! And you have to know how to create good junior/senior pairings".

"Think about pairings! It can kick-start the career of someone in-house who doesn't yet have the shoulders, but can acquire them very quickly."

A new way of training, between DSI/CIO peers

‍Catherinetakes part in the training course created by Infortive in partnership with the CentraleSupélec Exed school: Executive Certificate CIO, the first training course for CIOs by CIOs. It's an atypical course aimed at digital decision-makers (CIOs/CIOs) and based on best practices and feedback from CIOs in the field.

"It also allows you to go out and train your potential CIOs/CIOs-to-be."

For information and training, don't forget the CIO Revolution podcasts, which are also an opportunity to learn from the experiences of seasoned CIOs!  

In conclusion, thanks to her experience, posture, vision and network, Catherine Meyer is able to get to the bottom of complex situations and avoid pitfalls. Her dual culture, both Anglo-Saxon and French, marketing and technical, offers us a pertinent reading of the evolution of CIOs.