What makes an IT transition assignment a success?

Imagine an Information Systems Department (ISD) that, in the space of a decade, goes from being a simple systems supervisor to the architect of today's innovative strategies! This shift towards value creation is underway. The road from the IT department that simply processes requests to the IT department that creates futuristic technologies to reinvent business models is littered with challenges.

At Infortive Transition, we're often called in to help repair crisis situations or support transformations. Thanks to our experience, we can analyze what really makes a transition mission a success.

How does a Transition CIO get from situation A to situation B? 

Unlike a consultant, an interim manager is first and foremost an operational person who has to carry out his assignment from A to B. He is totally focused on the goal. 

His main objective is to produce concrete results, without worrying about a career path. The IT Transition Manager will quickly integrate the technical and human situation, and evaluate possible compromises. 

Even when faced with a major crisis or considerable transformation challenges, it has neither the resources nor the time to reinvent everything from scratch. He has to build on existing foundations. His or her challenge will be to modify the behavior and environment of the IT Department to align it with the objectives set, by introducing a new organization, new rules of the game, regaining control of projects, motivating the team... Many Transition CIOs agree: to align an Information System with the company's strategy, the managerial and human dimension is inseparable from the technical challenge. 

How does a Transition CIO go about achieving a successful transformation?

It includes the company's objectives

To understand the company's objectives, a Transitional CIO must follow a methodical approach. He or she must guide the transformation of the Information Systems department from its starting point to its final destination. The first step is to identify the needs and expectations of internal and external stakeholders, in order to understand the company's strategic aspirations and the challenges facing the IT department. This requires a thorough assessment of the current situation, including interviews with all the company's stakeholders.

It analyzes the internal context and challenges

This analysis reveals the real internal issues, and even the underlying conflicts. This step helps to identify the issues to be addressed and to create an environment conducive to transformation.

For example, let's say an IT company wants to modernize its infrastructure to improve data security. The Transition CIO must first identify the company's strategic objectives, such as reducing the risk of data breaches.
He or she must also take into account resistance to change among employees attached to old ways of working, in order to develop a transition strategy aligned with the company's objectives.

He has no career stakes

Pierre Fauquenot, CEO of Infortive, an IT Transition Management firm, points out that for a CIO in transition, there is no personal stake in his future within the company, as he intervenes, makes the necessary changes and then withdraws. This external view provides valuable objectivity in analyzing the situation and managing the transition.

He designs a transformation plan

Once the challenges have been clearly identified, the CIO can design a detailed transformation plan, which often includes a new CIO organization. This plan must be aligned with the company's overall strategy, and take into account technological, organizational and human aspects.

To build his action plan, Franck Hernandez, Transition CIO and member of the Communauté Infortive, tells us in a podcast giving the floor to IT Transition Managers, that he starts with what is for him the fundamental tool of the Transition Manager: the astonishment report. This presents the various areas of work that he considers to be priorities, and often includes a revision of the initial roadmap. This adaptation contributes to the success of the assignment.

‍"General Management assigns me to get real results. If the astonishment report calls into question the initial objective of the roadmap, my role is to be "cash" with Management. I'd say that's the privilege of an interim manager. We're not here to make a career in the company, so we have a freedom of speech that we obviously have to use."

For Franck, the astonishment report is a way of involving the teams. He asks for their opinion beforehand and takes it into account. In the event of disagreement, he knows how to change his position. This approach is based on respect, transparency and co-construction. Involving and empowering teams is essential, as they are the only ones who can achieve results. That's why he presents the report to the teams before submitting it to General Management.

"This astonishment report, I validate it with them, amend it with their feedback and present it to senior management once validated with the team. This prioritized astonishment report becomes the action plan."

"If there's no team, there's no result, it's very simple. I think the right method is to involve the teams in place as much as possible."

Customer validation of transformation plan

The Transition Manager is at the service of his client. It is up to the client to validate the transformation plan. There is a real difference between the behavior of an interim manager and that of an employee in the same position.

An employee is part of the company community. If delegated the power to do so, they can use their own initiatives to steer the company in the direction of what they think is best, without having to refer to anyone else.

The Transition Manager cannot direct and initiate a transformation without the approval of his client, who has placed an order to go from A to B.

It deploys the new organization

Deploying the new organization and recommendations is an integral part of the transition process. The Transition CIO must implement the necessary organizational changes, while taking into account human resources and recruitment aspects. He can offer advice in these areas, to ensure that the team has the necessary skills to support the new strategic direction.

In an interview, Vincent Lauriat, CIO in Transition and member of the Infortive Community, notes that everyone in companies dreams of a top management team, with a roadmap built up over a long period of time... For him, the reality is quite different. He stresses that the entire organization must be extremely agile, and that IT must follow!

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"In an IT transition assignment, we have to be able to come up with something practically within the first week! And with a roadmap that adapts to everything we discover and to the imponderables! Sometimes a new manager proposes his report of astonishment at the end of the first 100 days, but a Transition CIO may have finished his mission at the end of 100 days!"

For Vincent, the first thing to do is to provide visibility, and the roadmap is a key tool for achieving a 360° view with management and teams. The roadmap should be a single support containing objectives, vision, finance, HR, etc.

It supports teams 

The CIO must work on the transformation and support of employees. It is essential to involve them in the change process, train them where necessary, and support them to facilitate acceptance of the new perspectives.

It may also be necessary to restore a climate of trust and collaboration, in order to create an environment conducive to innovation and adaptation.

The CIO must improve team cohesion and involvement by coordinating their activities. He or she must foster communication and collaboration between the various IT teams, to ensure that changes are implemented effectively.

Interviewed in a podcast entitled "La réalité du métier de DSI de Transition", Michel Devos, DSI de Transition and member of the Communauté Infortive, explains:

"An interim CIO often arrives in a traumatized company. With, in particular, a Comex at a loss because it doesn't know how to replace the CIO who has just left. And teams in tribal mode: they've lost their tribal leader, whom they disparage or appreciate, but they've lost him... IT people like most people don't like change."

Franck Hernandez, Transition CIO and member of the Infortive Community, tells us about his experience with a large agricultural cooperative. This organization had not carried out its digital transformation. All the business units had been working in their own corners, developing applications without any coordination between the various projects. Here again, thanks to his understanding of the company's culture of internal promotion versus outsourcing and recruitment, he came up with a solution. He stopped the ongoing projects launched by the business departments and set up a training program. The challenge was to bring 10 developers from former client/server systems to expertise in web technologies, in 6 months. A double challenge! Vis-à-vis the teams who had to get involved in this change, and vis-à-vis the Management to whom we had to explain that for 6 months nothing would be delivered.

Communicates with company stakeholders

Communication plays an essential role in restoring the company's trust in its CIO. The Transition CIO must communicate regularly with stakeholders, emphasizing the progress made and the benefits expected from the transformation.

This is the policy of small steps recommended by Infortive Community member Catherine Meyer:

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

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If necessary, it recruits

Finally, as part of the transition, the CIO can also be responsible for recruiting and setting up his or her successor. This ensures continuity and stability in the CIO's leadership, while enabling the new CIO to benefit from a smooth transition period.

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What skills are needed to guarantee the success of an IT transformation project?

To guarantee the success of an IT Transition Management assignment, a CIO must possess a combination of technical and managerial skills. 

He is able to propose a strategic orientation

A Transition CIO must be able to establish a clear vision for the IT department and align it with the company's overall objectives. He or she must develop a thorough understanding of the organization's needs, and build a solid IT strategy to meet those needs. This requires accurate analysis of the external environment, technology trends, and close collaboration with internal and external stakeholders. A CIO must be able to communicate this strategic vision effectively, and obtain the support needed to implement it.

He must be able to deal with 360° technical aspects

A Transition CIO must have in-depth knowledge of information technologies, information systems and business processes. This will enable him/her to quickly understand the existing IT environment and propose appropriate technical improvements. 

These skills include

• Project Management : The ability to develop and execute strategic IT transformation plans, on time and on budget.
• Systems Architecture: Understand complex IT architectures, including cloud infrastructures, to make informed modernization decisions.
• Cybersecurity: Ensure the protection of data and IT systems against potential threats, by developing and implementing robust security policies.
• Data management : manage, store, analyze and protect corporate data, while ensuring compliance with regulations.
• Cloud Computing: In-depth knowledge of cloud solutions (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, etc.) and how to use them to optimize operational efficiency.
• IT infrastructure : Understand networks, servers, storage systems and related technologies to modernize corporate infrastructure.
• Software development: Have the development skills to oversee the creation of in-house applications or the integration of third-party solutions.
• Data Analysis : Be able to extract actionable information from data, using analysis and business intelligence tools.
• Virtualization and containerization : Understand virtualization technologies (such as VMware) and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) to optimize IT resources.
• IT Service Management (ITSM): Master ITSM best practices to improve IT service delivery and user satisfaction.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automation : Have an understanding of the applications of AI and automation to improve the efficiency of IT operations.
• Operating systems : In-depth knowledge of different operating systems (Windows, Linux, Unix, etc.) to manage various environments.
• Supplier Selection : Evaluate, select and manage suppliers of services and technology solutions.
• Audit and Compliance : Ensure that the company complies with IT and security standards and regulations.
• Problem solving: Analytical skills to solve technical problems quickly.

Above all, he is a manager!

Leadership is an essential skill for a Transition CIO. He or she must be able to motivate, inspire, coach and guide teams. It fosters effective communication and informed decision-making. A Transition CIO must also be equipped with change management skills, as IT transformations almost always involve significant changes to company or team processes, structures and culture. A Transition CIO successfully navigates these changes, managing resistance to change and federating teams.

Why call on Infortive Transition for your IT recruitment needs?

Since 2004, Infortive has been the specialist in IT transition assignments. Infortive's managers are themselves Transition CIOs. Their operational experience enables them to fully understand the need, and within 48 hours find the ideal person to support the company in this urgent and important situation. The Transition CIO is accompanied on his or her assignment by a dedicated CIO.

"Infortive has a real understanding of CIOs, which is a radical difference from other firms", Patrick Anglard, Docaposte CIO.

On assignment, Infortive Transition's interim managers can call on the support of the Community.

"When you call on a Transition Manager from Infortive Transition, you're actually calling on 'dozens of brains' to study and solve your problems,"explains Hajar Zine Eddine, Managing Director of Infortive Transition.

When a company decides to call on the services of an interim manager, it is usually faced with a managerial emergency. A manager is missing or failing, a project has gone off-track, a new step needs to be taken... the company wants to move from situation A to situation B.

In the IT sector, it is often difficult for management to determine the right profile, as IT is a complex technological universe. Calling on IT Transition Management specialists brings strong added value in terms of completing the mission brief, identifying and evaluating contributors, then accompanying them throughout the mission, ensuring that there is always the right alignment between the company's initial intention and implementation.

Infortive also runs a Transition CIO Community. The Infortive Community is a source of collective intelligence for our customers. The Community meets every month to share experiences and keep abreast of issues impacting Information Systems... Even though they are highly experienced, these Interim Managers continue to train thanks to the Infortive Community. It's also a source of collective intelligence.

In addition to the Transition Management services provided by our CIOs, Infortive also offers :

• IT Transition Management (CIOs, Research Directors, IT Production Directors, Program Directors, Project Managers, PMOs, CISOs, etc.)
• Long-term headhunting for CIOs, managers and CIO experts 
• A unique training program in France in partnership with CentraleSupélec Exed "CIO Excecutive Certificate" , designed to improve the skills of CIOs.

Transition Management for IT Departments is an effective solution for dealing with critical situations or company transformations. Transitional CIOs bring proven expertise, independence and speed of action to IT projects, reinforcing their credibility with business units. Infortive Transition, expert in IT Transition Management, will meet your needs.

Don't hesitate to contact us so that we can help you assess whether your situation requires recruitment or an interim manager.