Being an executive sponsor for some of our strategic customers gives me a broader business perspective and helps me play an active strategic role within our company. Along with our CEO and eight other executives, I am an advocate, adviser and problem-solver for our customers. As an extension of my CIO role, I oversee those accounts to maintain an executive-level relationship and create new business opportunities for our company.

When I joined Joerns, I had to first focus on building an IT organization from the ground up. While this earned me the respect of my executive colleagues, I was still a passive member of the C-suite who they filled in on strategy discussions instead of asking me to join the meetings, where I could influence the decision. I knew I had to become more involved in running the business, which meant getting in front of customers. I became one of the faces of the company at trade shows and industry events. I soon learned that we were missing many business opportunities through improving partnerships with our customers and embedding technology within our products and services. Our CEO developed the executive sponsor role to provide the needed perspective on our selling and business development process. Totake on this additional responsibility, however, my IT house had to be in order, and I had to trust my direct reports to be focused on delivering value to our internal customers in my stead.

CIO-COUNCIL - Das internationale Netzwerk