CIO Priorities 12 – a new brand for IT

The needs of organisations for what technology departments should provide in house have changed dramatically in my working life. From an emerging cost, to a cost to be managed, to a service to be outsourced to a source of competitive advantage, IT isn’t what it was 25 years ago (yes, I really have been working that long).

And yet despite this radical change, many IT groups just hope that the world around them realises that their function has changed. Fat chance.

Brand isn’t just a logo or a name, although I’m consistently depressed by how many technology groups can’t even consistently get that right. But the deeper meaning of a brand – its promise, its proposition, its emotional attachment – is something now being looked at by some CIOs. They realise that if their clients don’t know what it is they are to expect from the IT team, or the expectations are misaligned with what’s on offer, then no matter how good a job is done the clients won’t be happy.

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I’ve recently launched Stamp London’s first physical product – a set of playing cards called CIO Priorities. You can find out more about them here, and order a set for yourself here (or simply download the PDF and print them out).