A critical factor that contributes significantly to the workflow is collaboration. By fostering shared vision and understanding between different departments, organizations can achieve excellent business outcomes. For instance, we have different scientific disciplines at NSF, each one having a separate office, and my administrative function is to facilitate IT resources to every one of the offices and assist them in allocating funds to the researchers. Apart from that, I have to ensure the presence of adequate IT professionals to bolster the goal of NSF. Although, as a CIO, I function under the director of NSF, I do not have a staff of my own. However, I manage the budget going into the operational IT department, and hence, extend a measure of influence over its functions. The NSF has a central IT organization as well as distributed IT professionals across the departments. Therefore, I need to collaborate with people from multiple offices. In the instance of a financial office, it could be the requirement of a new financial system. I will have to work with the relevant personnel and ensure sufficient funding and compliance. In my opinion, convincing people that they are doing the right thing for the right reasons is more gratifying than having them do something because one can.

From a technology perspective, how do you introduce innovation into your organization?

The key aspect of innovation is being open to new ideas, as it empowers organizations to augment their processes, develop robust products, and enhance their efficiency. Drawing from my own experience, new ideas have our organization to overcome many obstacles. A suitable instance to explore this aspect would be the funding process at NSF. When appropriating funds for the research, the program officers at the agency receive proposals from multiple experts. A group of reviewers is then selected to evaluate the projects and compare them. Although the agency is segmented into various categories, the project ideas sometimes converge, especially for emerging areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, which are leveraged in multiple sectors. In such cases, it is often challenging to find competent reviewers for the proposals.

To overcome this problem, we implemented an AI solution designed to suggest reviewers for different proposals by assessing past data. Although the solution was expected to take two or more years before coming online, it took us only six months. This was only possible because of a cross-functional team asking the right questions at the right time. The human-centered design was leveraged for the process, which is, creating solutions for a diverse audience by considering a broad scope of requirements. We adopted the agile approach during the development, conducting little experiments, and consulting various experts in the field. It not only simplified the process but made a significant difference in adoption and deployment.

What are some of the key focus points that CIOs must pay attention to?

As CIOs, we need to keep pace with the technological evolution and anticipate market change. The oldest problems have to be resolved first so that the entire workflow can be streamlined in practical steps. Also, it is crucial not to invest too much in the present, but rather, prepare for the future. Even when it seems as if the business is barely keeping afloat, it is wiser to invest and build rather than patch and repair aging systems, thus ensuring that the organization is not running behind.