No Respect? Market I.T.No Respect? Market I.T.

Between overseeing technologies, dealing with the business, managing staff, determining budgets, and being a visionary, CIOs have lots of juggling to do. Because of that, an important part of the job often gets overlooked: marketing the IT organization internally.

"IT is a business within the business, yet what business doesn't market itself?" asks James Roberts, principal and co-founder of IT consulting firm Co-Efficiency. His previous jobs include CIO, CFO, and IT and business consultant. "IT needs to have its own version of the brand and promote it."

Marketing the IT department well can help get senior management on board for major new tech initiatives, get recognition for the department's accomplishments, highlight the important role technology plays in company operations, and really pay off when budgets are set. Some high-profile companies like FedEx Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have done a great job showcasing the role that IT plays in their businesses. Unfortunately, at many companies, "IT is viewed by management as being order takers," Roberts says. "The CIO needs to be viewed as a decision maker."

The challenge of marketing the IT organization, as well as the role CIOs play within a company, can vary depending on management, company culture, industry, and more, says Marjorie Luke, Co-Efficiency's co-founder and principal. She is a former business-unit CIO with Cigna Corp. and an IT consultant.

While CIOs can spearhead the marketing of IT, the IT staff also can play an important role in promoting itself within the company. "Marketing goes beyond promoting yourself," Luke says. "It's about setting expectations and understanding what internal customers will value and find useful--and then delivering it."

For instance, it's important that business users understand the changes that will take place when new software is deployed. During a software deployment, the IT organization can do "simple advertising" to the business. That might include IT sending users an E-mail or placing a banner on the company's intranet that says, "Get ready for change," Roberts says. "You have to make people aware of progress, as well as prepare for change--which is something that's always dreaded."

Business-I.T. Alignment
CIOs can't gain power until others understand their value. "I've been a CIO for a long time, and marketing yourself isn't easily done when you have a lot of other things to do. But marketing yourself is something you have to do," says Barry Kadets, who has held CIO jobs for almost 20 years at companies ranging from a PC maker to a safety-products manufacturer before joining brand-marketing firm The Gem Group last year as CIO.

To build credibility and market the value of the IT organization, the CIO needs to get involved with every part of the business and understand all processes and how they interact with one another, Kadets says. The idea is to make sure IT projects are aligned with business strategy, he says. "As a CIO, you have to talk to everyone."

For CIOs who are new to a company, it's important to make a good first impression, Kadets says. "Start with a small project, make it successful, and then do a few more small projects and make those successful," he says. "If you have 20 successes and then one failure, it's not as bad." Unless, of course, you haven't been marketing your successes.