| | January 20158CIOReviewopinionin myCIO Driven CollaborationBy John Miller, VP-IT, American Textile CompanyWe IT professionals are in a unique situation. Sometimes, we fill the role of "Lightening Rod of Hate". After all, we are the ones that say "No, you cannot have a new iPhone 6." However, we have access to all of the data and all of the processes that run our companies. We must know and understand the operations of our respective businesses. We must understand how Finance works and what hits the GL to affect the bottom line. We must understand how our products are developed, marketed and sold. We must understand how our business interact with other businesses through purchasing, inventory control, order processing, picking, shipping, and invoicing for every single widget we sell. Many of our business peers also have this knowledge, but we also have the added responsibility of providing the world-class technology to facilitate the business of business.We IT professionals need to understand Cyber Security to keep unwanted eyes out and intellectual capital in. We need to understand the infrastructure needed to connect all of our locations so we can talk and text and email and collaborate. It requires a special person to understand the business of IT and the business of business. This is especially true in the Textile industry. Lead times are short, product development cycles are complex, and profit margin are wafer thin. Our only hope is to use automation and collaboration.You already own automation. You need to own collaboration. Collaboration is working together towards a common goal. Processes need to be well documented. Participants need to understand their roles and the roles of their upstream and downstream partners. Sounds a lot like a flowchart, doesn't it? Purchasing and planning needs to function as one to make sure there are sufficient products for the frozen production window. The CIO, I believe, has the obligation to play the extremely important role as facilitator to break down the silos and re-engineer business processes. We architect the application to provide the automation for effective business processes. IT provides data security to protect data but also provides access to foster collaboration. The CIO sits at the table of the Sr. Leadership Team. Mostly, though, the CIO understands the business and has the skillset to organize it into well ordered, logical, collaborative processes. So CIOs, here is your Action Plan:1. Formalize Business Process Re-Engineering ­ The CIO needs to take the initiative to start a `business process re-engineering function' in the organization. If you are sufficiently large, justify and staff a small business process re-engineering team. This team should report to the CIO.
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