The Top Five Issues for CIOs

Computerworld - Although many of us are looking forward to this new year with an eye toward the improving economy, it's shaping up to be a challenging one for IT managers. Here are the most important IT management issues that CIOs will confront in 2004:
1. Sarbanes-Oxley. While the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is mainly about accounting reform, it will have big implications for IT organizations in the coming year. In the first phase of Sarbanes-Oxley projects, already well under way in most companies, IT has been asked to work closely with finance and outside auditors to catalog existing financial reporting systems. (If the IT group isn't involved at this stage, that's a red flag.)
To date, finance departments have taken the lead on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, and IT departments have been participating from the sidelines. However, you should expect the IT organization's involvement to grow as this megaproject moves to the next level. Better yet, get involved in Sarbanes-Oxley compliance efforts in your organization now, so you won't be blindsided by the requirements for the budget and labor resources you'll have to apply to this initiative. What's more, your participation at the early stages will greatly improve the chances that your company will ultimately succeed in its efforts to comply with the legislation.
2. IT sourcing. How and where will you get your IT organization's work done? That's a question many IT leaders will grapple with in the coming year. Some IT managers will be wooed by the offshore outsourcing hype without fully understanding the risks. Others will fail to take advantage of alternative sourcing models in order to maintain the status quo. In some companies, the chief financial officer will drive the push to outsource IT, believing it to be the most cost-effective approach.
In 2004, many IT leaders will have to evaluate their current methods of staffing, as this issue is now visible at the highest levels of the organization. Therefore, it behooves IT managers to proactively consider their sourcing options, keeping in mind that those options will continue to evolve throughout the year.
A key part of this exercise is determining whether your current model allows the IT organization (and the company as a whole) to be competitive. Answering this question will prove difficult for the many CIOs who lack the internal statistics to determine the IT organization's core competencies. For many IT leaders, the best approach will be to step back and determine what the IT group is really good at, before diving into a new sourcing model.
3. Project prioritization.