In many organizations the annual planning cycle is well underway. Some CIOs and CTOs enjoy a privileged position and are at the heart of shaping the future of their organization through this process. Others are at the receiving end of this process and work under constraints that make it hard to deliver technology-enabled value creation for the enterprise. The difference sometimes comes down to personal characteristics: charismatic leaders, strong communicators and proven relationship builders often achieve greater impact. But there is also an institutional aspect. A good understanding of the role and value of technology among all executives in the organization makes it much easier to deliver impact.  How can this be improved?

The technology annual report
We wrote an article about this a few months ago in the form of a memo from the CTO to the CEO, laying out the concept of an annual report for technology. Click here. Since we published this, we have received valuable responses from technology leaders. The concept seems to resonate. One head of IT strategy in a leading electric utility said he was keen to implement this concept in his own.  “This makes perfect sense," he said.  "Just like the annual report for the enterprise  communicates with investors and seeks to build enthusiasm in this community, we in IT need to build enthusiasm among all those involved in providing funding for IT. Establishing and sharing an IT balance sheet covering both tangible and intangible assets will raise awareness in our executive committee and provide a much better platform for the dialog around technology enablement.”

A CEO who has already implemented this commented on the discipline that such a report forces: “It just makes sense for us to reflect carefully on what we delivered in the past year and ask ourselves: ‘Did we deliver on the promise?  How can we do even better next year?’ ”

Making the technology annual report a success
Based on discussions with practitioners over recent months, here are five factors to keep in mind as you implement the concept of the technology annual report:

1. Reflect the context.  Ensure credibility by being real. If your organization has experienced technology stability issues and security breaches in the past year, focus on how this has improved.  In a context that warrants focus on the basics, it is just not credible to discuss lofty plans for implementing leading edge solutions.

2. Tune the style and the language to the primary target audience - the executive committee.  Avoid jargon and avoid discussions of implementation detail. Focus on what truly matters to the business.

3. Less is more.  Avoid exaggerated detail.  If you create enthusiasm with the report, you will have a chance to provide the detail in follow-up discussions.

4. Focus on impact, rather than effort.  It is tempting in this report to praise people for heroic effort and for the commitment they have.  Don’t.  Focus on business impact.  How has technology enabled better service for external customers?  How has technology provided deeper insights that drive better decision making?

5. Balance and cross-reference forward-looking and historical considerations.  The realism of your vision will be informed by the impact delivered to date.  On the other hand, the vision provides context for recent accomplishments and explains what the solution components add up to. Exploiting the synergies between the two sets of messages will add impact.