In today’s boardroom, CIOs are being asked a different kind of question. No longer is the focus on how many projects have been delivered or what new tools have gone live. Instead, the spotlight is on a tougher, sharper measure: What value has IT created for the business?
A recent InformationWeek article, “How CIOs Measure and Report IT Value,” offers a candid look at how technology leaders are redefining the way they report – and justify – their investments. For IT solution providers, the insights are a wake-up call. If sellers and customer success teams continue to focus on outputs instead of outcomes, they risk being written out of the value conversation.
Reviewing the article, three key elements stood out to me, and should be of interest to every GTM and value leader who ultimately sell to the CIO:
1. It’s About Impact, Not Activity
Eric Johnson, CIO of PagerDuty, cuts straight to the point: “My first question is always, ‘What impact is this specific line item going to make?’”
That sentiment is echoed by Orla Daly, CIO of Skillsoft, who noted that her team no longer measures success by project completions but by progress against expected outcomes. As she puts it: “Outcomes are more important than output.”
For solution providers, the lesson is unmistakable. Proposals, demos, and customer reviews must connect directly to business impact – whether that’s revenue growth, risk reduction, or efficiency gains. Deliverables without impact don’t count.
2. CIOs Use a Value Framework
Joe Locandro, CIO of Rimini Street, explains that he evaluates IT through three lenses: risk reduction, operational efficiency, and innovation. “The first is reducing risk… the second, operational efficiency and lowering the cost to serve… the third one is innovation – using technology to create new customer journeys.”
This structured framework matters because it mirrors the way CIOs defend IT investments to their CEOs and boards. Solution providers who align with that language – showing how their offerings reduce risk, save money, and enable innovation – will stand out as business partners, not just technology vendors.
3. Value Must Be Made Visible
Even when IT delivers, the perception gap can undermine trust. Marco Bill at Red Hat shared how Quarterly Business Reviews have become essential to keep IT aligned with evolving priorities: “These QBRs serve as a critical platform for open dialogue, ensuring that our IT efforts remain aligned with business priorities.”
Mark Sherwood, CIO at Wolters Kluwer, has gone even further, challenging the very label IT often carries: “Cost center makes it sound like all we do is sit around and spend money… I want us to be seen as a value center.”
The message is clear: it’s not enough to create value – you have to show the outcomes, in tangible business terms, on a regular cadence. For solution providers, that means bringing dashboards, QBRs, and customer success reviews that tell the story of outcomes achieved, not just project success, adoption and usage.
The Bottom-Line
The InformationWeek article is timely, as it underscores a profound shift. CIOs are reframing IT as a value center, and they expect their partners to do the same.
For IT solution providers, this demands a new discipline: focus every interaction – pre-sale and post-sale – on impact, align with the CIO’s value framework, and make the results visible in ways business leaders understand.
Ignore this shift, and you risk being sidelined as just another cost. Embrace it, and you’ll become a trusted enabler of growth, efficiency, and innovation.
Discuss how a value-based growth program can lead to your organization helping CIOs make the shift from Cost Center to Value Generator: click here to schedule a review with us.
Source: https://www.informationweek.com/it-leadership/how-cios-measure-and-report-it-value