An article in the July/August 2017 edition of the Harvard Business Review highlighted that for the first time, marketing will control more IT spending than will IT departments, according to Gartner.
Many healthcare organizations, particularly not-for-profit organizations, do not have a Chief Marketing Officer role — so does this mean CIOs in healthcare have nothing to worry about? Not quite.
The shift in IT spending away from traditional IT is obvious in healthcare if you know where to look. Healthcare CIOs should be concerned about the changing face of their role and their need to adapt to the new world of digital engagement and the new direction of funding.
Healthcare has always had leaders for corporate affairs and communications, areas which sometimes ‘housed’ a marketing function that often is focused around fundraising, government relations and/or community awareness. However, what we see today in healthcare is the rapid rise of SVPs and VPs who are leading clinical integration and population health functions. And new Chief Experience Officers and/or Chief Innovation Officers have started sounding the siren call for Health 2.0 initiatives. These new leaders do not always have healthcare expertise, but they increasingly influence or control IT spend.
What can Healthcare CIOs do to adapt to this new world and avoid the diminishment of their role, responsibilities and budgets? Here are 10 ideas:
1. Redraw the IT map. Redraw the scope of IT to ensure your area is looking beyond the traditional four walls of the ‘enterprise’; look to the needs of the patient and their family, and embrace the ‘outside-in’ model.
2. Learn to love shadow IT. Bring shadow IT out of the dark — empower and support the folks in other divisions using and acquiring IT; look particularly closely at who has a need for analytics and patient outreach.
3. Create partnerships. Include leaders from other divisions in your IT governance – build partnerships so the business divisions come to you, first, for technology support.
4. Design the digital roles. Don’t wait for someone else to create the digital and consumer leadership roles – design the roles and talk to your leadership about the need.
5. Power up apps & mobile devices. Design a BYOD policy that covers how you can provide a “Genius Bar” experience for your staff, physicians and patients to encourage them to use the apps you are building for them.
6. Educate yourself on social media. Be seen as part of the future — get educated on social media to build your own Digital 2.0 skills and practice your social media engagement.
7. Don’t forget HIPAA. Develop and propose updates to policies to ensure new technologies —including social media integration for patient engagement — remain compliant with HIPAA and other regulatory policies.
8. Don’t skimp on cyber. Ensure that you have a very robust and well-funded cyber strategy — regardless of who is leading the new digital initiatives, the organization will always look to the CIO for cybersecurity
9. Get with the cloud. Devise a cloud strategy to ensure your organization can adapt to the changing needs of the workforce and consumers, and the need to manage data ‘everywhere.’
10. Offer cost savings to drive digital reinvestment. Don’t wait for the CFO to tell you to cut costs: Re-think your sourcing strategy to identify cost savings in your traditional IT that you can channel into your digital innovation programs.
About Lisa Pettigrew
- Lisa is a member of the U.S. Women Business Leaders (WBL) in Healthcare Forum and of the Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia’s global advisory council.
- She’s also a Non Executive Director on the Board of NeuRA (Neuroscience Research Australia) and the Deputy Chair of the NSW Health Ministerial Advisory Committee, in Australia.
- In 2016 and 2017, Health Data Management named Lisa as one of the Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT.
- Lisa has been with DXC (formerly CSC) since 2009. As DXC’s GM for the Americas Healthcare & Life Sciences, Lisa leads a team of more than 30 executives and an extended delivery network of thousands of staff across the US and other international locations serving some of the most prestigious healthcare and life sciences organizations in the world, spanning across the Americas. Prior to this role, Lisa was CSC's GM for Global Healthcare, leading CSC's healthcare market strategy. Prior to CSC, Lisa was a Partner in a global management-consulting firm leading the Asia Pacific Public Sector Healthcare Practice.
- Education: BA Arts, The University of Sydney (Honors: PPE)
- Video: http://www.dxc.technology/videos/fb6586f193bac?merger=true
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