The changing role of the CIO in Sweden
In its Leadership vision for CIO 2022 presentation in September 2021, Gartner reported a worldwide trend. According to the research firm, organizations had been undergoing digital transformation since 2015 – and earlier for some industries. And this trend requires a change in the way the chief information officer (CIO) works.
This revolution gained momentum during the pandemic. Gartner industry analysts attributed this acceleration to an increased emphasis on digitization to offset business disruption caused by Covid-19. To sustain this flurry of innovation, CIOs will need to work with business leaders more closely than ever.
Sweden is a good example of how this change has taken place. The position of CIO has gone from being a reactive role 15 years ago, very often reporting to the chief operating officer (COO), to a proactive role that is central to the business and reports directly to the chief executive officer (CEO). The same trend occurs in practically all industries and in all industrialized countries.
Some of the drivers are technological—including improved cloud services, better data science techniques, and more effective cybersecurity measures to combat more sophisticated threats. More and more organizations are taking advantage of the capabilities now available through cloud computing. Computer science has matured to a point where information can be used in an organization in ways never before possible. And of course, along with the new ways of using data have come new rules around data privacy and security.
Other drivers are business-related – increased digitization across industries, growing customer expectations and hybrid work environments. Customers are used to digitization in various parts of life and have come to expect it in all industries. Digital transformation enables new business models designed to meet ever-evolving customer expectations. The employees now expect to be able to work partly from home and partly in the office.
There are other driving forces for change in the CIO role that are specific to Sweden. There is a talent shortage, which occurs in most developed countries, but has specific characteristics in Sweden. At the same time, economists expect a difficult period for start-ups in the short term due to a change in the mindset of investors. This turbulence may drive skilled Swedish professionals to safer work environments.
The other important development in Sweden is the country’s decision to join NATO, which means that its cyber security needs to be strengthened. The threats will become more sophisticated and more numerous. Companies like Telenor, which offer basic services to the country, must be extra vigilant.
CIO as a reliable business partner
In some cases, CIOs are seeing their position diminished within their organization, leading some observers to suggest that “the golden age of the CIO is over,” as Johan Magnussunsays director of the Swedish Center for Digital Innovation at the University of Gothenburg, to Computer Weekly.
“In recent years, CIOs have undergone a decline in organizational standing and influence,” he said. “They are moving more and more to focus solely on the maintenance of the infrastructure and the digital transformation is increasingly at stake. Instead, this is managed in a decentralized way, coordinated through CDOs and other functions.”
But some CIOs rise in status within the company. For example, Kristin Lindmark, who saw the shift primarily in banking and insurance, where she was CIO SPP for almost eight years. She has since moved on to the telecom industry, where she is CIO for Telenor Sweden and continues to follow the same trend.
“Digital technology is now the key in all industries,” says Lindmark. “As a result, the CIO role has been changing for over a decade and the change has been even faster in the last two or three years.
– IT was a kind of support function in the past, but in financial services and telecom, for example, IT has been a central part of what companies in those industries do. I think you’re seeing this movement from being a support function to a more central role in virtually every industry now.”
Lindmark reports directly to the CEO of Telenor Sweden and believes that if the CIO does not report to the CEO, it is a clear sign that the organization does not consider the technology to be important. Digitization is a crucial part of any business today, which means that the IT leader must sit at the same table with the other leaders in the organization, she said. The IT leader also needs to be a partner to business leaders and develop mutual trust with them.
“With the growing availability of cloud services, shadow IT sometimes becomes a problem, says Lindmark. “Sales managers can subscribe to SaaS [software as a service] applications without telling the CIO. You don’t want to be a police officer or an internal security guard. You must have the business perspective in what you do. It will help you avoid some of the problems. Pay attention to what business leaders are trying to accomplish and find ways to deliver those capabilities effectively.
“I think that we have a high level of IT maturity in general in Sweden and that clearly sets high expectations. We also have quite a few unicorns in Sweden. It affects consumer behavior and service expectations.”
Lindmark added: “The unicorns and start-ups are also waging an open war on talent because job seekers have many interesting choices. From the CIO’s perspective, you need to have an organization that people want to work for because the competition is fierce.
– Another perspective in Sweden is that we are in the process of becoming a NATO member – and that of course affects the overall security perspective. Security is really important for telcos, and the topic is on our management table at Telenor every week.”
Career path to CIO
The CIO job is still alive and well in Sweden and an important part of recruiting people to the IT department is to give them a career path that can lead to the top. Many candidates are looking for high salaries at the beginning, but eventually they want to settle down somewhere.
“I don’t think being a CIO is something you dream about when you’re a little girl or a little boy,” Lindmark said. “In my case, I had an engineering background and then many different roles, both on the consulting side and in the line organization. This meant that I had to learn the craft of running IT from many different perspectives.
“I think to be a CIO you have to have a genuine interest in people, and you have to be eager to learn and stay ahead of technology because it’s changing very quickly. And then you need a passion for business to really understand what the business is trying to do and how you can contribute with IT. It was good for me to come from 20 years in financial services and go into a new industry. I can bring ideas from one industry to another.
“Within the IT organization, CIOs need to be a trusted leader to get people to contribute to what you want to achieve, but you also need to discuss a lot with your peers and partners, such as business partners within your organization. You also need to network outside your organization, both within your industry and outside your industry to gain external influence.”
Lindmark added: “Recruiting IT professionals has been difficult in Sweden in recent years, especially for highly specialized people in areas such as cyber security, data analysis and cloud computing. But I’m curious to see what happens later this year. I think there will be a tendency for people to seek safe havens if they are currently working for unicorns or start-ups. It will probably be much easier for established players in mature markets to recruit.”
Digital transformation: the past and the future
When we look back at digital transformation over the last decade, Lindmark has been part of some successful transformations, such as the one she led as CIO at SPP. But she has seen cases where the transformation failed. Those who succeed have a solid game plan, stick to their plan and patiently continue their work as they change the way they do business, she said.
The digital transformation Lindmark most recently led was at SPP, a leading insurance company in the Nordics that specializes in delivering customized pension plans.
The company’s technology platforms were fragmented, making it difficult to compete in the market. This dispersed technology also made it difficult to comply with the growing amount of regulation surrounding financial services.
The company started digital transformation in 2016, with Lindmark at the head of the IT department. The plan was to create what it called the Future Core – a common platform for data and applications. The shift was not just about changing technology – it was about changing the organization and most business processes.
By 2019, SPP had migrated 90% of its data to the new platform, saving €5 million per year. It had also implemented new features that were compatible with regulatory requirements. When Lindmark left in November 2021, SPP had completed approximately 96% of the migration to the new platform.
The new platform enabled SPP to offer products it could not offer before. Its fully digital pension plan was rolled out in 2019 and won the digital project This year’s award in Sweden.
Looking back on her experience at SPP, Lindmark said: “These are experiences I am trying to take with me into the modernization journey at Telenor. The telecom industry has big changes ahead of it with new 5G services and a strong focus on security.”
The CIO must also demonstrate leadership throughout the journey and ensure business continuity throughout the transformation, Lindmark said. “If you’re going through this kind of change over a period of years, you have to make sure you don’t become too internally focused during that time. Share what you’re doing with business partners. Keep pace with customer expectations.”
When it comes to organizations that don’t do well with digital transformation, it’s sometimes because business leadership isn’t fully behind the effort and doesn’t provide IT leaders with the necessary resources, she said. Some companies mistakenly believe that the change is a “quick fix rather than a major overhaul”.
Magnussun of the University of Gothenburg added: “Organisations that perform poorly in terms of digital transformation have a higher frequency of assigning the responsibility for digital transformation to the CIO without increasing the budget and resources at their disposal. Managers want a quick solution and avoid managing digital transformation as a transformative initiative.”
Regarding the changing role of CIO in Sweden, Lindmark said that there will be a big change: “The world is changing fast. It’s already hard to know where you need to be in five years, and it’s going to get even harder. Companies must position themselves to move quickly.
“You have to make sure you are prepared for the unexpected. That means you have an organization that can move quickly and that is not so slow to change. You have to have your overall plan, but you have to be sure that you can change course and have an organization that can move with you.”