The CIO as Chief Process Officer

What is the most valuable project, program or innovation your IT organization has delivered in the last 12 months?

We had to reengineer an ineffective outsourcing model which meant insourcing a number of key roles. We set up a vendor management group and moved to short cycles with a number of different vendors who could give us competitive pricing. We have found that using a multi-vendor strategy provides us with huge savings.  Having insourced some key functions, we have also found a new sense of accountability in our team and a pride of ownership that is allowing us to drive better service to the business. Our IT group is more in control of our own destiny.

One lesson learned from insourcing: While in the end, we have been successful, we may have moved too quickly in some cases. We jumped to some vendors too quickly and looking back -- and redoing some of those choices – I now realize that made some hasty decisions.

What does your IT organization do best?

We do rapid development and implementation of practical solutions on a global basis. We launched over 30 global systems in the last four years. We have become very good at understanding our entire business and running more processes in common ways. One key to this improvement has been in the people we’ve recruited. They have strong business acumen and have held jobs in different areas of the business; but they also have some IT experience. These front-line managers have been very well received by our business leaders.

How will the CIO role in your organization be different in 10 years?

It seems that more and more of the technical side of IT is becoming a service and that infrastructure is becoming a commodity. So, the CIO job is going to be less about understanding technology and more about participating in business value. I see the CIO being the chief process officer accountable for making sure that everything integrates and operates effectively. The CIO will be the one person who cares that everything works together.  

Can you tell a brief story about some valuable advice you were given at some point in your career?

In my first job, I was an engineer, and I shared an office with a guy who had 30 years of experience. He always talked about fixing the real issue and not just answering the question that was asked. He would get pressure to answer a question, but he would always take a step back and understand the reason for the question.  He would say, “I‘m going to answer this question in a way that it never has to be asked again.” 

When I took this job at Visteon, the company was having issues with errors in financial reporting. Everyone wanted to throw money at a new financial system. They were focused on the end state, which reporting, but they never went upstream to look at what was causing the problem. It turns out, the problem was upstream. There were pricing errors, missing PO numbers, and that kind of thing. By following problem upstream, we could focus on the beginning of the lifecycle, from when we win the business and design the parts. We decided to fix those problems first and the financial systems last. This was a very effective approach for us and it allowed us to stop wasting money. 

What is an interview question you ask candidates you are considering for senior level roles?

“If you were the CIO at your current employer, what would you have done different and why?” Their answer helps me understand whether they are a big transformation thinker or someone focused on smaller tactical issues. Do they view themselves as a change agent or a victim of change? There are people who respond that they would have done something but the organization kept them down. I am looking for someone who figures out how to change the culture to drive change.

What technology innovation or business trend are you most excited about? 

I am excited about cloud based solutions and service; it fits our “more for less” approach in IT at Visteon and enables mobility. People are used to being so mobile, so it is kind of a multi-win for IT if we lower costs, give our employees mobility, and become less dependent on installed software. This has been very important to us.  We our moving our email to a cloud based solution which is giving us a 75 percent cost savings. People will get all sorts of collaboration tools beyond email, and they’ll be able to access these tools from anywhere. That’s just one example of what will be available. Over time, many more tools will be cloud based.

If you were not a CIO, what other profession would you have pursued?

I had intended to be a COO. I was an engineer and had jobs in every function, project management, manufacturing, etc. IT just kind of happened to me. The combination of breadth of experience and process knowledge lent itself very well to IT. I view my job as a business optimization person regardless of what function I’m leading. My job is to make that business run better and IT is a powerful tool in that role.

The CIO Paradox is a set of contradictions (IT “and” the business, for example) that prevents CIOs from delivering maximum business value.  How do you know when you have broken the Paradox?

To me, breaking the paradox is about managing the perception of IT through transparency and engagement. It is in showing the business the tradeoffs in decisions about IT, and engaging them in those decisions. “If we do this, here is the result. If we do it this other way, here is the result.”

We have put a formal process in place for engaging the business at the highest level. All project requests are run through that process so that as we run into unforeseen issues, we know that we are making those tradeoff decisions together. In the past, IT would have the idea and fight to make it happen, but the business wouldn’t commit the right people or resources to the project. Now, we are asking the business to build a business case for their IT needs, and we are seeing a diminished demand. The concept that “I want everything, and it’s free,” is a thing of the past. Now that the business needs to present and commit to the return on IT investments, demand is down and we are working only on the most important projects.

About Jim Sistek and Visteon

As vice president of global business services and chief information officer at Visteon Corporation, James (Jim) Sistek oversees information technology, supply chain management, non-production purchasing, real estate and facilities, and the company’s shared service center operations. In this role, he drives optimization of business practices across the organization.

Visteon Corporation is a leading global automotive supplier that designs, engineers and manufactures innovative climate, interior, electronic and lighting products for vehicle manufacturers. Visteon has operations in 27 countries.