01
Strategy
What we look at: How the IT roadmap connects to the company's priorities.
Many CIOs have a roadmap the executive team has never really discussed.
Who champions it at your executive committee?
Many CIOs spend their weeks on emergencies and keep postponing the deeper work.
How much of your time goes to what will matter in two years?
Many executive teams expect IT to take a position on AI without ever having stated what they want.
Where does that conversation stand for you?
When clouds gather
Roadmap and AI governance for the executive committee
Governance sprint, 6 to 8 weeks
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02
Portfolio and budget
What we look at: What is committed, what is truly decided and what drives spending.
Many CIOs carry projects launched long ago that nobody ever stopped.
How many do you have?
Many CIOs discover unplanned spending during the year: out-of-scope work, licences, annual price increases.
Do you know what drives your budget?
Many CIOs defend their budget in terms of cost, while the executive team expects value.
How did your last budget review go?
When clouds gather
Review of the project portfolio and cost trajectory
Within a Deputy or Fractional CIO engagement
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03
Operations and service quality
What we look at: The gap between what the reports say and what users experience.
Many CIOs have green service reports and users who complain.
Is that gap there for you?
Many CIOs hear about a major incident from the business before their supplier tells them.
When did that last happen?
Many CIOs have never tested their recovery plan with their supplier.
When was your last test?
When clouds gather
Service quality under control and readiness for a major crisis
Within the engagement, or crisis preparation as a short assignment
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04
Security and compliance
What we look at: What your contracts actually cover against security obligations, GDPR and the EU AI Act.
Many CIOs hold an audit right over their outsourcer that they have never used.
Have you?
Many CIOs discover, through an update, that their supplier has added AI to the service.
Do you know where it sits in yours?
Many CIOs wonder whether their contracts keep up with new security obligations, without having had time to check.
Who has looked at it in your company?
When clouds gather
AI audit of supplier contracts, or company-wide AI diagnostic
3 weeks, or 10 days with a debrief to the executive committee
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05
Suppliers and contracts
What we look at: Your bargaining power with providers and your ability to switch.
Many CIOs live with an outsourcing contract signed in a market that has since changed.
When is your next renewal date?
Many CIOs have stopped claiming the penalties set in the contract, to protect the relationship.
What about you?
Many CIOs know they could not switch suppliers in less than a year.
Does your exit plan exist anywhere beyond the contract?
When clouds gather
Flash Diagnostic of the outsourcing contract
10 days, with costed renegotiation levers
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06
Teams and skills
What we look at: The people: their workload, their roles and what goes unsaid.
Many CIOs have teams managing suppliers without ever having learned that job.
Is that the case for yours?
Many CIOs know that one or two key people could leave tomorrow.
What would happen in your team?
Many CIOs carry the tensions between the executive team, the business and suppliers on their own.
Who do you talk to about it?
When clouds gather
GROW-method coaching for the team, then for the CIO
Within the engagement, then one to two days a month
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