Being a change agent is hard. It's tough to inspire people and get them motivated to work on a shared vision. To understand the mechanics of digitalization and tactics required to implement them, Wayne Eckerson invited Andrea Ballinger so that she could share her hard-won lessons from her illustrious career as a technology leader. 

Andrea is currently leading a transformation program at LSU, revamping the university’s information technology resources across multiple campuses. Prior to that, she served as Interim CEO and President for the University of Illinois  Alumni Association and CTO of Illinois State University. She began her data career at the University of Illinois where as the Associate Vice President for Decision Support she earned a reputation as the foremost data warehousing expert in higher education.

Key takeaways:

• In the past, there was time to adjust the strategy. Today, we cannot afford not to have the most up to date information about what’s going inside the organization and outside.
• It’s important to link all the applications so that key stakeholders can find value in the data.
• There is a difference between digitizing which means putting something online and digitalization which is really creating the entire process and workflows for interacting with data.
• It’s easier to get a digital transformation budget approved when the organization has a shared vision and the right culture.
• It’s important to consider the requirements of the primary stakeholders before you start the transformation process.
• After figuring out what the stakeholders want, follow a backward process. Technology>Data environments>Products & services> Consultants.
• To create more budget for the transformation, go inside the organization and see which departments have been allocated with IT dollars. Then reallocate them temporarily.
• As a technology person, you have to wear the cape of business while talking to the executive committee about the budget.
• Digitalization does help organizations save/reallocate dollars to increase investment on mission-related efforts.
• Business leaders are skeptical about passing big IT budgets because of bad implementation experiences in the past.
• Try to get a big part of the budget approved so that resources can be aligned to show the value of the plan.
• If you’re not able to get the budget, not able to reallocate any more dollars and you have done everything to convince the executives, at the point, you have done your job as a technology leader.
• As a technology leader, you should be good at building relationships, have the courage to explain your vision and open to learning from outside are the qualities that you have to have.

Below is one question and answer from the podcast

Wayne Eckerson: What was the toughest assignment you’ve ever had?

Andrea Ballinger: That’s a great question, Wayne! For me, tough has several components associated with it. Several of these components are used on an ongoing basis when I’m evaluating the next phase of my career. Does the organization have a shared vision? Is there a culture ready for change and transformation? Is there funding dedicated for that transformation and finally, are there are talented individuals that can transform the organization? In the education sector, it is difficult to compete with the private sector for talent and  funding. So I have worked at places where you have a great shared vision, you have a culture of folks who really want to get things done and in fact, want to be the first who want to do something. My first engagement at the University of Illinois, we were at that place where we had a great talent of people but I didn’t know anything about data warehousing. I didn’t know anything about data analytics as an MBA. I knew how to use that but didn’t know how to build those environments. So it was both tough and exciting.

I have also worked in places where you have a shared vision, you have funding but the culture of the organization is not there yet. Something that I call organization readiness. Are the folks willing to take the steps to map and reevaluate what is that we did today in terms of business processes? How did we do it? Are there tools and technologies in place that can help us to get there in a more efficient way and finding the people that have the courage to say “I don’t know how to get there but let’s get it together”. So helping people to recognize the value of those gains makes the culture more open towards change. The toughest places that I’ve worked at is where you don’t have a shared vision, the culture is not ready for change, funding is not available and the knowledge base that exists are heroes behind the scenes but no one knows that they are doing it.