CIO Leadership of an Actionable Sustainability Road Map

This IDC Perspective provides key takeaways and recommended actions to develop and lead the road map that enables the sustainability strategy. With a great sustainability strategy comes a great sustainability commitment. In this realm, future CIOs bring the highest benefit for the organization where they can translate an impactful sustainability strategy into an actionable and measurable sustainability road map. CIOs also have a unique opportunity to bring leadership by amplifying their organization's execution and impact on key sustainability goals. By enabling progressive development of the organization's sustainability maturity, the CIO is uniquely positioned to deliver new, innovative, and fiscally responsible programs that come together to enable an actionable road map for sustainability."CIOs know that no strategy adds value without equal and balanced execution," says Alizabeth Calder, adjunct research advisor for IDC's IT Executive Programs (IEP). "CIOs bring critical disciplines of planning and execution to sustainability programs, leading with evidence-based and holistic enterprise planning and governance, end-to-end focus for continuous improvement or process and systems, and agile planning and execution methods for iterative development of better and more impactful plans. There is no higher calling than to apply the unique skills and disciplines of the digital sector to helping the organization set and deliver on measurable sustainability targets."