What do the following chief information officers (CIOs) have in common: government CIO John Suffolk, BA IT chief Paul Coby and Deutsche Telekom Group CIO Peter Sany?

The answer is that all three are committed to a service and metrics-driven approach to IT, combined with a proactive approach to business change.

CIOs are able to work successfully across diverse domains because they have engineering mindsets that can deliver on time and on budget to specification, while meeting agreed service levels.

You may achieve these goals, yet waste money and miss opportunities if your colleagues do not buy into the change programme within their own groups.

Such collaboration requires IT-enabled business change skills from the CIO, the IT department, the executive team and ultimately the whole business.

One option for acquiring expertise is to hire high-powered business IT consultants who understand how to apply technology. Such experts might have an MBA or business background that includes exposure to successful projects.

Although the solution sounds simple, a CIO focus group I ran recently concluded that such consultants are both scarce and costly. This approach also relies on a small group of people acting as intermediaries and does not change your company’s underlying culture.

Technical people will continue to have a back-room delivery mentality, while business users ask for requirements that are not well considered. Both groups end up relying on the business IT consultants to make a satisfactory connection.

As a more sustainable alternative, leading CIOs look to up-skill existing staff because they understand the company’s systems and processes, unlike new hires.

Peter Sany has sponsored a professional development programme at Henley Management College for 40 high-potential IT staff. The programme leads to a Masters in enterprise information management.

Initially aimed at about one per cent of IT professionals, the initiative has a network effect as participants spread the word and influence their colleagues.

John Suffolk engages a network of CIOs in the public sector and organises education seminars that all staff can attend.

Suffolk has a competency lead for business change and his group has promoted the inclusion of a set of relevant skills in version three of the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA).

The SFIA is a good starting point for any manager who wishes to benchmark their existing skills.

Finally, Paul Coby’s role covers both IT and business change. He has promoted the message of “business not IT projects” inside and outside his firm.

Yet there has been a significant gap in the education arena for material concerning IT-enabled business change that does not assume prior knowledge.

The gap has been filled by a BCS qualification and a forthcoming book, both of which I was happy to be associated with because of my experience as a former CIO and a business school teacher.

My view, reinforced by talking to CIOs, is that all IT professionals should have core knowledge in three areas: service management; project management; and IT-enabled business change.

A broad awareness provides a base for specialising in one of these disciplines, or in areas such as security, enterprise architecture or information management.

The above-mentioned IT-enabled business change qualification and book are also aimed at business professionals. Our aim is for them to be better equipped for dialogue with IT specialists, leading to improved requirements and solutions.

You might think business change is someone else’s responsibility, but take note of director of information for the Metropolitan Police Service Ailsa Beaton, who says CIOs need to engage colleagues with a message that puts business benefits at the heart of any IT-driven change.

Without this, we cannot realise the potential offered by new technologies.

Sharm Manwani is associate professor at Henley Management College. For more information, email him at: sharm.manwani@henleymc.ac.uk