If one looks at the two Mandarin symbols used for ‘crisis’, you can see that they actually represent two different words and concepts – the first one means ‘threat’, while the second, rather revealingly, is ‘opportunity’.

During the last 6 months, I have attended numerous events where CIOs were at least present if not presenting, and on each occasion, I have seen huddles of people in corners, all discussing the same issues:

Why doesn’t the business understand the value we bring to them?

How can I renegotiate my contracts to save money and keep my supplier costs as low as possible?

By how much do I need to trim my workforce to meet budget targets?

How long can I delay my technology refresh without risking the business’ efficiency?

What training courses can I cancel?

I’m worried about surviving today, never mind the future!

But then there’s a refreshing, albeit far smaller, smiling group of people discussing a very different topic – the opportunities the current crisis will provide them and how, as CIOs, this is the perfect time to demonstrate the value they bring to the business.

The question this makes me ask is: Why is there a difference?

Surely a truly professional CIO would have all the requisite measures in place? There should be no need to wait for a crisis to make sure their activity is fully aligned with the business and that they have strong stakeholder engagement from all the key departments of the organisation.

Shouldn’t they already provide business value through technology, rather than just the latest technology, and negotiating contracts that are of best value and sustainable?

Yes, the business may have changed. Maybe it demands different priorities and objectives from the CIO, but everything else should be happening whether or not there is a crisis. The CIO should be future-proofing in anticipation of the worst case scenarios, whether the business is going through one at the time or not. The only deviation from this is reacting differently to ever-changing business demands – everything else should already be working properly.

Perhaps for those people who see the crisis as a threat, the risk is actually to their own position.