Gartner Research

Mastering the Art of Saying “No” for CIOs

The historical taboo against saying “no” to stakeholders has resulted in many CIOs who lack experience and techniques for doing so

Experts: Ian Cox, Ed Gabrys, Tina Nunno

A core challenge CIOs express is the inability to say “no” to colleagues and executives who are accustomed to thinking of the CIO and IT as service providers. In a service provider relationship, the business sets expectations that service providers are never supposed to say “no,” even when resources are scarce or the request lacks business value. Tremendous IT resources are squandered yearly due to this dynamic.

This research focuses on how CIOs can say “no,” rather than why they should.

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