Formicio

Strategic IT leadership and business strategy
 
Founding partner
 
michael.earl@formicio.com
 

Overview

Professor Michael Earl is the former Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Oxford and Emeritus Professor of Information Management.

Michael weaves together business strategy and information technology to help organisations understand the strategic imperatives of the information age and the leadership responses required. He specialises in competitive IT strategy, knowledge management and strategic leadership, with a special focus on the roles of senior executives in strategic information management.

Expertise

Michael’s expertise and experience are in the strategic management of IT and in business strategy. He advises clients on IT strategy, the organisation and governance of IT, IT in mergers and acquisitions, the roles of the Chief Information Officer and the CIO’s team, and knowledge management. He also acts as mentor to CIOs and the ‘C Class Suite’. Michael tends to be contacted not just to see if he can provide advice on a topic, but also to ‘chew over’ whether a problem is significant or whether advice from others makes sense. He is engaged as an experienced and objective ‘sounding board’ and mentor. Education needs are another area of enquiry. Michael also takes on Non-Executive Director roles and is currently chairing a start-up company.

Michael can provide help, advice and insight on:

• The strategic management of IT.
• IT strategy.
• The organisation and governance of IT.
• IT in mergers and acquisitions.
• The roles of the Chief Information Officer and the CIO’s team.
• Knowledge management.

Background

After a business career in IT, Michael became a Business School academic, first at Manchester Business School, then Oxford University, London Business School and back to Oxford. In 1984 he founded the Oxford Institute of Information Management. On joining London Business School in 1990 as Professor of Information Management, he became variously Chair of the Strategy Group, Deputy Principal and then Acting Principal.

In 2002 he returned to Oxford University as Head of Templeton College during which time he co-architected a restructuring with Said Business School and then led a merger between Templeton College and Green College, the first formal merger of Oxford colleges in the university’s 900 year history. Subsequently, he became Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Development and External Affairs) for the University before retiring in July 2010. He is now Emeritus Professor of Information Management, Honorary Fellow of Green Templeton College and Research Fellow at The Oxford Internet Institute.

Throughout this time Michael has consulted for large organisations and spoken at conferences around the world. In the last six years he has co-directed the CIO Academy executive programme at Said Business School. Michael became a founding partner of Formicio in 2010.

Michael’s guiding principles

• Michael believes that no business strategy is robust or complete without proper consideration of how IT presents current and future threats to the business and its industry setting – plus the IT consequences of all business strategy decisions.
• In terms of advice to, and interventions in, organisations, he believes in evidence-based recommendations. ‘Evidence’ combines research-based principles, the distinctive needs and characteristics of an organisation and pragmatic pathways based on experience.
• As in his research, he believes that sound evidence from an organisation must include views of general managers, line managers and IT managers.

Publications and speaking

• Michael has published widely in academic and impact journals. For example he has had three articles on IT Management published in Harvard Business Review, six in Sloan Management Review and others in more scholarly journals.
• His book Management Strategies for Information Management became a best seller.
• His current research is on IT in Mergers and Acquisitions and he has a longer term project on What’s Different About IT.