Not another poke in the ‘I’ for the CIO
- Details
- Written by John Pickett
There’s an epidemic of proposals for a change in the CIO title that’s driving me nuts. Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Integration Officer, Chief Interaction Officer and others, all intended to place a different emphasis on the mandate of IT leadership.
I understand that in using different meanings of the ‘I’ in CIO, pundits are using it to make their point that CIOs should now focus on Innovation or Interaction or whatever bandwagon they’ve jumped on. Indeed, there are legitimate arguments to be made for each, but they are all so narrowly focused that they ignore a broad range of IT leadership responsibilities of equal importance.
The problem for CIOs is that the technologies and business trends now dominating corporate thinking are too many and too diverse for the traditional IT department to address. The CIO role has become more and more complex and embraces aspects of corporate endeavour that extend well beyond the bits, bytes, boxes and business applications of the technology manager of old. But information is still central to the role.
Poking the CIO in the ‘I’ is no answer. The whole executive team needs to refocus, embrace technology and, as well as contributing their individual skills and expertise, work collaboratively to maximise the business value of information and communication technologies.
It’s true that having a holistic view of the enterprise, its systems, data and business processes, the CIO is in a unique position to influence innovation, for example, but innovation is not just about technology or information. IT can be used to create an environment in which innovation can flourish in the business, but even the best technology can’t deliver meaningful results without a focus on business strategy, and that’s the collective responsibility of the C-suite, including the CIO.
Surely in a world where technology underpins almost every business initiative and strategy, it’s incumbent on every member of the senior management team to engage technology and understand the role it can play in the exercise of their individual mandates as well as working collaboratively with their colleagues to ensure that technology’s benefits accrue to the whole enterprise.
In progressive companies, technology is seen as a critical strategic component of business, and corporate leadership’s expectations of the CIO are high. Marketing and customer experience are becoming dominant and focus is shifting from departments to business outcomes. Line-of-business executives engage enthusiastically with technology and grow impatient with IT departments that are too slow to respond to their demands.
So although I see no reason to mess with the CIO title, as corporate leadership places greater emphasis on IT, CIOs do need to re-evaluate their role and their relationship with the rest of the C-suite in order to remain valuable and avoid becoming the Chiefly Ignored Officer.
See also Dave Carey's humorous take on this topic.
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