Monday  2003-11-03   Policy, Process, Mechanism

CIO under siege

CIO's prestige has been falling fast lately. The position of CIO has been a rather curious job. Unlike other CXOs -- CEO, CTO, CFO, COO -- a CIO usually has little or no mandate for future direction of a company. Neither board of directors nor shareholders are interested in what CIOs have to say. Not only that the other CXOs can divide up CIO's portfolio: CTO can deal with technology planning, COO day to day operations, and CFO financial reporting. It is hard not to caricaturize CIOs as glorified IT department manager with no role in leadership of at CXO level, whose business unit is that of support (mediocre and costly one at that). After ERP, Y2K and e-commerce extravaganza CIOs are nowadays fallguys.

However an observant CIO should spot a chance for redemption as corporations are changing to be more open and transparent. This is a chance to show how technology can drive corporations towards better corporate governance, corporate citizenship and public relations. Astute CEOs will support smart CIOs to achieve these goals (after making sure the board of directors would not take on their new protege!) making other CXOs jealous. [The last link is from the former CIO of state of Utah Phillip Windley's blog]