Today’s role of CIO is probably the hardest and complex role
you can find in any business organization. A CIO has to properly combine multiple skills
and competences to become effective on the way he/she manage both, business and
IT requirements.
This is to me the main difference when comparing the CIO’s
role with other
C-level executives. While the COO, CFO, etc. are mainly
focusing on their own areas of responsibility (Operations, Finance, Marketing,
etc.), the CIO has to drive a complex agenda to accommodate IT related matters
to what the rest of the business organization require from them.
This is one of the reasons why IT/IS has always been seen
from the rest of the business as support function and not as an add value
activity by itself, unless when we talk about technology or innovation
companies where IT is perceived as a key business driver.
Today’s CIO has to drive business processes innovation in a
way that the rest of the C-level colleagues in the organization feel encouraged
to take their own part of responsibility in the resulting projects. He has to
drive the discussion whenever the CEO raises a new innovation challenge, balancing
the management of an effective and efficient operation and the required level
of innovation. This is not an easy equation to deal with and that’s why this
business position is so critical and hard to be properly filled in by any IT professional.
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