CIO & LEADER-Issue-12-March 2018

around
thetech
WHAT
CIOs ARE
TIRED OF
HEARING...
“CIOs lack
the strategic
vision to see the
big picture.”
LEADERSHIP
CIOs think of themselves
as technology visionaries
In a recent Global C-suite Study, IBM
interviewed over 2,100 CIOs to better
understand how the CIO function
is evolving. The study reveals that
CIOs have long moved beyond the
original intention of the “I” in their
title – Information – to a myriad
of other foci. The new-age CIO is
doing everything from helping to
drive business strategy to enabling
the creation of new products and
services, to improving the customer
experience and empowering their
organizations.
Interestingly, the critical issues CIOs
used to face have changed over the
years. The number of CIOs earlier
were pressured to transform their
organizations wasn’t that high, but
there was a significant gap between
CIOs’ responses and those of the rest
of the C-suite.
CIOs see themselves today as
technology visionaries (24%) and
transformational business leaders
(21%). These are the foundational
competencies of the contemporary
CIO. Some continue to play more
traditional roles – IT coordinator and
manager (13%) and trusted business
advisor (12 %).
In the next two to three
years, CIOs see the job
shifting to areas much
closer to the business. "The
roles of transformational
business leader and
technology visionary
still top the list, but
IT coordinator
and manager
has dropped
significantly," notes
the study.
4 CIO&LEADER | March 2018