In a fast-moving business environment, how can today’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) make the biggest impact on behalf of the entire organization? To answer that question, we listened to over 2,500 CIOs worldwide. These one-hour, face-to-face conversations, along with our statistical and financial analyses, made clearer the changing demands on CIOs. Not content to be known only as consummate IT experts or perpetual seekers of savings, CIOs are redefining their role.
The voice of the CIO is being heard in new ways—as CIOs are increasingly recognized as full-fledged members of the senior executive team. Successful CIOs are much more actively engaged in setting strategy, enabling flexibility and change, and solving business problems, not just IT problems.
Today’s CIOs spend an impressive 55 percent of their time on activities that spur innovation. These activities include generating buy-in for innovative plans, implementing new technologies and managing non-technology business issues. The remaining 45 percent is spent on essential, more traditional CIO tasks related to managing the ongoing technology environment. This includes reducing IT costs, mitigating enterprise risks and leveraging automation to lower costs elsewhere in the business.
After thousands of interviews, we found that successful CIOs actually blend three pairs of roles. These dual roles seem contradictory, but they are actually complementary. To characterize each role, we have coined a term that describes its dominant quality. At any given time, a CIO is:
• An Insightful Visionary and an Able Pragmatist
• A Savvy Value Creator and a Relentless Cost Cutter
• A Collaborative Business Leader and an Inspiring IT Manager