Fundamentals of the CIOCTO Role

Fundamentals of the CIO/CTO Role

As discussed in a summary, Chief Technology Officer is more and more integrated and evolving into the role of Chief Information Officer. Chief Information Officer is the senior executive responsible for all aspects of a company's information technology and one of the most complex of all corporate officer positions. This book reviews current responsibilities and expectations of the role, and showcases how CIOs apply the right skills to meet the challenge. (17)

We start with a definition and proceed to the main qualities demanded of the role, which is very complex. These include knowledge of and experience in a specific industry, relationship skills and international or global experience. Only CEOs require a similar cross-functional and broad-based background. The unique cornerstone of the CIO role—and its fundamental mission—is having expertise in aligning and leveraging technology for the advantage of the enterprise. A decade ago, CIOs emerged as vision builders, relationship builders, tacticians and deliverers. Today many requirements have been added such as mirroring the continuing transformation in both IT and the business at large: strategist, architect, reformer and alliance manager. I believe that there will be transformation of the role in the next five years.

The scope of this role is too broad for any one guide to cover definitively. We focus on the most common and troublesome challenges, such as keeping up with technology (and technologists) and communicating value. I slant some material toward the CTO and CIO with a transformational role that may be new to the role or the company. It is this book's intent to help him or her establish a firm grounding. CIOs and CTOs who are new to their positions can navigate the territory with guidance and mentoring. We will learn that it is important to establishing credibility at the start. Through my research and direct correspondence, CIOs advise their associates to build credibility fast by addressing relatively minor complaints about IT and paying special attention to the immediate frustrations and needs of their new manager.

Although information technology is better understood than ever by the business community and management, there are a lot of expectations for a CIO. Not only must the CIO have all the answers, but he must complete every project on time and under budget, even as users squeeze every moment of his staff's day with the same mundane tech support questions. The book will explain that it is possible to take control in a number of ways. First, CIOs must foster trust within the senior executive team. They must be mediators when conflicts arise, learn how to manage up, delegate, prioritize and encourage responsibility in others. CIOs and CTOs in this book discuss the most critical skills for their jobs today as the ability to communicate effectively, to understand business processes and operations, and to engage in strategic planning and thinking. It's great to know what skills to leverage, but it's even better to know how to bone up on those skills. We share advice on skill cultivation. CIOs who find themselves doing IT on behalf of the company should transition as fast as possible. Also known as the federated model, it holds business units responsible for the "what" of IT, while IT is responsible for the "how."

A good relationship with senior executives is a necessary for CIO success. Learning about your industry and about your company is a core requirement. Jim Sphorer, from IBM, and Sam Albert mention this in our discussions. (83) "Learn more about your competition, about the performance of your company. What's your revenue? What is your main product? What's profitable? What isn't? Start thinking as if you were CEO," the CIO recommends. "That way, when you're in the group, they'll start looking to you for technology solutions, but they'll also realize that you're a business person."

Some of the companies where we work are decentralized. It's even tougher to keep connected in a decentralized company .It is important to be able to compare and contrast global priorities, U.S. corporate priorities and regional CIOs' priorities, moving priorities from one pile to another and then back again to help determine where to focus first. We can learn of priorities from leading media and analyst sources.

One of the hardest languages for the CIO to explain is their value. We define the value, and the best ways to communicate the value of information technology projects to company executives. Perhaps the most extreme dichotomy of the role is that not only must the CIO go toe-to-toe with its peers and shareholders to prove the value of proposed investment, he or she must also be able to inspire, motivate and manage technologists. This is an ultimate dilemma. Consider, for instance, that technical people are generally uncomfortable with uncertainty.

Yet, driving to a conclusion in an established time frame is important to success. Technologists are typically stuck in the world of solutions. Being a successful CIO requires a continuing search for knowledge. In one week, CIOs could be absorbing new insight on the technologies and processes of e-commerce and CRM, and also building better skills for leadership and communication. CIOs must be open to all sources of learning. We provide associations and references of media, computer industry publications that are the best sources of learning

We review different roles of a CTO, an ecosystem of relationships, and the continuing struggle to define the role, and find and retain staff with the right skills. In all of the areas, it is important to focus on strategic thought process.

To help IT leaders regain a little of that time they lack, we have a reference section that offers check lists, tips and guides to help contend with executives, and win political battles. It is important to note that CIOs or CTOs new on the scene must be careful to avoid being swept into immediate projects without taking time to survey the environment and playing field.

We have consolidated a lot of research, correspondence and analysis. Some conversations were done directly and some through other media and 3^rd party sources. Therefore, we have included the comprehensive research, as well as all of the necessary references that would be of interest including people, media sources, articles, and associations.