Four different views from Mike Tonkiss, Adam Burstow, Colin Beveridge and Dave Hansen
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No, I haven’t done a spectacular u-turn. In my earlier posting (Nobody needs a Chief Information Officer) I promised to write more about my vision for the future role of the CIO as Chief Integration Officer so here it is as a summary view… There are probably as many interpretations of the role of Chief Information Officer as there are holders of the post, whereas the role of a Chief Integration Officer can be universally defined. Furthermore, unlike the Chief Information Officer, the CIO as Chief Integration Officer will be a key function for the forseeable future, if not forever. When the acronym CIO first emerged, many joshed that it stood for “Career Is Over.” Many others couldn’t see the need for a Chief Information Officer at all, because they perceived such a role to be that of a super-librarian, rather than custodian of crucial commercial intelligence (sic). Despite widespread ennui about the acronym, the CIO role has persisted, indeed flourished in some instances – although it remains poorly defined in too many organisations. Furthermore there is no consensus about whether a CIO truly belongs at the top table, or should continue to play a subsidiary role to the CFO or COO. So the CIO role is not a must-have, no-brainer, corporate appointment. I contend that this is because the role was wrongly posited in the first place. I believe that we have never really needed a Chief Information Officer. Look at your own enterprise and think seriously for a moment, do you really need a CIO? Here are a few of my suggestions for questions that a CEO needs to ask the CIO: What do we really need for the future? How do we change things to make our visions reality? How do we make sure that our information systems remain relevant to our evolving business and add persistent value to a successful organisation? |
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Copyright Colin Beveridge 2008 - 2010. Some rights reserved.  |
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