11 Essential Skills Executive Teams Need From Their CIOs

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/01/07/11-essential-skills-executive-teams-need-from-their-cios/?sh=162e23ab369d

A company’s chief information officer oversees its information technology and computer systems to ensure they support and further company functions and goals. However, there’s much more to the job than just a good grounding in technology. The role has been evolving in recent years, and today’s CIOs play a much larger role in shaping the overall focus and direction of the companies they serve. 

From overseeing digitization initiatives to finding ways to better serve customers, the role of chief information officer has expanded, and tech professionals climbing the ladder need to be aware of what their executive teams look for in up-and-coming CIOs. Below, 11 tech industry leaders from Forbes Technology Council share the skills CEOs expect from today’s CIOs.

1. Fully Understanding The Business

Now more than ever, CEOs expect CIOs to have a true understanding of the business and to continuously work closely with the business leaders of the organization to look for opportunities to bring greater efficiencies through digitization. Also, CIOs are tasked with finding new revenue monetization opportunities as well as opportunities to strengthen customer engagement through business intelligence and machine learning. - Padma Ravichander, Tecnotree

2. Matching Tech Goals To Overall Business Outcomes

IT is no longer just a cost center—it’s increasingly the basis for competitive advantage in every industry, and the CIO’s role must match that. It is no longer good enough to be the best technical leader; rather, the CIO must be a business partner to the CEO and a guide to the board. CIOs must be able to translate technology details to the business outcomes that are critical for the company’s success. - Neelan Choksi, Tasktop Technologies

3. Working With Other Units To Facilitate Success

I think the biggest adaptation CIOs have had to make is moving away from being the owner of the budget for anything technology-related to instead being the facilitator of the organization’s success with technology. That often means working with business units that are funding/selecting/running their own technology—a big change! CEOs don’t want to police technology border disputes; they want business results. - Paul Lanzi, Remediant

4. Building A Sustainable Cloud Architecture

If every company is becoming a software company and everything is moving to the cloud, CIOs will need to understand current architecture patterns if they want to build and maintain technology services. Understanding cloud computing, DevOps and the application security lifecycle—as well as knowing how to attract and enable an evolving talent pool—is extremely important. - Cody Cornell, Swimlane

5. Prioritizing Investment Areas

Every business today is a technology business, but the opposite is also true: Tech executives must think like business leaders. The board increasingly relies on CIOs to bring tech solutions that address business goals and risks. But these expectations aren’t always accompanied by extra resources or budget. So now CIOs have to get better at operational efficiency and prioritizing investment areas. - Ilia Sotnikov, Netwrix

6. Driving Measurable Business Outcomes

CEOs today expect their CIOs to drive measurable business outcomes, including both top-line growth and bottom-line efficiency. As such, they must be well-versed in the mechanics of the business, from reading the balance sheet and profit and loss statement to understanding how to influence outcomes at the line-item level through the integration of digital capabilities. - Meerah Rajavel, Citrix

7. Ensuring Information Security

More and more CEOs expect CIOs to be very knowledgeable about information security. As data breaches increase significantly and negatively impact the brand of affected organizations, CIOs are expected to ensure not only the management, implementation and usability of information and technologies but also their security and privacy. - Bob Fabien Zinga, Directly, Inc./U.S. Navy Reserve

8. Focusing On Customer Impact

The biggest shift in expectations of CIOs will be focused on customer impact versus internal impact. For example, CEOs are tracking their Net Promoter Scores as related to their tech investments and are asking questions such as, “How will this investment improve our customer experiences, and how do we measure success?” This is a great step forward as companies become more customer-centric. - Eugene Khazin, Prime TSR

9. Having A Good Grasp Of AI And ML

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have permeated every industry. Consequently, it’s not unusual for CEOs to expect their CIOs to have working knowledge or experience with implementing these technologies. If you don’t have a good grasp of AI or ML yet, it’s never too late to learn—they can bring unprecedented benefits to your organization. - Marc Fischer, Dogtown Media LLC

10. Employing Product-Centric IT Management

Making the shift to product-centric IT management is key. In recent years, organizations have been changing the way they build technology. CEOs now expect CIOs to focus on product delivery. Instead of traditional project-based teams, CEOs now expect CIOs to leverage multidisciplinary product teams made up of software, IT, marketing and business talent. - Adi Ekshtain, Amaryllis Payment Solutions

11. Staying On Top Of Technology Evolution

CEOs should expect their CIOs to be more technical than before. Tech is evolving at an incredibly rapid pace, and CIOs need to know what’s going to move the needle and what capabilities can be overlooked. Those who aren’t used to using and employing these tools won’t be able to sift through the clutter. - Chetan Mathur, Next Pathway

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/01/07/11-essential-skills-executive-teams-need-from-their-cios/?sh=162e23ab369d

Successful CIOs, CTOs & executives from Forbes Technology Council offer firsthand insights on tech & business.