S.D.I. English Edition: Chief Transformation Officer, the new "influencers" in the Digital enterprise.
Alessandro Piatti
Digital Orchestra Director | Group CIO | Driving Digital Transformation & Improving Manufacturing Processes | Business Advisor
Chief Innovation, Information, Transformation, Technical, Digital Officer, a figure with different hats and acronyms; which one to maintain to evolve, not regress but become the leader of business transformation?
As veteran professionals know, the position of the CIO has evolved since its emergence in the late 20th century; a figure that over the years has evolved first, from little more than an experienced technician to an innovator and integrator; a role with increased importance in companies that nonetheless still needs to evolve in order not to be left without prospects.
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Management systems are increasingly evolved and integrated, an AI at the door knocking insistently lead to a new change; a transformation in the industry that touches the role of the CIO and leads him to evolve into a Transformer. Into the Chief Transformation Officer; an innovator, integrator and now transformer; a role that implies strategic vision skills to push for change, grasp the nuances of the business and integrate it into technology systems.
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A role that can blend business needs with technology capabilities, strategically involved in top management decisions to be ready to adapt new business with business systems capabilities.
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Has the CIO role run its course or is it more important than ever? It all depends on the ability to be a next-generation IT leader. A mix of macroeconomic instability, technological advances, and digital disruption is driving companies to look for IT leaders who can rise to the occasion and turn what might be insurmountable difficulties into business opportunities.
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The reality of the game indicates that many Chief Information Officers are not yet ready to meet these new demands. Most of them are still in that traditional mode of IT leadership that locks the CIO into a merely operational realm of managing and surviving the technology stack with no opportunity to grow and emerge.?
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The remainder are modernizing for new roles and visions, to be ready with the speed, flexibility and value focus required of a strategic and transformational digital leader today.
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This lack of preparedness is not good. But, if most CIOs are still focused on operational issues, do companies have, really, a need for new digital leaders with a title that reflects their new roles and responsibilities?
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Today 'Information' is only part of the CIO's role. A lot of what we do is about capacity building. There is also a transformational element to the role and another component that is about informing broader business strategy.
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The CIOs of the past were operations-technical people who ensured the functionality of the system and the passage of data across platforms. Today, they are much more like facilitators. The modern digital leader provides an agile and fast platform that supports excellent employee and customer experiences.
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While the Chief Information Officer of the past focused on managing IT operations, that is no longer the case today; the role has changed and grown as digital technologies have rapidly evolved and the challenges and opportunities for companies have increased as more and more Operations activities are being outsourced to specialized IT operations players.
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In recent decades, the role has shifted from an almost exclusive focus on uptime and readiness to a business support role. And now the accelerating pace of technological change and the organization's full reliance on IT are further elevating the CIO's contribution to business success.
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In addition, the increasing use of low-code software development platforms puts technology creation capabilities in the hands of workers outside IT. The rapid rise of artificial intelligence, and particularly generative AI, adds another layer of complexity.
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While, traditionally, a CIO could oversee all technology purchases within the company, the ready availability of high-powered technology means that their figure may be at risk of circumvention. Workers across the enterprise will be empowered to create new technology capabilities and implement SaaS products in their workflows.
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After all, who needs an intermediate level of IT management when you can go directly to the vendor or build your own systems and services on demand. Line-of-business professionals can now use the cloud to buy their own on-demand IT solutions by polling IT only for technical needs to review the acquired solution and integrate it into the business ecosystem. Nothing could be more wrong.
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A new possibility for the CIO
Although the role of the Chief Information Officer is undoubtedly changing, no company can afford to let its staff go out and buy whatever technology they want. The potential risks of leaving professionals to their own devices range from increased costs in terms of cloud provisioning to the fear that sensitive corporate data will be pushed into public artificial intelligence systems without due care and attention. Let's take an example from the latest cases of lack of privacy protection in the use of AI, a necessary normalization that is increasingly being clamored for.
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Companies need someone to ensure that advanced digital technologies are harnessed safely, securely and economically. And the person within the company who has this expertise is still the CIO.
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Although things are much more advanced today, this crucial role-ensuring reliable, efficient and secure business operations-is still paramount. Modern CIOs certainly need to understand a wide range of functional and technical disciplines, such as cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence and machine learning, end-user experience design, enterprise architecture, and more.
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Although the CIO role has shifted away from day-to-day operational concerns, technical capabilities will remain critical as companies increasingly use emerging technologies, and due to the increasing use of these technologies, the way this responsibility is handled will change in the future.
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As companies are transforming into technology organizations, most are doing so, digital leaders will need to have technical skills and will need to know what they are talking about to educate the rest of the board about the potential of technology.
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But while hi-tech knowledge is still critical, it is clear that the requirements of modern digital leadership-including overseeing IT implementations, engaging with the business, and managing data and artificial intelligence-make "CIO" not the most appropriate appellation.
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Many enterprises have appointed Chief Data Officer and Chief Digital Officer to oversee areas that might once have fallen under the purview of the IT manager. Some CIOs, however, have adopted the definition of CTO to emphasize their technological aptitude in the digital age. Others have included words such as digital, data, technology or transformation in their titles to create acronyms such as CDIO or CTIO that demonstrate their readiness for change.
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Although these changes represent an interesting trend, it is worth noting that extended job titles are not always the work of CIOs. Sometimes, companies change titles to reiterate that their business is moving into new areas, such as, indeed, digital and transformation.
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Thus, despite the changes in titles, the Chief Information Officer-in whatever capacity he or she is presented-is always the executive who is asked to transform demanding business challenges into new digital opportunities. Although it can be debated whether or not CIO is the most appropriate definition for the modern digital leader, it is important not to focus so much on acronyms as on roles and responsibilities.
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Defining the next generation digital leader
Many IT leaders, to thrive, will have to undergo a subtle adjustment of roles and responsibilities. First-level CIOs who focus on operations will not survive. Those at the second level who are, today, the majority of CIOs, enable the company to run more efficient and effective processes. Unlike with the first-level IT manager, this Chief Information Officer really understands the business and aligns with its evolving goals.
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But the third level is the one to which all CIOs should aspire; it is that of digital leaders who disrupt the enterprise in productive ways, harnessing the power of technology, change, and enhancement of the way the enterprise works, not only enabling the current business, but also influencing the way the business operates.
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The CIOs of the future will help the rest of the enterprise make the most of IT, security, data analytics, and AI, engage with the rest of the enterprise, advise on technology purchases, and build strong internal and external support ecosystems.
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The CIO is a business partner who helps define strategy by identifying the areas where technology can generate the most value for the enterprise-regardless of the title or acronym that identifies it, it is critically important to have a role that oversees the entire technology stack.
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The strategic importance of the CIO role, making their voice heard in an appropriate and constructive way. Great ideas can come from anywhere, both inside and outside the company. successful leaders of the next generation will need to be more open and forthcoming.
You must be open-minded; people must feel comfortable coming to talk to you. You need to be a strong communicator, because, especially in a growing company there are strong personalities who are very focused on their specific area.
The pursuit of new ideas also requires an awareness of emerging technologies. successful CIOs of the future will be executives who can help the company take advantage of an endless pipeline of innovations.
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The rest of the board will look to them as the people who understand the world of technology. Whenever a new innovation pops up - quantum, blockchain, or whatever-they will be the people you turn to for answers about what to do next.
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Most CIOs recognize the need to help the business make the most of emerging technologies. The number one task of future innovators will be to foster innovation. The priority will be to provide creative solutions to business problems.
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Over the next 10 years, successful CIOs will make a major shift: the role will focus heavily on innovation. CIOs of the future will spend more time on business strategy and the development of new products and services that drive growth.
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Focusing efforts in five key, defined areas:
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Providing clear direction on business and technology strategy and supporting teams of people to be as autonomous as possible, driving their own value as if they were micro-companies in their own right, will be the only way to achieve results at pace while maintaining an appropriate cost base.
The top position in technology will change its priorities over the next three years: business strategy, innovation, and orchestration will take center stage, while technology enablement will be more a matter of consulting and governance.
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Despite the characterization of the modern CIO as a business leader and strategist, many CIOs still spend most of their time on technical issues, focus more on managing security and improving IT operations and systems performance, rather than on high-level, strategic activities such as fostering business innovation, identifying opportunities for competitive differentiation, and even devising business strategy.
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Technology executives have identified security management and improving the performance of IT operations and systems as their top two responsibilities, lesser as drivers of change. To ensure change this the trend must change, priorities must be reversed and the CIO's No. 1 task shift to that of fostering business innovation.
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The CIOs of the near future will spend more time working on corporate strategy, developing revenue-generating products and services, and influencing ideas on the corporate roadmap than they do today. Many CIOs are already involved to varying degrees in these activities. But of those who do, most are doing this work in a limited way.
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This is what will change in the future, with not just some but most CIOs adding increasing levels of business-focused strategic responsibilities to their daily agenda and offloading more technical oversight tasks in the coming years.
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In the future, the CIO's role will be one of influencing, guiding and governing, rather than that of technology selector, integrator, configurator and customizer. In other words, in a few years, CIOs will be even more distant from the technical leader of yesteryear and closer to the business strategist; with companies becoming increasingly digital, CIOs will take on the role of business architect, not just digital architect.
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A technology influencer, a "thinker" in strategies, an eloquent communicator and leader. The CIO will need to be pliant, flexible, innovative and agile. Even more visionary than today, to shape the future of the organization, not just in supporting it, an explicit role in creating business value from the use of technology.
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What is driving the evolution of the CIO
Guiding and executing business strategies that drive growth, increase revenue and competitiveness will become a major responsibility of the future CIO, from the perspective of a progress-oriented CIO, many CIOs have already embarked on the path toward strategies focused on digital acceleration across the enterprise. a widespread shift in the CIO community, who are held accountable for driving innovation and product development that enable market expansion, new offerings and increased revenue.?
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These events include the widespread adoption of cloud and software-as-a-service, the arrival of digital natives in the workplace, the rapid adoption of AI, particularly ChatGPT, and the growing use of low-code software development platforms. All of these trends have put more technology creation capacity in the hands of workers outside of IT and as a result have given CIOs and their teams time to pursue responsibilities other than basic software implementation.
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One of the major drivers of change in the role of the CIO is the reduced dependence of the business on the IT organization. As technological capabilities related to the development and management of automated solutions have evolved, it has become less complex to democratize technology implementation. Digital acumen and dexterity within the enterprise is increasing by the day, providing the CIO with a great opportunity to drive more strategic initiatives.
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Evolving responsibilities
The digital era involves factors that change the way IT operates within a typical company and, consequently, the way the position of the CIO himself functions.
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The role of the chief technology officer as the company's trusted advisor will become increasingly important, but at the same time, as workers across the enterprise take on more assignments and as more and more organizations become 100 percent cloud, the entire technology establishment becomes an external service.
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This could mean that positions that have been a staple within the IT department and the way the department itself has been organized will also change. CIOs of the future may see the size of their teams shrink as they purchase more technology and IT staff as a service, this trend will push today's IT workers who consider themselves specifically technologists to find the greatest opportunities for career growth in pure technology companies. The consequence, essentially managing and supporting a highly distributed team composed of elements inside and outside the company.
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Meanwhile, as the creation and procurement of technology continues to move away from the centralized function of IT and become more democratic, CIOs will have to rely more heavily on their ability to persuade and influence others on how technology can and should be used.?
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They must create compelling rationalizations for IT investments through their storytelling. It is not just about creating the vision, but selling it by requiring them to spend more time on governance.
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Governing not what people can or cannot do, but how they do things. Helping business in a different way by providing them with guidelines and governance to help them avoid making bad decisions.
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The growing importance of establishing rules for whether, when, and how workers can use technologies. For example, guiding lines of business (see article LOB Integration using IT)in understanding the implications of workers' use of ChatGPT and their work in quickly establishing policies to guide employees.
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Although the CIO's role will morph into more of a business strategist's position, he or she will retain some technology responsibilities to ensure that all technology creations and implementations within the enterprise, as well as the data generated by those capabilities, function within the broader IT ecosystem.
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Sustain the effectiveness of deployed technologies by reinforcing practices such as agile product management that ensure rapid delivery of value to customers. Ensure the adoption of business practices that utilize nascent technologies and good data management, pushing the advancement of digital capabilities at all levels.
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Responsible for a looser ecosystem, with more-if not most-of the technologies selected outside of IT and managed by vendors. Also, because they expect technologies to evolve more rapidly, they anticipate greater turnover, and a faster pace, of technologies in the company of the future.
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Operating as chief integration officer and chief influence officer, understand the interrelationships of each component of the business machine, but also influence all component owners to ensure that interconnected components are assembled to work best for the business.
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Another predicted trend for the CIOs of the future is that more of them will come from areas outside of IT, such as finance, operations, and marketing, with a high percentage coming from functional areas other than IT; those who have followed a technology-oriented career path will feel more pressure to gain experience outside of IT in order to reach the C-suite even though they will continue to need technical acumen to be effective by demonstrating enough technological insight to get into rooms with technologists and really understand what they are saying.
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The watchwords are flexibility and agility, more so than they are today, quickly taking deep dives into emerging technologies, quickly understanding how they can benefit their organizations, formulating governance policies and being ready to go live at any time.
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A company's ability to change quickly and frequently is the biggest differentiator in the new, rapidly evolving, AI-driven digital world. Every aspect of the business is driven by some form of information technology. Any change to a company's capabilities comes through Digital, which is at the heart of any change in the company.
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Despite the percentage of CIOs who have yet to become "future fit," many others are already actually living up to what lies ahead and working to become the executives needed for the future. These are exciting times for those with a strategic and transformational track record, who will grow to higher levels with broader influence to drive and persuade almost every decision for the next version of the company.