What it means to be CIO

The Chief Information Officer simply managing information technology is clearly now relegated to the same dumpster as the idea of a CFO or COO just running back-office functions.

Covid-19 Impact

We have seen through the Pandemic how the world has embraced digital technologies and practices at an incredibly accelerated rate, Businesses needing to find alternative routes to markets, developing new products, optimising operating costs and fighting more aggressive and persistent Cyber-attacks and of course enabling employees to be effective and productive working from remote locations.

Corporate Expectations

Shareholders and customers now expect if not demand that businesses have a digital strategy built into the fabric of the corporate direction and operational plan and the CIO is perfectly placed to drive this agenda.

Focus on the right Outcomes

The post pandemic CIO should focus on three business outcomes from digital and technological innovation –

?1.???Revenue

Producing new or improved services or solutions and enriched customer experiences aimed at increasing revenue per product/service and per customer; Producing new sources of revenue from new customer segments

2.???Cost

Producing operational processes digitised to increase efficiency, productivity and capacity.

?3.???Risk

Protect the organisation from likely reputational risk resulting in a successful Cyber-attack and from legal and regulatory exposure; Producing digital tools or information aimed at greater employee productivity and retention.

Are you Savvy?

Clearly the CIO need to be steering companies to keep pace with the latest trends and support their business by establishing a corporate technological strategy.

?Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Center for Information Systems Research found only 47% of Chief Technology Officers and 45% of CIOs can be considered to be ‘Digitally Savvy’*.

They also found that business execs can be more focused on IT infrastructure and back-office operations than on creating business value based on digital technologies which can and is opening the door to disrupters grabbing market share and new investors.

?To be successful the CIO needs to provide and promote digital Savviness at senior level.

?*Digital savviness is defined as understanding the impacts and benefits emerging technologies will have for a given business.