New Age CIO is an IDIOT (Intelligence Driven Innovators Of Technology)

With the advent of cutting-edge mobile application and digital media innovation, a very intrinsic section of the society seems to be exploiting this realm as if it is ‘manna from heaven’ itself. No, I am not talking about the tech-freak-gizmo-savants. This is a more elite class that we fondly like to call as the ‘CIOs’.

CIO being responsible solely for delivering reliable Information Technology (IT) to the business is history now. Contemporary CIOs stake a much broader and imperative role in the business, driving business transformation, innovating for competitive advantage and acting as key strategic partners to the CEO and formulating goals to the wider organization as a whole.

This is conspicuously established by the 14th annual CIO Technology Survey 2012, conducted by Harvey Nash in association with TelecityGroup. The subsequent conclusion of the survey indicated that CIOs are audaciously presumptuous of securing technology budget increases than at any time in the last five years.

So, what led to this sudden surge of the CIOs? The predominant factors that were found in the survey are:

• Rise in budget : Almost 44 percent of the CIOs had a raise in budget this year which is relatively higher as compared to 2011 and 2010 , which was 39 percent and 28 percent respectively.
• Rise in demand of mobile applications and digital solutions : 58 percent of global CIOs actively promoting the development of solutions for smart phones and tablets such as iPads.
• Improving time-to-market : Improving Time-to-Market is one of the top priority for CIOs in 2012, underlining the importance of growth and expansion planning.
• Focus on Profit rather than cost cutting : 56 percent of overall CIOs are into projects that generate money for the organization rather than saving money for it.

Nonetheless, there were some astounding results that cropped up from the survey.

It was distinctly found that mobile, security and social media displayed the greatest shortage of skills. And almost half 47 percent of the CIOs believe that this is what is obscuring them from tapping the full potential of the market. As such, almost 46 percent of the CIOs are contemplating to spend more on outsourcing as well as on multi-sourcing.

It is advertent that the role of the CIOs is undergoing a cardinal change and so is their importance in the organization as 52 percent of respondents constitutes the organization’s operational board, up from 50 percent in 2011 and 42 percent in 2010. What is icing on the cake is that over two thirds of respondents (68 percent) say the role of the CIO is becoming more strategic and this is reflected in the dominance of the CEO as the most likely reporting line for the CIO. It can only be ascertained that CIOs are poised for a much bigger role in the future.