CIOs Undermined!

Bangalore: It is high time to change the perspective that other C- suite executives hold of the CIOs in the corporate arena. From just labeled as cost-cutters to earning revenue for the organization, CIOs have undergone a tremendous paradigm shift with respect to their roles and responsibilities. As such, it has become imperative for CIOs to incorporate business skills along with polishing their technological expertise in order to be recognized among their counterparts, reports Michelle Remo of inAudit.

According to Ernst & Young’s DNA of the CIO report, CEOs identify the capabilities of CIO restricted to technology alone with no real acumen for formulating business strategies.

The survey was based on the perspective of over 300 senior IT executives all over the world along with an extensive research with 40 C-suite executives and a further 25 CIOs.

Maureen Osborne, Global CIO of Ernst & Young states, “The clear message from many CIOs is that the status quo will need to change. In order to stay relevant in a rapidly evolving technological landscape, CIOs will need to break out of their comfort zones within the data center. Those who don’t, will run the risk of being further relegated down the corporate hierarchy, or sidelined altogether.”

Accordingly, it would not be a bad idea if the CIOs contemplate on honing their business skills so that they can contribute towards forming vital strategic changes in the way a business plans its future course of action. This would also ensure CIOs to gain acceptance in board level meetings from which they have been deprived so far.

Tragically, the survey revealed that 52 percent of the C-suite executives feel that CIOs have failed to capitalize on the opportunity presented by the global surge in technology. They feel that the innovative strategies of CIOs are confined predominantly to cost cutting policies in the IT department without much emphasis on product innovation or operational strategies.

Dave Ryerkerk, Ernst & Young Global IT Advisory Leader, in this regard is of the opinion, “Future CIOs will need to be able to show proactively how IT can be used as a source of innovation within the business, rather than merely a support function. Naturally, a part of this will be securing the chance to support a major business project of some kind, which can, in turn, make a specific impact on how the rest of the business operates.”

The ball, thus, is in the court of the CIOs. It entirely depends on them as to how they want to go about it.