As the year draws to a close and organizations continue to evaluate the effects of the past year, some attention must be placed on the evolving roles and responsibilities of the executive leaders- particularly in the IT department. This week, CIO.com featured articles dedicated to the discussion of the future-state of the CIO and the business opportunity focus for IT departments.
Louie Ehrlich, CIO and president of IT at Chevron, contributed his thoughts about the 2010 State of the CIO survey conducted by CIO.com. Ehrlich’s attributed the increasing commitment of CIOs from the scope of IT to the business’ commercial facets to the recession and states that it “is a great sign for the future of the [CIO] profession [because] it’s perfectly aligned with that a CIO should be doing and must do more of to stay relevant and valuable.”
During economical down times, it is common to reduce spending, but Ehrlich states that because of the “profound recession” CIOs have been asked to use technology to make companies efficient overall. Ehrlich hopes this trend is not just simply a reaction to the economy, but will instead be a pervasive trend that will “[become a permanent part of [the CIO] profession’s DNA.”
CIO.com Senior Editor, Kim S. Nash, further discussed the details of the survey in her online article. The following are some results of the survey:
• 1/3 of the 594 polled IT leaders said meeting or beating business goals I a personal leadership competency
• 18% named “external customer focus” as critical skill
• 22% cited “identifying and seizing on commercial opportunities” as a critical skill
• Aligning IT initiatives with business goals most frequently cited CIO activity
• All CIOs may be shifting towards a more business-focused role
Has the role of the CIO in your organization experienced this evolution into an increased commitment beyond IT to the commercial aspects?
Join the discussion @ITInfoForum.
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