The Role of Chief Information Officer in a Company - Essay Example

THE ROLE OF A CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER (CIO) s [Issue The Roleof CIO (Chief Information Officer) Introduction It can be truly said that the discipline of Information Technology has shown the most significant and remarkable development since its emergence and is recognized to have an impressive impact on every sphere of life, particularly those pertaining to the global companies. The CIO holds one of the highest ranks in the IT field whose career is based on the implementation of various strategic business programs. He has to be a multi-dimensional employee who works by combining skills of technical competence and management. The role of CIO has continued to evolve during the times. However, he is considered to be a key player in the CEO's panel. According to Tim Arnoult "the predecessors to today's CIO was the Senior Vice-President of Data Processing. The role was to post transactions to customer accounts and run daily financial statements for the bank. Today, every core process in the company is enabled with technology and the strategic focus is on the use of information to improve customer satisfaction and to gain competitive advantage. Twenty-five years ago, technology consisted of mainframes in the back-office; today the customer and the bank have the advantage of interacting directly with each other through technology."1 The accomplishment of the efforts put forth by the CIO highly depends upon the technological developments in the following six sectors namely information systems, system infrastructure, business systems, human resources, technology and relations. A competent CIO works by executing modified measures in the above-mentioned spheres in order to boost the IT operations being carried out in the respective company. The following paper is aimed at studying the roles of CIO in diversified fields, ranging from the discipline of learning to the administration sectors keeping in view, the challenging past of the CIOs and the prospects for them in the coming years. What is a CIO CIOs are the administrative executives whose primary task is to look after the services related to the information systems department. Integrating business stratagems into the technology sector of the firm is one of their primary objectives. Furthermore, they are also associated with the tasks of improving the organization's Internet and web projects and assist the CEO in attaining the targets aimed by the company by streamlining the business processes and the underlying features for IT operations. Above all, CIOs are the gurus, the symbols and the architects framing the global economy. Business Environments Affect the Role of A CIO Varying environments have a remarked impact on the roles being served by a CIO. Following are some of the milieus that could be experienced by any CIO working at any level in an organization. The first and the initial one being the Startup IT milieu in which the major responsibility of a CIO is to lay the basis for the IT infrastructure and incorporate it with the business-specific implementations. In this environment, it is the task for a competent CIO to work out ways for the expansion of business units. Next one being the High-tech business environment requires the CIO to indulge himself in the exploration of new scientific and technological discoveries and inventions in the fields of sales and marketing. He should work for the improvements of systems, for instance, emailing, VoIP businesses, video conferencing, etc. The third environ is said to be the Bricks and Mortar environment, during which an extensive stress is being laid upon conventional business methodologies. It can be categorized into setting up the IT infrastructures in health-care or governmental departments. The fourth and the most significant one is the Internet environment. The situation under discussion affects the CIO to a great extent and the CIOs of the current scenario are also the dwellers in the same environment. The role of the CIO, during these times has been elaborated further. However, one can say that this is the time when a CIO may feel over-burdened as he has to perform several duties, that is of an IT Manager, a Financial Officer, a Technical Counselor and a Chief Knowledge Officer at a time. Outline of CIO's Role With the advancements in the technology sector, the role of CIO has also been shifting continuously due to the following factors; technological applications in the firm, business environments and the hi-tech vendors delivering the services. The CIO impacts the role of himself by coaching the higher executives and driving them towards IT and by working in co-ordination with the technology purveyors in modifying their products being supplied. The CIO's role can be categorized into three broad technology-based eras; CIO's responsibilities in the Mainframe Era During the mainframe period, the duties of a CIO being known as the DP/IS Manager at that time, was operational oriented. The DP/IS Manager had been required to upgrade systems according to the budget been offered by the firm while utilizing the accessible ones with assured consistency. As they headed with time, the responsibilities of an IS manager became more contentious as they had started picking up projects requiring a high-cost strategy. This ultimately culminated in failure of the operational services2 (Gibson and Nolan, 1974). However, the responsibilities of an IS Manager had remained confined to a specific sphere of influence in the mainframe epoch. The only amendment that could be considered as a progress had been the observable change in the skills of the IS Manager3 (Ives and Olson, 1981) who had modified their propensity towards management and communication skills. CIO's Position in the Distributed Era During the distributive era, the CIOs had confronted a lot of obstacles and hindrances. Certain roles that had been played by the CIOs of that time included Organizational Designer, Technology Adviser, Technology Architect, Informed Buyer. Being an organizational designer, the CIO had to frame an IT infrastructure related to the business components. Simultaneously, the CIO had acted as a HR Manager responsible for enrolling competent IT and business individuals. Furthermore, CIOs had to preserve the firm's potential of making the most of the IT technologies4 (Feeny and Willcocks, 1998). The second most important role that had been served by the CIOs of the distributed era was of the Technology Adviser. He had to devise integration between the business and technological plans5 (Rockart et al, 1996). The CIOs had to perform a dual role of determining solutions to business-related problems via IT sources6 (Earl and Feeny, 1994) and to promote technology-based business management prospects. Thus the CIOs during the distributive era had not only performed the operational duties pertaining to IT but also had worked in disciplines other than the IT field. The third role being played by the CIOs of that time was of a Technology Architect whose prime duties had comprised of scheming an IT infrastructure that would fulfill the business requisites. Moreover, he had also acted as the Informed Buyer who is aware of the availability of quality services, makes its utilization at the organization efficiently with a low-cost plan, and had been a specialist of analyzing the emerging IT souk. Expert CIOs who had been proficient in playing all of the above-mentioned roles had experienced a strong and understanding relationship with their CEOs7 (McKenney, 1995). However, the most significant position for a CIO had been of the Technology Adviser during this period. CIO's Role In The Web-Based Era During the Web-Based era or the current one, the CIO is seen as a Networker, a Strategic thinker and an Entrepreneur. Moreover, his roles have been modified to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO). The existing CIO possesses a visionary approach towards the business developments and finds ways of implementing the management modus operandi that would positively impact the Intranet. CIO's Role in the Discipline of Education CIOs are believed to serve a noteworthy role in the discipline of learning. In educational organizations and academia, a Chief Information Officer acts as the Senior Executive who is responsible for the tasks of formulating an information policy and retains the edifying standards. Moreover, he looks after the information systems capabilities and is accountable for upgrading and developing it. The CIO, working in a school should be a possessor of multiple qualities. For instance, he should have strong communication skills along with the ability to lead the management of the organization's information resources. Furthermore, he should be ingenious and creative in thinking with an expertise in manipulation of the telecommunications systems8 (Synnott and Gruber). While working as a CIO in the educational field, he has to concentrate on the endorsement of teaching, research, scholarships and organizational systems. According to research estimates, there are around 200 CIOs working in higher educational field. CIOs must be aware of the friends and foes of the organization and try to maintain relations with the media in order to be alert about what is being said in favor or against your academia. A proficient CIO knows the marketing tactics mandatory to promote the institution. Moreover, he should also keep an eye on the outgoing finances as well as the monetary resources required by the institute. In general, the CIOs in the field of education serve as revolutionists. CIO's Role In Health-Care Industry In the health-care industry, the CIOs must focus on rendering secure and tending services to the patients. He should ensure the convenience of health-care facilities to the patients and develop ways and means of modifying the opportunities of clinical practice. The role of CIO continues to emerge in the medical domain. According to research guesstimates in 1987, there were about 218 executive officials functioning as CIOs. CIO's Role in Outsourcing Outsourcing plays a significant part in a company's regime. CIO is considered to be a major player with regard to outsourcing. For a CIO, outsourcing seems to be an odious strategy in which he may experience a muddle while making a certain decision. As on one hand, he is required to make usage of IT services that are most lucrative while on the other hand, he is required to act conventionally to abstain from surrendering any authority. Besides the reason that outsourcing has enabled the organizations in attaining high standards in the Information Technology department, CIO's should emphasize on modifying the already-existing assets of the company and impart effective accessibility to the user departments. CIO's Role in Innovation Innovation, in other terms, the dawn of the Internet era imparted a new stance to the business stratagem. The monetary industry is involved in devising ways and means for providing exceptional and unparalleled levels of customer access. With the demand put forth by the shareholders for relentless productivity, the corporations are seeking Chief Information Officers for executing a well-planned line of attack in order to accomplish their targets. Moreover, CIOs are asked to implement ways of building strong connectivity, both indoors and outdoors with he clients' chain. As Arnoult quotes, "The CIO should be able to make the business case to the technical people and the technical case to the business people."9 Skills/ Individual Qualities Needed To Be A Proficient CIO Certain skills are required to be possessed by the individuals who are in pursuit of CIO positions. They must have possession of strong interpersonal skills and an extensive range of experience in the business or the IT field. He should be proficient in dealing with the finances dexterously and must have a sound knowledge of the technological developments being taking place. He should be able to direct the IS resource and SBU divisional resources. He should be innovative and creative in his work devising feasible solutions to the problem. Above all, he should be flexible with his clients and colleagues who possesses the skills of a good listener and aims at attaining high targets for the company's advancement. Responsibilities/ Key Roles of A CIO The Chief Information Officer is amenable for performing a range of defined key objectives as well as he is responsible for carrying out certain responsibilities. The first and the most important one is to supervise the data reliability in all sects of Information Systems field comprising of the technical centers, computer systems operations, communication networks and help desks, etc. He is accountable for updating the hardware and software section and maintaining the electronic library. Moreover, he should be a team leader in promoting the planning processes. He should develop and maintain relationships with the foremost IT suppliers in the souk. He is responsible for hosting innovative technologies so as to enable an unproblematic communication between the customers and the company, thus crowning the company's trade with success. With his exceptional traits of communication and interpersonal skills, he should cultivate gratifying relationships with his customers and internal clients. Furthermore, he should not curtail his talent to himself, but should provide training to his IT fellows at the organization, thus resulting in a constructive conclusion. An accomplished and skilled Chief Information Officer has to be versatile and multi-faceted individual capable of handling the technological affairs by keeping focus on the marketing needs at the same time. If the individual is working as a Government CIO, he should keep track of the e-government issues and is responsible for upgrading it from time to time. Furthermore, he should be reliable in keeping secrets, thus maintaining the confidentiality of the steps and measures being taken for the e-government campaigns. The CIO also plays a genuine part in the Human Resources department by ensuring the competencies of the company are being utilized in an appropriate manner. They are also required to make key decisions in the execution of the information systems. For instance, they have to determine that which opportunity should they go for while acting on a certain proposal, whether the internal provisions would satisfy the clients' needs or outsourcing could be a better option. In short, the current and smart CIOs are aware of the stratagems and line of actions that could assist them in sustaining the responsibilities they have. CIOs of the 21st Century Boeing CIO Scott Griffin views CIOs as the solution-providers of the business strategies that may come on the scene in the upcoming years. The 21st Century CIO serves as a gifted individual for an IT company. He not only has prospects for his own progress, but would also impart remarkable benefits to the employer firm. However, the only drawback associated with the CIOs of the current time is the imposing of a large number of responsibilities to be carried out single-handedly by an individual. CIOs of the 21st Century have to be more meticulous in determining the business effects of technology than the predecessor ones. The CIOs of today are not restrained to a specific domain but are seen to be employed in various disciplines further than the IT departments. The Chief Information Officer is no doubt, considered to be an asset for a company. According to the contemporary CIO's view-point, it is the need of time to integrate the targets and aspirations perceived by the IT department with the objectives and intentions of the business productions in order to boost up the e-commerce industry. This task is also being performed by the CIOs of the current epoch who may design a unique strategy for accomplishing the said. The objective of the IT inspection is also being fulfilled by the existing CIOs whose task is to put into operation, a variety of indispensable procedures in order to supervise and assess the productivity of the installed systems. Emphasis is being given by the CIOs on the finances that are being utilized for the growth of IT department, leading them towards formulating a low-cost and an economical scheme, thus making the IT industry a lucrative and a profitable one. Decisions pertaining to the staff expansion, outsourcing projects, training and other shared services are being taken by the Chief Information Officers on the foundations of the venture's prerequisites instead of basing it upon the departmental needs. Additionally, the judgments related to the vendors' or the purveyors' issues are also being taken after considering the projects' interests and outcomes. The CIOs of today implement numerous ways and means to expand and ensure the technological advances at each and every echelon of the firm. Moreover, the CIOs are being held accountable for maintaining the privacy of the taken measures. He has to be cagey and secretive while dealing with the intellectual property defense and regulatory observance. The CIO of the 21st century is specialized in collecting and calculating larger amounts of statistics. Amalgamated data stockrooms have come on the scene. In short, the CIO has become a provider of compelling diagnostic tools for measuring the business statistics. Moreover, he is assumed to provide dexterity to the organization through his leadership qualities. As outsourcing and establishments of call centers are on a verge, the CIOs continue to play an integral role in the customer relationship management (CRM) programs. He is considered to be a key player in strengthening the contact center undertakings and the clients' portals. With the advancements in the Internet world, the CIO continues to broaden its horizons by introducing and implementing new e-business strategies in diversified spheres. The Chief Information Officer of Gillette once quoted, "We will drive performance and an organizational culture that recognizes and rewards achievements. CIOs of tomorrow will serve an increased value-added function which is a fully integrated partner with our business counterparts." The CIOs of 21st century view themselves as business savoir-faire in addition to being competent in the Information technology field. According to Doreen Wright, CIO of a company named Campbell Soup Company, "It's not about running the computers any more, it's about using IT to enable and innovate. There's no part of your company that can run without IT - so value it and get everything you can out of it."10 Moreover, the CIO at the Readers Digest Association was also of the view that "The CIO position should be a counselor to, and partner with, the CEO and other business executives."11 The role of the present CIO has shifted from an operational to a strategic one. He is concentrating on building links with the external customers. He is playing the roles of evaluation, promotion and multiplicity. He is considered to be one of the diligent and dexterous executives of an organization contributing towards the corporation's success by coping with the disaster recoveries in the finances and the IT sector. Will the CIO Role Be Superseded or Is It Here To Stay From the day it emerged, the roles of a Chief Information Officer have kept on changing with the passage of time. They have been revised repeatedly with the evolvement of modernized technologies. A question arises at this point, "Whether the CIOs will become compatible with the CEOs or their roles would be weakened with time" As one knows that there are two sides to every question, the following query could be responded to, either optimistically or with a pessimistic approach. There were many executive officials having the view that the evolving CIOs could occupy the ranks of CEOs because of their possessed capabilities and abilities to meet the varying want of the clients. On the other hand, there were others, who had denied this particular viewpoint, laying emphasis on the fact that the positions for the CEOs are unfeasible to be acquired by the Chief Information Officers. According to Jerry Tatar, CEO of Mead Corporation, the CIO's role cannot be obsolete in the nearby future as he is of the view that the CIOs are playing an intrinsic role in monitoring the funds and dollars for a company. Moreover, they are involved in redrafting the modus operandi of the business progressions in order to make it proficient and resourceful. Thus, it can be said that the roles and recognition of CIOs cannot be eluded at any cost and a time could come when they may be enjoying the status of a CEO. However his roles keep on transforming, as Dr. Marianne Broadbent quotes, "The CIO is alive and well, but has mutated, and is more influential than ever."(Theresa, 2000) 12 Conclusion The rapid advancements in the fields of IT and commerce have made it mandatory to have a Chief Information Officer operating at the firm. Whether it is a hospital or an academia, an e-business company or a BPO, the well-articulated skills of a CIO assist in attaining the achieved targets for the company. It is only the CIO who could understand the eminence of a trade or a business from a project's point of view. The CIO must enjoy investigating and surveying the upcoming technologies and should be keen in implementing those at his/her respective companies. CIOs have an endless scope and their roles keep on switching. Moreover, recent research work has firmly suggested that the CIOs have a chance of acting as CEOs due to their immense knowledge and creativity. However, it is advisable for the Chief Information Officers to revise and modify their roles according to the global advancements in IT. After going through the paper, a conclusion can be drawn that as there is no business in operation without the implementation of Information technology, in the similar way, the IT functions cannot be executed without the aid of a Chief Information Officer (CIO). Thus, it can be said that as long as there are innovations in the field of Information technology, the role of CIOs continue to be recognized and appreciated by the people and businessmen. Bibliography 1. Earl, M.J. and D. F. Feeny, "Is Your CIO Adding Value" Sloan Management Review (35:3), Spring 1994, pp. 11-20. 2. Feeny, D. F. and L.P. Willcocks, "Core IS Capabilities for Exploiting Information Technology," Sloan Management Review (39:3), Spring 1998, pp. 9-21. 3. Gibson, C.F. and Nolan, R.L., "Managing the Four Stages of EDP Growth," Harvard Business Review, January-February 1974, pp. 76-88. 4. Heidrick and Struggles, (2005), The Chief Information Officer, Inside the C-Suite. 5. Ives, B. and Olson, M., "Manager or Technician The Nature of the Information Systems Manager's Job," MIS Quarterly (5:4), December 1981, 49-63. 6. McKenney, J.L., Waves of Change: Business Evolution through Information Technology, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 1995. 7. Rockart, J.F., Earl, M.J., and Ross, J.W., "Eight Imperatives for the New IT Organization," Sloan Management Review (38: 1), fall 1996, pp. 43-55. 8. Sweeney, Theresa Credit Union Management, Aug2000, Vol. 23 Issue 8, p7, 1p. 9. Synnott, William R., and William H. Gruber, Information Resource Management: Opportunities and Strategies for the 1980s, New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1981. 10. The 21st Century CIO, Business Strategy Review, Vol: 15, Issue: 2, 2004, p.32 Read More