The traditional, evolved and transformational role of CIOs

Mawuena K. Raven

University of Maryland University College

Abstract
There is no doubt that organization since the 1990s are viewing information technology (IT) as an integral part of their strategy for the future. It is not seen only, like in the past, as a simple tool to communicate and decrease production costs, but there is a total recognition on the role it plays and continues to play in business performance and strategic planning. A situation that is necessitating a similar makeover and transformation of IT departments are structured and run. It is how the Chief Information Officer (CIO) came about, as a direct result of this shift. There is not a single and universal way of defining the CIO and his or her job description and responsibilities he or she might have within an organization depend on its structure, and how the organization is trying to achieve throughout the position. Nevertheless, and until recently organization hire CIOs as "simply department managers who ensure that all PC's can be turned on and that the processes work". But, because and like never before, businesses are relying on information technology to gain competitive advantage, the job and responsibilities of the CIO is evolving, making the position that can help transform the entire organization objective by innovating and sustaining its core competencies and knowledge that will guarantee this competitive advantage. This paper will succinctly explore three main facets of CIO’s job description: 1) the practical side of the CIO, 2) the CIO position merged with another executive position, and 3) the CIO transformed into a new more strategy oriented executive position; and finally, focuses on developing an argumentation in favor of the third option by laying out how the role of the CIO has evolved over the last two decades.

Introduction The CIO job description at the beginning when organizations have been looking for somebody to head and develop their IT needs has been simple and straightforward. This role has being for the most part a backstage work of making sure the organization IT infrastructures are up and running smoothly. But and certainly as perceivable as it can be in most organizations, aspiring for increased productivity, strategic and competitive advantage, the shift in attitudes when it comes to IT as centerpiece and how it should be an integrated part of the organization is discussed in the boardroom and at executive level, and so is how the CIO can play this role. That is, the role of the CIO has evolved from what it was couple decades ago, and it tends to become a transformational role with the now globalization process. This paper will lay out the three definitions or what the role of the CIO has being perceived to be from its inception until now: 1) the practical side of the CIO, 2) the CIO position merged with another executive position, and 3) the CIO transformed into a new more strategy oriented executive position. Having said that, there are traditional, the evolved and the transformational views of what was and what are expected from the CIO. But as organizations and businesses have to go through their own changes and restructuration due to global competition, many of them come to grasp with the reality that IT has the potential to get them through the storm and allow them to reposition their model or at least their view of the IT department, and it is this reality or necessity that is pushing organizations to review their organizational structure, and make the necessary change in the role of the CIO. In order to amplify that reality, this paper will next focus on the evolving role of the CIO by going through the reasons that support and are facilitating the transformation of the role of the CIO into a new more strategy oriented executive position, and how this reality is transforming the whole perspective of organizations hiring a CIO that is a leader in many capacities.
The practical side of the CIO The chief information officer (CIO) O’Brien and Marakas (2011) observed: “Oversees all use of information technology in many companies and brings it into alignment with strategic business goals.” That is what the traditional role of the CIO has been until a couple of decades ago. His or her sole responsibility was to ensuring that computer services, Internet, networking within, and other information systems are up-to-date, and they are allowing the organization in cutting on its production and/or business operational costs. That is, the traditional role of the CIO was not to direct the daily information services responsibilities, he or she will have to execute the tasks delegate to him or her by the executives, such as the chief executive officer (CEO) or the chief financial officer (CFO). In other word, the traditional role of the CIO was to help the executive and the organization as a whole meet their business IT objectives. Furthermore, the practical side of the CIO can be better understood by referring to what traditionally CIOs were hired to do within organizations. It was couple decades ago practical for business executives to hire CIOs when there were urgent needs for the organization to reorganize to the information systems (IS) in order to expressly define new rules and policies on how IS are produced and distributed company-wide. This practical side of the role of CIOs as seen and

adopted by organizations was used as a tool for easing and achieve the alignment of the IS cell with the broader organizational goals. That is, within the practical prism or option, CIOs were or are likely to be hired because the organization was or is growing and expanding, and executives realized the imperative for their business processes to be revisited, updated and/or upgrade. This option that has helped chief executive officers (CEOs) make IT business cases to their board of directors, as they recognized that hiring a CIO is not only for implementing new systems but more importantly to managing the difficult part of all IT projects: cultural and change management (Eiras, 2009).
The CIO position merged with another executive position In the context of this ultra-competitive business environment, organizations expect from their IT the delivery of solutions that will enable them for achieving their goals of having and preserving their competitive advantage. For that happening, IT would have to be managed in a way that will align with the business; the goals of IT and the rest of the enterprise must be compatible and mutually supporting. As business strategy and IT are increasingly and continuously converging, CIOs are finding themselves in environment where their traditional role tends to merge with another executive position, such as: chief financial officer (CFO), chief marketing officer (CMO), chief technology officer (CTO), and much more depending on the size and the business organizational structure. A situation, which is a reflection of what the evolving aspect of the CIO role, that offers both great risks and great rewards. The days when CIOs could succeed only by focusing and running their IT departments efficiently and efficient seem to be gone. Therefore, CIOs must also actively embrace a new and additional role by merging with another position within the C-suite, and prove themselves as business thought savvy and leaders among senior management. There are several opportunities to do just that: First, CIOs must help reconcile the need for corporations to have a uniform IT reach nationally or globally with the respect necessary for the way business is done regionally. Second, CIOs must have a seat at the table during due diligence of potential mergers and acquisitions. And third, they must actively champion new business initiatives, not just IT. “CEOs are in clear need of "co-drivers" who combine technology expertise with business skills; however, few CIOs are currently regarded as true members of the executive management team. While they have technological expertise, they are not perceived to have the requisite level of business skill - limiting their potential for change.” (Pratt, 2011, p. 2)
The CIO transformed into a new more strategy oriented executive position

Today’s CIOs face unique challenges and unique rewards. They must position themselves strategically at the center of senior management in order to help formulate and drive business strategy based on their knowledge of IT — how it may be hamstrung by realities in the field, and how it can work to transform challenges into previously untapped corporate opportunities. Successful CIOs must position themselves at the heart of any corporate hierarchy and make decisions in concert with senior management. For many CIOs, this requires a painful but necessary transition beyond their passion for and mastery of technology, namely and precisely what propelled their career in the first place, toward a role more focused on business and operations. They must understand business strategy and best practices, not just bits and bytes, and must also learn a new language, the business language. As Heistermann (2010, p. 11) wrote: “CIOs also need to learn to communicate in business terms … CIOs who talk to business managers about software migrations and database updates will be seen as technicians and not as business leaders.” But CIOs who manage how IT adds value to the business, by increasing efficiency or driving revenue, will showcase their savvy sense of business added Heistermann, (2010). If CIOs are truly going to deliver on the potential remit of their role, and the potential of IT, they will need to work harder to enhance their position. Less than half (48%) of the C-suite executives think the standing of CIOs has improved in recent years on a range of issues, from product innovation through to helping deliver on the operational agility of the company. While 60% of CIOs think they add strong value to fact-based decision-making when setting corporate strategy, just 35% of their C-suite peers agree, resulting in just 43% of CIOs reporting that they are deeply involved in strategic decision-making (Ernst and Young, 2012). The overview of the role of the CIO and the responses reported in the above referenced survey suggest that not only businesses, based on their strategic planning, are looking for a specific type of CIOs, but that the conception of the role and responsibilities of CIOs are constantly evolving, and candidates for this position will need to possess the right profile. For CIOs and business executives with the responsibilities to hired them, things will need to be work out so that they can together meet future challenges with interest and confidence. That is the reason why for the purpose of this paper, the third option of the CIO’s role as transformed into a new more strategy oriented executive position is the future that should be considered both with interests and challenges, and the next section is an attempt to, modestly, argue that perspective of what is clearly an evolving role.
The evolving role of the CIO = New more strategy oriented executive position Lindstrom, et al (2006) conducted a survey of Swedish CIOs regarding issues and constraints of their role within the organization. The results suggest that highest priority concerns are related to the following: 1) decreasing IT costs within the organization, 2) improving the relationship between IT and business parts of the organization and 3) Implement novel computer-aided support for the business part of the organization. Although this survey helps determine that CIOs should develop and possess a more business-oriented focus, there is a need to understand why? This paper presents an argumentation about how this option the ideal one, but also how it should be understood, and applied by outlining the facts that the transformation of business into technology can be linked to the cause and effect of the technological revolution that has transformed business into the technology intensive industry it is today.

Due to the increased importance of technology, it is only natural that the person determining the influence of technology on the business is the CIO. But, the choice of progressing to a strategic CIO or regressing to an operational CIO is not a choice, but an ultimatum. Broadbent and Katzis (2005) reported that: "Standing still is not an option-every CIO will follow one of two paths based on these perspectives." That is, the one who transitions into the strategic CIO will be rewarded with respect and admiration from his/her peers (and perhaps a few extra dollars). There is not a plethora of literatures discussing what the future holds for CIOs roles and responsibilities, but the few that are out there, researched in form of studies reaffirmed the evolving, transformational nature of the role CIOs would have to play, and the growing need for organizations of a CIO. Passino et al. (1988) indicated a bias to technology related issues with an emphasis on ability to communicate train and educate management and users. Polansky et al. (2004) discussed the future addressing these facts: 1) responsibilities will continue to shift from technical/operational to a strategic, decision-making, and managerial focus, 2) the CIOs success will be redefined to align with strategic, enterprise-wide organizational goals and objectives, 3) the priorities of the CIO and its mission of IT will be focused away from internal users, and redirected more towards external users, customers, partners network, service providers and other that are connected to the extended value chain, 4) human capital management will become a key CIO responsibility, 5) CIOs roles and responsibilities will become a combination of IT portfolio management, IT investment management and risk assessment, 6) business continuity and disaster recovery will continue to be seen as primary CIOs responsibilities, 7) actionable business intelligence will become a standard deliverable from IT, 8) increasing importance on governance will require the CIO to develop a deeper understanding and intuitive grasp of corporate finance and accounting processes, 9) CIOs will assume a greater leadership role with a focus on shaping and creating a world economy fuelled by information. It will be understandable that a first reading of the points made above can lead to just conclude only to the CIOs roles and responsibilities redefined which could be a little bit misleading. The reality and the important process not to overlook, is the fact that the evolving and transformational role of the CIO into a new more strategy oriented executive position have being dictated by the changing business and technological environment and organizations in their quest for sustained competitive advantage have no other choice but to apply those factors to the roles and responsibilities. That is, these factors are like ultimatum given to business executives and board of directors of corporations and any other organizations to change their ways and attitudes when it comes to IT. Meaning those business executives and others going forward will have to make IT a center piece of business decisions, upgrading the position of CIO to an executive status. Another reason why this transformation of the role of CIOs is the option with more potential for the future is the fact that it beside the business executives who will hire them, the burden is put back on the CIOs themselves as they will need to evolve them to be marketable.
CIOs need to show that they are capable to lead not only within the boundaries of the IT department but also organization-wide. Now, like never before, a CIO must be able to develop a convincing way forward for the business, to build a team work environment, and to initiate and execute sound business decisions, and to achieve, the CIO must develop and possess a strong skills portfolio (Riordan and White, 2009); by doing that he or she is adding several more capabilities to transition successfully to a broader executive or leadership position. Collaboration is, finally another reason CIOs role and responsibilities should be transformed into a new more strategy oriented executive position. For example, CIO-CMO collaboration is transforming the role of CIO as it has the potential of shaping the success of the enterprise strategically, and as these roles increase their focus on mastering the flow of customer data to consistently deliver a compelling customer experience. The technology and marketing functions need to extend beyond alignment and start to function like a single team focused on the customer. Pardeni, Madigan and Abele (2012) note some examples that are signaling the reality of this transformation of the role of CIOs. At Red Robin, the CIO has been renamed the chief of business transformation and has project management and accountability beyond technology.
At Cigna, the CIO-CMO partnership is also a big priority, and at Sears Holding, IT comes to marketing with ideas about what is possible and marketing brings IT problems it needs to solve. More and more, CIOs are the executives who are forging alliances and ensuring alignment with critical owners of business relationships, both within and outside the corporate boundary.
Conclusion
Since the inception of the CIO’s position, successful CIOs have been business strategists, despite the reticence of business executives to recognize the fact and elevate this position to a C-suite status. CIOs are capable of translating the value of technology in terms that can be understood by the business executives. It is long coming, but today, with the transformation from the practical and the merged roles to a CIO as strategic executive, organizations are coming to grasp with the realities that global competition can be solved by using efficiently IT, and recognizing the CIO as a strategic executive that has the potential of creating value for the organization through collaboration with other members of the C-suite, such as: the CEO, CFO, CMO, to name few. CIOs are recognizing that reality too, as this transformation of their role allow them to better externalize their decision making, strategic, and leadership skills. Standard IT “best practices” and management principles, like the one presented by Stenzel (2011), once the key to success for internally focused CIOs, are being supplemented by an additional set of values and requisite skills. Now the CIO must demonstrate his or her entrepreneurship, management skills, and show that he or she can, with expertise implement the continuous changes that sustain the organization competitive advantage. That is how there will be an increase to the demand of the CIO position as a senior level executive who meets with other executives. However is not always demonstrated that business and its CIOs are best organized for achieving successful business strategies. Wiggins (2005) suggest that the rise to CEO is based on merit, behavior style, and desire, and that CEOs and CIOs have similar leadership styles. The main problem is that too much is required from one person as the chief architect and disciple of technology and its strategy within the organization. Organization with segregation of responsibilities should make the CIO part of the C-suite. Doing so is beneficial to the CIO to nearly function with the top executives within the organization to establish a clear understanding of the market in which the firm sells its products and services, or operates. The characteristics of the duties in this area include: participating in industry meeting with line executives, becoming a partner with line management, and holding informal informational listening sessions. In order for the CIO to guarantee that IS projects and initiatives are increasing the value of the organization, the CIO must be able to thoroughly understand the business objectives of the organization. That is why transforming the CIO’s role and responsibilities into a new strategic executive are crucial. It makes the CIO responsible to outline the business objectives at executives’ meetings so that the proper technological infrastructure can be developed to support the accepted business strategies.

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