CIO OPINION
The old CIO was a technology specialist . The new CIO is a business leader with appropriate skills to match .
Peter Hannaford , Senior Partner , Portman Partners
Out with the old : The evolving role of the CIO
The CIO role has changed somewhat over the past year – becoming more strategic , with responsibilities and priorities aligned with innovation and business growth . Peter Hannaford , Senior Partner , Portman Partners , discusses the need for immediate transformational change within an organisation , and how the CIO can help to drive this change .
It wasn ’ t so long ago that the CIO was known as the trusted guardian of a firm ’ s IT infrastructure , with responsibility for the implementation , management and use of computer and Information Technology .
A Deloitte survey in 2017 reported that 58 % of CIOs said ‘ helping in business innovation ’ was a core expectation of the IT organisation . However , this ‘ business innovation ’ was rarely defined or understood , but the role was becoming more strategic and effectively had three main objectives :
• Managing innovation in technologies – like storage and the cloud ; facilitating the delivery of solutions much more quickly , thereby creating agility for the business ; shifting IT spending from capital expenditures to operating expenditures ; and positively impacting the bottom line .
• Enabling the workforce – With technology and software to assist them in performing their jobs , enhancing productivity and improving decision-making .
• Introducing disruptive innovation – to improve customer experience , Digital Transformation , and end-user products and services and therefore win business from competitors .
The arrival of COVID-19 changed everything , pushing worldwide Internet traffic through the roof and increasing our reliance on digital infrastructure like never before . From hyper hub to the Edge , digital infrastructure provided the ability to move
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