By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data-driven white label SEO
    Does Data Mining Really Help with White Label SEO?
    7 Min Read
    marketing analytics for hardware vendors
    IT Hardware Startups Turn to Data Analytics for Market Research
    9 Min Read
    big data and digital signage
    The Power of Big Data and Analytics in Digital Signage
    5 Min Read
    data analytics investing
    Data Analytics Boosts ROI of Investment Trusts
    9 Min Read
    football data collection and analytics
    Unleashing Victory: How Data Collection Is Revolutionizing Football Performance Analysis!
    4 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Future CIO: the Chief Integration Officer (redux)
Share
Notification Show More
Aa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Data Management > Future CIO: the Chief Integration Officer (redux)
Data Management

Future CIO: the Chief Integration Officer (redux)

Colin Beveridge
Last updated: 2012/07/09 at 9:21 AM
Colin Beveridge
7 Min Read
SHARE

Hard times call for hard thinking, supplemented by effective action. Achieving and sustaining our future relevance in a turbulent economic context will need a radical new approach to the way we deliver value for our stakeholders.

After years of careful observation, I have reached the sincere conclusion that the role of Chief Information Officer is not only redundant but was never really needed. I believe therefore that we should immediately scrap the role of Chief Information Officer and create instead a genuinely useful CIO role: that of Chief Integration Officer.

Hard times call for hard thinking, supplemented by effective action. Achieving and sustaining our future relevance in a turbulent economic context will need a radical new approach to the way we deliver value for our stakeholders.

More Read

How can CIOs Build Business Value with Business Analytics?

CIOs and Big Data [INFOGRAPHIC]
CIOs Predict IT Development
What Every CEO Needs to Know About IT
Informatica Gets Heiler for PIM and Product Information Management

After years of careful observation, I have reached the sincere conclusion that the role of Chief Information Officer is not only redundant but was never really needed. I believe therefore that we should immediately scrap the role of Chief Information Officer and create instead a genuinely useful CIO role: that of Chief Integration Officer.

Surprisingly, the CIO role has persisted despite often being poorly defined and misunderstood.

When the CIO first emerged from the swamps of IT, many people couldn’t see any need for a so-called Chief Information Officer; because they honestly thought the title was more suited to some sort of corporate librarian, rather than the custodian of crucial commercial intelligence.

And, of course, some unkind folk still joke that CIO simply stands for “Career Is Over.”

I have followed innumerable CIO debates over the years, each an occasion for much brow-beating and soul-searching about the nature and purpose of the CIO. Here are a few of the headline issues that have cropped up most regularly:
• The CIO has the best overall perspective of the enterprise
• Should a CIO automatically have right to a place on the Executive Board?
• We could do even more with technology, if the CIO was properly empowered
• Board-level colleagues don’t really think of the CIO as a business-person.

Which leaves us in a confusing situation where there is still no consensus about what a CIO does, or whether a CIO truly belongs at the top table.

These difficulties are probably best reflected in the diverse CIO Reporting lines which are often equally dilatory and liberally distributed across the CEO, CFO and COO portfolios.

Nobody could ever accuse us of doing things by halves.

Without a clear-cut and widely-accepted definition, the role of Chief Information Officer can be very confusing indeed, particularly when too readily combined with its ‘logical’ counterpart: a Chief Technology Officer. This CIO and CTO double act has been known to create double the confusion for all concerned.

Some incumbents and their colleagues prefer to interpret the CIO role as that of Chief Infrastructure Officer happily embroiled in the bowels of technology, instead of managing the life-blood of an effective enterprise.

While others, perhaps more ‘forward-thinkers’ wish to translate the CIO into quite a different beast: i.e. the Chief Innovation Officer, which is undoubtedly an even more ephemeral concept than Chief Information Officer –and most certainly an incredibly contested space.

My proposal for the next generation CIO is as Chief Integration Officer, a job that can be universally defined and a key corporate function for the foreseeable future.

Here is my reasoning. No individual, group, organisation or enterprise is a stand-alone venture. At every level, our world is constituted from constantly interacting dynamic systems and these living systems engage with each other, directly or indirectly.

In a joined-up world, we need properly joined-up-management. Successful systems must effectively integrate with each other, for mutual benefit. And yet, when it comes to our formal business systems [aka IT] we do not yet attempt let alone achieve seamless integration.

For sure, lots of people talk passionately about extended value chains, partnership, collaboration or electronic data interchange. But when push comes to shove most enterprises still have tremendously big gaps in their information systems – internally and externally.

That’s where the CIO as Chief Integration Officer comes in: a consistent, clearly defined role that will facilitate trans-enterprise integration by providing natural mutual points of engagement and communication.

So what is the function of and value proposition of a Chief Integration Officer?

To ensure that their business is internally and externally coherent and congruent, through the effective integration of all business systems and processes with other stakeholders: whether they be individuals, corporate partners or statutory bodies.

How is this different from the function of a Chief Information Officer?
In two significant ways: firstly the current parallel Chief Technology Officer (CTO) job leads to great confusion of boundaries and responsibilities in many organisations so with the CTO reporting instead to the Chief Integration Officer, any uncertainty of accountability for end-to-end integration of people, process and technology would be removed.

Secondly, the role of the Chief Integration Officer would be unequivocally recognised as a top-table function, rather than the current uncertain position of a Chief Information Officer who is often kept beyond arm’s length from the top-table.

:mrgreen: This isn’t just about job titles though, it’s about delivering effective information systems, in a world persistently populated by uncertainty, ambiguity and complexity.

 

TAGGED: cio
Colin Beveridge July 9, 2012
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

IoT Cybersecurity
4 Common Misconceptions Surrounding IoT Cybersecurity Compliance
Internet of Things
iot and cloud technology
IoT And Cloud Integration is the Future!
Internet of Things
ai in marketing
4 Ways AI Can Improve Your Marketing Strategy
Artificial Intelligence
data security unveiled
Data Security Unveiled: Protecting Your Information in a Connected World
Security

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

Analytics

How can CIOs Build Business Value with Business Analytics?

8 Min Read

CIOs and Big Data [INFOGRAPHIC]

0 Min Read
CIO and IT development
AnalyticsBig DataBusiness IntelligenceIT

CIOs Predict IT Development

4 Min Read

What Every CEO Needs to Know About IT

9 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai is improving the safety of cars
From Bolts to Bots: How AI Is Fortifying the Automotive Industry
Artificial Intelligence
data-driven web design
5 Great Tips for Using Data Analytics for Website UX
Big Data

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?