The CIO's Perennially Changing Role

Arun Gupta The author is CIO, Shoppers Stop

CIOs are in an enviable position today; across many companies they occupy a position on the management table, participate, and contribute in business and strategy discussions, shape how the enterprise consumes information, and lead many change and transformation journeys. Over the years the consolidation of the role from churning out reports and running accounting systems, to being a technologist, and now a business leader, the evolution has been quicker than any other CXO role. Many debates have berated the lack of business acumen and the jargon filled vocabulary that typecast the role; unfazed, the change the CIO has created to the persona has now left many critics speechless.

Disruptive paradigms and technologies continue to raise expectations of not just where the CIO should be devoting attention, but how s/he can contribute to the adaptation of these towards creation and sustenance of competitive differentiation. Transitioning from bridging the gap, to alignment, to being an enabler, many CIOs have added business functions to their portfolio. To a few, the obvious question hanging in the air is what next.

Even when the CIO was slowly albeit steadily rising through the ranks, the question has been asked through the last decade by everyone who is in any way connected to IT and the CIO. Within the enterprise as well as academics, consultants, IT publishers joined the crescendo raising the performance bar. Lateral movement was considered elevation of role as IT was still perceived as a support function. Innovation and efficiencies across the enterprise were slowly acknowledged; the challenge was then raised to the apex position of the CEO.

Few achieved this pinnacle too, and then some challenged the challenge and crafted the lesser trodden path towards entrepreneurship leaving the skeptics confused. Some decided that being world-class CIOs was their destiny and embraced it with contentment. A minority failing to embrace change continued with the legacy of technology thus being relegated to the back-office reporting into the CFO. Organizations unable to
accept the winds of change and cultural challenges also saw aspirants exit to greener pastures.

New disruptive paradigms and technology-led change once again brings to fore the question if the role of the CIO as we know today is likely to be redundant in the coming years. Consumerization of IT and on-demand availability of infrastructure, applications, and changing engagement models with the IT ecosystem intensify the debate.

It is evident that change is imminent, business and technology as we know it is being driven by their customers and end consumers. Change has been the hallmark of the CIOs role since its inception and they are no longer enamored by technology. As clearly illustrated by Charles Darwin, this group has demonstrated resilience which creates confidence that the majority amongst CIOs will adapt to the new environment and thrive in it; in fact, many will be the agents of organizational change. The new goal has moved from cost
savings to revenue generation.

We all live under the same sky but have different horizons. If you are a young CIO or an aspiring one, irrespective of the path you choose, there is no compromise on the basic tenets like business and domain expertise, understanding of technology, people skills, challenging status quo, effective communication, and above all a friendly and positive attitude. The list is not comprehensive, it could fill this page and more; it is not just the presence of these but how they are applied everyday across situations that derives success or the lack of it.

The future CIO may not manage IT infrastructure as clouds would be ubiquitous, application development may cease to exist as an activity with multitude of options to choose from ranging from micro-apps on the mobile devices to hosted cloud based solutions. Collaboration within and outside will drive efficiencies; consumption of information and insights derived out of analytics are already shaping business strategy. The CIO is best positioned to ingrain this across the layers of the enterprise.

As a CIO, you have the choice.