IT trends redefining CIO's role

The changing IT landscape, with trends such as the cloud, big data and mobile applications, is forcing chief information officers (CIOs) to re-examine their role and contribution, says regional director of Africa at NetApp, Mike Ridley.

"We're going through another IT revolution now, driven not by a single innovation but by several. According to a Gartner survey of CIOs, mobile (70%), big data/analytics (55%), social media (54%), and the cloud (51%) will be the technologies which have the biggest impact on the industry in the next decade," explains Ridley.

He notes that the CIO is still seen as managing fleets of PCs, rooms full of servers, the networks that connect them and the software they run.

"However, the new wave of innovation will make all that IT infrastructure a commodity, perhaps even a function of purchasing or facilities management. Infrastructure will go the way of the desktop computer, offering no competitive advantage and available off the shelf," he says. "As a result, companies will need to embrace cloud technology in different ways, picking and choosing the right mix of public, private and hybrid cloud systems for different needs. "

Ridley refers to a Gartner survey holding the view that more CIOs will find themselves leading in areas outside traditional IT to ensure the maximum return on investment.

"They are starting to assume responsibility for hunting for digital opportunities and harvesting value, he says. "This is reflected in the changing status of the job. Already, the majority of CIOs (67%) have significant leadership responsibilities outside IT, a significant increase in just five years."

He points out that these new responsibilities and opportunities fall into a number of distinct roles with individual CIOs combining them to create their own unique portfolio of responsibilities

The chief digital officer is already a recognised role in many businesses, says Ridley, adding that "one in five CIOs already acts in this capacity, according to Gartner, leading digital commerce and channels and being responsible for evolving the business to embrace digital transformation, while 5-6% of companies actually have someone with this title."

It's better for CIOs to embrace this role and stay relevant, urges Ridley, by delivering digital initiatives from the IT department. To do this they need to learn to stop being an obstacle to be sidestepped and start presenting themselves as partners who can make things happen.

"The new wave of technology commoditises things that were previously thought of as core competencies," observers Ridley. "For example, databases can be hosted in the cloud and line-of-business applications are available as a service. Even services such as application development can be outsourced and handled offshore to save money."

A key role for the CIO, he says, is deciding what can be outsourced and what must be kept in-house. IT organisations need to focus on activities that add value or differentiate.

"CIOs must also orchestrate a mosaic of suppliers and ensure consistent levels of reliability, security and performance. The portfolio of suppliers may or may not include in-house teams and IT assets such as data centres."

Businesses don't "move to the cloud", their data does, remarks Ridley, further advising CIOs to ensure that data in the cloud is secure and well managed, moving from multiple management tools to a single, integrated system that can manage their entire environment.

"Perhaps the biggest opportunity, certainly the boldest, is for CIOs to become chief innovation officers, leading the way to new business opportunities and new ways of doing business. In other words, they can transform themselves into business engineers rather than IT engineers."

Ridley shares that learning to harness the power of disruptive technology is the answer to the "innovator's dilemma", which threatens successful incumbent businesses. CIOs, he adds, can incubate new ideas and pilot new technology in a way that other business units cannot, and CIOs embrace this new role.

"Today, half (49%) of CIOs say they are well positioned to promote game-changing innovations, with only a quarter (26%) saying that they were able to do so three years ago."

Ridley concludes that CIOs can position themselves as the collators, providers and analysts with the IT department becoming an organisation's intelligence agency, providing insights, analysis and warnings that help the rest of the organisation make smarter decisions.