Future CIO: Finding the Right Role for Your Business

Future CIO: Finding the Right Role for Your Business

This IDC Perspective is intended to help CIOs understand the importance of finding the right role for their business, what possible roles they could play, and how to find the role and build the team necessary to fulfill it. As traditional businesses evolve and transform into digital businesses, the role of the CIO necessarily changes, becoming more complex and varied. Because businesses transform at different rates to differing levels of digital maturity, the CIO role has become a "sliding scale," from least to most digitally engaged. CIO roles don't exist in a vacuum but are instead a function of the needs of the business and its customers, the CIO's capabilities and aspirations, and competition for digital leadership from LOB executives.At the same time, it's becoming clear that the CIO role has increased so much in complexity and scope that CIOs need augmentation in the form of a CIO suite, or office of the CIO. "One of the most powerful tools a CIO can possess is self-awareness of strengths, weaknesses, biases, and aspirations," says Marc Strohlein, adjunct research advisor with IDC's IT Executive Programs (IEP). "Being self-aware is critical to finding the right match between a CIO and his or her role in the enterprise."

Please Note: Extended description available upon request.