What is a CIO ?

I was recvently reviewing some research undertaken by Deloitte and Cranfield University regarding the role of the CIO in business today. The research identifies five different kinds of IT leadership and argues that organisations require these different leadership styles as their use of technology matures.

The first style of leadership is the traditional IT manager or IT director whose primary role revolves around the provision of infrastructure, communications and systems. This style of leadership is called for where IT is seen purely as a support function for accounting, billing etc.

The second style is the Evangelist CIO whose role is to raise the profile of IT in the organisation and sell the idea that IT can deliver business value. The CIO seeks to convince his peers of the transformational power of IT through vision and delivery of capabilities that improve operational performance.

As the power of IT becomes more recognised within the organisation a CIO who is able to lead by example is required. This is what is called the Innovator CIO. This CIO should propose how IT can support the delivery of new products or services and deliver competitive advantage to the organisation. He should also try to encourage the use of technology in this way throughout the organisation and not build his own empire around it.

The facilitator CIO is required to support the next stage in the evolution of the organisation. The role of the facilitator CIO is to ensure that technology pervades every part of the organisation and is used on a horizontal rather than on a departmental or divisional basis.

In the final stage the organisation is sufficiently mature and the use of IT sufficiently embedded in the organisation that an IT manager or IT director is what is really required and not a CIO, thereby bringing things full circle. At this stage the facilitator CIO should look to move themselves into a different CxO role.

While these CIO role definitions are somewhat utopian I nevertheless find them insightful and think that they may prove useful to anyone who is seeking to expand their role beyond that of an IT manager of IT director or indeed a CIO.

More detail on these roles and further research on the role of the CIO can be found in the research report at http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/article/0,1002,cid%253D237072,00.html.