Accelerating change: The developing role of a CIO in today's market

In today’s digital marketplace, organisations are faced with a number of crucial questions: Are their current technology and systems enough to do the job they require? Are they planning to optimise their existing resources and upgrade their services or are they going through a complex digital transformation of their business?

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, companies had to cope with the new reality without time to plan or prepare. This feels like the beginning of a new era, where technological strategies no longer require step by step changes, but instead need to maintain the highest level of adaptability, creativity and resilience under all conditions. 

In this three-part article series, we will explore how businesses can accelerate their digital transformation in 2022. This involves discussing the changing role of an IT C-level executive in today's market, the reasons why Product Design is worth business investment, and finally how to deliver real value in Product Design with the right team.

The evolving role of an IT C-level executive

The role of an IT C-level executive is hugely different today than it was ten or even five years ago. Traditionally, chief information officers (CIOs) were responsible for managing all IT and computer systems within an organisation. This spans across creating technology policies, system maintenance and equipment procurement. The future IT C-level executive, however, is expected to have an increasing set of responsibilities. In fact, a report from Gartner stated that 84% of CIOs at top-performing corporations will have an influence on areas of the business outside of traditional IT, the most common being innovation and transformation.

The role of the CIO has accelerated in line with the evolving impact that technology has on business success. As tech becomes a pivotal element for organisations, IT C-level executives have become strategic and critical decision-makers, responsible for delivering growth and long term profitability. In the fast-paced market, they are now responsible for transforming IT into a source of innovation by taking advantage of all the opportunities that technology offers. In fact, a recent State of the CIO report from IDG stated that 82% of IT leaders implemented new technologies, strategies and methodologies in 2020. What’s more, it was reported that 96% of the CIOs surveyed declared that their role is expanding beyond traditional IT responsibilities, as they spend more of their time working on tasks that relate to aligning IT projects with business goals and leading business innovation. 

The new CIO

With innovation at the heart of corporate strategy, the distinction between business and technological success is blurring and CIOs are taking on increased responsibilities in the strategic decisions of their organisation. As technology is vital to the business bottom line, they can no longer simply be the technical experts. IT C-level executives are now taking on a tactical role in the growth and success of a company across the globe. Consequently, they are now faced with a growing set of responsibilities, and demands from their team to continue to lead the organisation to success.

Furthermore, CIOs need a range of technical expertise, business knowledge, and leadership skills in order to execute the company’s digital transformation and bring value to the organisation itself. In the next few years, digital strategies will mostly draw from data and business analytics, security or risk management, enterprise applications, customer experience technologies and Artificial Intelligence tools. The modern IT leader must understand how to manage and use these technologies to drive growth, and utilise the data insights to make strategic business choices.

Preparing for the future

It’s clear that IT C-level executives are now responsible for establishing a digital infrastructure that will accelerate their company’s digital transformation initiatives. Understanding how their role has changed will help CIOs to better prepare and create strategies to enhance the organisation’s ability to thrive in the digital economy. Firstly, C-level executives will be responsible for leveraging emerging technologies to drive business importance. Whilst they have always needed to keep updated on trends and technology, it’s even more vital as we move into 2022. New technologies such as machine learning, IoT and blockchain are already transforming the landscape, meaning CIOs need to stay up to date, evaluate whether it’s worth an investment and use them to bolster business performance.

As digital technology becomes more central to modern businesses, the organisational culture must also shift. IT leaders are responsible for ensuring that the culture is data driven, digital friendly, pro-learning and easily adaptable. With this, their role will become more focused on leadership, ensuring that they balance the goals and objectives of the organisations while making sure their teams remain supported and motivated. They need to possess effective communications skills, in order to lead their own teams as well as facilitate conversations between multiple stakeholders across the business. 

Transparency is critical between the CIO and the rest of the business. This allows them to concisely communicate and convey how the work of the whole team connects to the overall success of the business. Additionally, IT C-level executives play a pivotal role in data strategy. As a result, they need to understand each step in the data collection process, to effectively lead their team and make sure the right people are collecting and analysing the data. These insights can be used to inform decisions, inspire growth and create actionable tasks for the business. 

Expediting business transformation

It’s clear that IT C-level executives are now responsible for establishing a digital infrastructure that will accelerate their company’s digital transformation initiatives. Their role is no longer focused on technology, but instead, they are involved in shaping business strategy and creating long-term value for the whole organisation. CIOs are streamlining operations, by increasing efficiency, productivity, and adapting to changes as they come. They also need to be aware of ongoing challenges and be able to direct their teams to propel the company forward in the long term.