Nearshore Americas
Role of CIO

Evolving CIO Responsibilities Shifting Role toward Business Executive Framework

The role of CIO is increasingly looking more like a business executive than a delivery executive, as many are focusing on driving revenue and exploiting data instead of controlling cost and engineering processes.

Today, the more mature an enterprise’s digital business is, the more likely the CIO will report to the CEO, and CIOs from top performing organizations are now spending up to four days more on executive leadership, according to a study by research firm Gartner.

Advancing technology and the changing business culture in corporate offices are some of the reasons behind the changing roles of IT leaders.

“In this new world, CIO success is not based on what they build, but the services that they integrate,” saai Andy Rowsell-Jones, Vice President at Gartner. “The IT organization will move from manufacturer to buyer, and the CIO will become an expert orchestrator of services.”

CIOs have not completely moved away from their traditional jobs, with many of them continuing to oversee IT delivery, but such responsibilities are gradually disappearing.

“While delivery is still a part of the job, far greater emphasis is being placed on attaining a much broader set of business objectives,” Rowsell-Jones explained.

Changing technology trends, specifically cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI), will significantly change how they do their jobs in the years to come.

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Considering the study, there is a growing acceptance on the use of artificial intelligence within corporations. About 25% of respondents in the survey said they have already deployed or about to deploy AI in their organizations.

The study gathered data from 3,160 CIO respondents in 98 countries and all major industries, representing approximately US$13 trillion in revenue/public sector budgets and US$277 billion in IT spending.

Narayan Ammachchi

News Editor for Nearshore Americas, Narayan Ammachchi is a career journalist with a decade of experience in politics and international business. He works out of his base in the Indian Silicon City of Bangalore.

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