Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Blog: Beyond the Trillion Dollar Bonfire

As CIOs and their departments move into their next generation, promising to 'enable' others to achieve their business goals is unlikely to be enough.

I had dinner the other day with Colin Beveridge, who specialises in information systems strategies, and has a provocative blog entitled Fighting The Trillion Dollar Bonfire.

Colin is a man on a mission....

"Campaigning for a paradigm shift, moving forward from the redundant IT-centric paradigm, towards a new paradigm of truly effective information systems supporting successful organisations."

A few weeks ago he blogged "Who Says There Has to be a Function Called IT", and "Nobody Needs a Chief Information Officer". If you've read my book "fruITion", you'll know why these particular headlines made me want to catch up with Colin (but if you haven't read it yet, no spoilers!).

It turns out that Colin is not saying that the CIO role is dead. However, he does observe that the premise of the current role is misplaced and, somewhat worryingly, that:

"the current CIO definition is perceived to be interchangeable with Director/ Head of IT"

In a follow-up blog "Long Live the CIO" he reveals his chosen scenario for the future of the CIO as a Chief Integration Officer, whose function is:

"To ensure that the enterprise integrates effectively with other bodies (individual, corporate or statutory) in all formal and informal interactions."

Now, ‘ensure' is a powerful word, implying accountability far beyond the traditional perception of the CIO, and her strategy. This has primarily been centered on deploying systems that ‘enable' others in the organization to achieve their business goals.

In using the word ‘ensure' in his scenario, Colin immediately throws down the gauntlet for any CIO aspiring to the inner circle of corporate leadership. To ‘enable' is unlikely to be enough.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: CIO role
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Top 5 Threat Protection Best Practices
    Small businesses are especially vulnerable to computer viruses and lost or stolen data, since they typically lack the IT resources to deal with these threats. Inadequately protected computers open the door to annoying infections, or worse, serious business disruption. Below are five simple and effective strategies to help you protect your business against an ever-increasing number of threats.
    Learn more »
  • Data Deduplication Strategy Guide
    Data deduplication articles include: Data deduplication for SMEs: what to look out for; Reducing storage bloat; Buyers’ guide; Choosing the right deduplication method and Deduplication technology aids data storage.
    Learn more »
  • Managed Services Strategy Guide
    If you’ve heard the term managed services mentioned in relation to a broad range of different services, you could be left wondering what the phrase ‘managed services’ actually means. In simplest terms, managed services are any aspect of your business that you outsource to a third party to manage. This Computerworld Strategy Guide will review outsourcing options available and outline how managed services can help to reduce running costs for different aspects of your business, in turn increasing profitability within your business.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments

HP and IDG news, product videos and resources