High Expectations

While a working understanding of technology will become commonplace among this new generation of CEOs, don't imagine this will force a "return to technology" for CIOs of the future, says Patrick Gray, president of US-based Prevoyance Group.

Technology is becoming a core function of every business. When accounting was the de facto "language of business" it wasn't the CFO with "technical" accounting knowledge that was in demand, but the one who could make sense of the increasingly complex aspects of accounting, and determine how to generate competitive advantage therein.

"You don't hire the guy who knows the most about debits and credit; you hire the one that tells you how to make money via the technical side of accounting," Gray says. "Similarly, the CIO of the future will worry less and less about the nuts and bolts of technology and more about how a given technology can elevate a business above its competitors, or put the company at risk of losing market share. The CIO role will become even more strategic as IT permeates companies and becomes just as much of a core function as accounting and finance."

Many future CIOs can expect to work with boards and CEOs who understand precisely what IT can and should contribute to the company, and who set their expectations accordingly, says Martin Christopher, director of information technology at US-based TomoTherapy. And those expectations will include that their CIO be prepared to immediately contribute to the strategic plan with enabling technologies, and to quickly provide system solutions to business challenges.

"CEOs will know better than to accept excuses about data islands, disparate applications, vendor failures, or internal politics as justification for receiving limited value from IT. They will expect their CIOs to lead the company through those challenges to the successful realization of the corporate vision," Christopher says. "CIOs who aren't prepared to drive their organizations to provide innovative and effective technology solutions will find themselves moved aside and/or relegated to the role of operational managers under the CXO who can meet those new, higher expectations."

The role of the CIO is becoming increasingly ambiguous, notes Adam Bateson, director, business development NetReturn Consulting. A CEO that has some understanding of technology might have high expectations and could represent greater risk than someone that has limited knowledge. This will present a particular challenge for CIOs looking to help their organizations prepare for the IT shops of the future.

"A successful organization will be providing a clear career path from CIO to COO or CEO - such as Ann Myers's recent promotion at ING Direct - and incentives for CIOs to correlate significant IT decisions to shareholder value."

CIOs need more than a better understanding of technology, Bateson points out. That means CIOs moving away from fire-fighting and maintenance by gaining support from the business (demonstrating people skills and emotional maturity) to introduce effective security and utility to automate standard IT functions, so they can focus on proactive measures based upon creating revenue, business retention and/or cost avoidance/reduction.

Current technology allows organizations to start to adopt systems that work the way the user works, rather than forcing the user to learn the technology, Bateson says. Organizations with a CIO that can harness this type of technology effectively (by acknowledging the motivation of the user as the priority), will find themselves at a major competitive advantage.

Profound Impact

Saying the CIO's focus will revert back to technology when CEOs are more IT-literate is like saying the CFO role will revert back to accounting when the CEO and the board become finance literate, says Lars e Hjaltman, group CIO at UK-based vacation real estate agency group RCI. The reality is that the role of CEO and board is changing, Hjaltman says. In every Western market the board is taking a greater interest in and control of operation, strategy and change and the CEO role is transforming considerably because of it.

With best practice and regulatory hurdles minimizing the role the CEO can play on the board, and with CEOs increasingly less likely to become chairman, the trajectory for CEOs across both Western and Eastern economies is to increasingly become more of a knowledge base and "elder" of the "tribe", a leader that is respected by its "tribe" and followed.

Young aspiring CIOs meanwhile, having grown up as technology was transforming the world, are much more likely to be comfortable in driving and living with change than the current crop, but will struggle with leadership. Indeed Hjaltman believes what the "new breed of CIOs" have gained in understanding in technology they are losing in leadership and the ability to influence human beings. Since such critical social behaviours are not something they grow up with, he expects the CIO role to become ever more senior as the emphasis grows on skills that foster innovation, drive value and have serious business impact. Expect the next generation of potential CIOs to linger longer in lower technical roles.