Project Management Newsletter
 
NEWSLETTERS
 

CIO.com updates, insights and advice on technology, management and your career.

 
 
 
LEADERSHIP
 
CIO Executive Programs
The Leader in Face-to-Face Education for Senior Executives

Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »

 
CIO Executive Council
A Peer-Advisory Service and Professional Association for CIOs

Turn Geeks into Leaders

June 17, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM U.S./ET (GMT-4)

Larry Bonfante, CIO of the U.S. Tennis Association, will discuss the skills and approaches that your rising IT leaders must learn to be effective in an executive capacity.

How to Handle Your New CEO: Managing Turnover at the Top

June 18, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM U.S./Eastern (GMT-4)

Turbulent times have increased turnover at the top. Find out what Council CIOs have done to "break in" new CEOs—build relationships, set expectations, educate on the role of IT.

Mid-Market CIO Panel: Tips and Techniques for Improving Vendor Relationships

July 15, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM U.S./Eastern (GMT-4)

We'll highlight relationship priorities and best practices identified in a Council study, and we'll interact with a CIO panel on the approaches they've used to improve strategic vendor partnerships.

Executive Competencies Assessment Tool

Assess Your Business Leadership Skills with the Council's new benchmarking tool. Rate yourself in change leadership, strategy, customer focus and more.

More / Register »

Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »



 
 
RESOURCE CENTER
 
 
 
SUBSCRIBE TO CIO
 
Are you involved in setting the direction for your company's IT budget or strategy?

Apply today for a FREE subscription to CIO Magazine!

 
 

Leadership - Picking a CIO Career Path Based on Leadership Strengths

Recently I participated in a panel at a financial services technology conference. During the question and answer period, a senior ...

 

January 15, 2006CIO

Recently I participated in a panel at a financial services technology conference. During the question and answer period, a senior partner from one of those high-dollar strategic consulting firms had the temerity to ask me how quickly I thought the role of CIO would disappear.

This gentleman is a friend and former colleague and was himself a successful CIO. He and I have been discussing this very question for a number of years now. But there, in front of dozens of current and aspiring CIOs, I had to admit that I believe the role as we know it would disappear at many companies—and in the not-too-distant future.

Perhaps you’re skeptical, but hear me out: Change in the CIO role is already upon us, and I would argue that it’s a natural evolution. Although technology will always have an integral role in business—we’ve become dependent on it—we’ll see a segmentation of CIO duties. In many instances, the CIO will continue as an operations leader, delivering services to the business units of an organization. However, in time we’ll see more CIOs evolving into strategic leaders, driving and enabling business strategy.

This evolution will be good for all of us because we’ll have the opportunity to make the best use of our strengths as leaders, whether as operations experts or strategists.

Two Visions of IT Leadership

Which type of leader a CIO becomes depends on how critical technology is to a company’s operations. A useful way to think about this is to use a measure that I call "IT Intensity." IT intensity is a company’s IT expense as a percentage of total operating expenses. In firms with high IT Intensity, it may be said that technology is part and parcel of the business and that it is difficult to separate the two. An example would be my company, Ameritrade. Technology is paramount in everything we produce, from the tools our clients use online to the back-end technology that routes their orders to the stock markets. At the other end of the spectrum are low-IT intensity companies, such as retailers or hospitality companies, for which other factors, such as efficiency or client service, are more critical for achieving business goals.

At low-IT intensity companies, the CIO will become a manager of relationships with outsourcers. For such companies—where IT is not a core function—efficiency, availability and cost are likely to be the primary drivers of IT decisions, and these companies will be better off having someone else deliver IT.

 
 
Loading...
 
WHITE PAPERS

Enterprise Performance Management

15 years after "The Performance Measurement Manifesto" was published by the Harvard Business Review, companies continue to redesign how they measure their business performance.
 

Management Excellence

In this white paper, read how Oracle's Strategy-to-Success management framework provides that critical framework context.
 

In Search of Management Excellence

Read about this exclusive survey of CIOs and CFOs to learn why both camps say Management Excellence is the key to competitive advantage.
 

Meet Rising Demands on IT and Cut Costs

Strategies for Modernizing IT, Reducing Costs, and Improving Operational Efficiency
 

Save On Data Center Costs

Using a five step process one organization was able to eliminate more than 2,000 servers from their IT infrastructure
 

Deliver Higher-Performing Technology Services with ITIL

Enable the business and your IT organization to cope with the effects of economic stress.
 

WEBCASTS

BMC Service Assurance Demo

What if you could predict disruptive IT events and automate their resolution -- all before they disrupt your busine...
 

BMC Service Automation Demo

BMC Service Automation automates repetitive, manual tasks (such as provisioning, patching and compliance) to reduce...
 

BMC Application Performance and Analytics: Predictive Intelligence in Action

See the highlights of BMC's Application Performance and Analytics; a predictive, resourceful and intelligent soluti...
 

Taking the Service Desk to the Next Level

Listen to this conversation with Doug Mueller to learn how standards and processes have evolved to bring us the ser...
 

How to Reduce Eclipse BIRT Development Effort for Data Visualizations

Live Webcast: Wednesday July 15th 2 PM ET / 11 AM PT

Web applications can come with a long list of visualiz...
 

Gen Y: IT's 'FWC' - Friends with Challenges

IT Professionals are positive on Gen Y employees. But that's just half the story. Their love affair with social med...
 

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notifications by topic when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library.

 
IT Jobs
 
 
 
FEATURED SPONSORS
 
 
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

Taking the Service Desk to the Next Level

Maximizing the Business Value of the PC Infrastructure

How Interactive Viewer Reduces the Effort to Meet Visualization Requirements

Top 10 Business and IT Drivers for the Wealth Management Sector

BPM Survey Results: The Real-World Analysis

BPM: Leveraging Competencies and Streamlining Processes to Achieve Operational Excellence

Achieving Pervasive Performance Management

Automating the Generation and Secure Distribution of Excel Reports

Accenture IT Consulting: Enabling high performance. More...

Top Five CIO Challenges

Insight makes it easy to spend your Microsoft subsidy check.

Five minute business analytics assessment. Immediate results.

Dangerous Collaboration Practices: 5 Ways IT Can Minimize Risk

Accenture: Outsourcing for uncertain times. Click to learn more.

The Case for Investing in Business Analytics Technology. Read white paper.

Live Webinar: Applying Business Analytics. Click here to learn more

Developing A Dynamic, Real-Time IT Infrastructure

Data Loss Prevention: A Better Way to Approach Security

Using Open Source to Deploy Web Applications

Cloud Computing: Read about VMware's compelling vision & set of products

Enterprise PBX Buyer's Guide

Secondary Market Primer: Your Network at Half Price

Losing Ground: 2009 TMT Global Security Survey

White Paper: 8 Key Ingredients to Building an Internal Cloud

Read about virtualization and consolidation effort best practices

Seven Ways ITIL Can Help You in an Economic Downturn

Communications and Collaboration Needs at Business Organizations

Top-line Performance that's Bottom-line Efficient

5 Steps to Automating Accounts Payable

BPM ROI calculator

Disciplined Autonomy: Resolving the Tension Between Flexibility and Control

Smart Decisions: The Role of Key Performance Indicators

Introducing the new HP ProLiant G6 server family

Accenture: Outsourcing for Competitive Advantage. More...

Better spam protection with Postini for just $1/user/mo

Introducing the new HP ProLiant G6 server family

infoBOOM! - The Mid-Sized Company CIO's Exclusive Community

Accenture IT Consulting: Logical meets technological. More . . .

The Fraudster Economy Model: Operating a Business in the Underground

Trade in your old laser printer and get up to $1000 back!

Revolutionizing Enterprise Application Deployment

Why Data Loss is Increasing--and What You Can Do About It

Learn how to managing client systems in the enterprise.

Build a High-Performance Open Web Platform

Mid-Sized Company CIO Community: infoBOOM!

Enterprise PBX Comparison Guide

Getting Value from Outdated Networking Equipment

Stop Application Fraud at the Source with Device Reputation

Learn about the VMware vSphere (TM) & Intel (R) Xeon (R) Processor 5500 Series

Learn how a virtualized enterprise can help your company reduce costs