At the end of a long week of meeting dozens of CIO’s around the country during the HP Software Outcomes Tour, I have the following observations: The demands placed on the CIO today are greater than ever – causing a major shift in the CIO’s role within many organizations. Complexity is greater than ever, fueled by a highly fragmented IT offering set and global competition. While complexity is growing exponentially, time to market is pushing back against it, frequently causing disconnects between the CIO and their business partners. While some CIO’s still don’t do it well, rationalization of initiatives, alignment of the IT team, alignment of the CIO with the c-level team are mandatory for having any hope of success. Today’s CIO must provide effective strategies, deliver operations excellence, be a great negotiator, have good communication skills and provide outstanding leadership. They must be a team leader that understands the enterprise-level financial engineering required for success. Obviously, all these traits are rare if not impossible for one person to master. Therefore, talent acquisition, talent retention and leadership skills must be relied upon to create an aligned team to meet these demands. Keith Morrow K. Morrow Associates, LLCwww.keithmorrow.com Keith is the former CIO of 7-Eleven Inc and a board member of the State of Texas Dept of Info resources (DIR) http://www.dir.state.tx.us/dir_overview/board_members.htm Related content opinion Android Security Hole of the Week: Researchers ID New, Severe DoS Attack A group of Italian security researchers have discovered a new Android Denial of Service (DoS) attack that can render Google smartphones and tablets useless in a matter of minutes, making it the most severe Android DoS attack ever identified. By Al Sacco Mar 27, 2012 3 mins Small and Medium Business Smartphones Mobile Security opinion Trip to Ethiopia Trip to Ethiopia to meet with couple of microfinance institutions By Jiten Patel Jul 24, 2010 2 mins IT Leadership opinion CGAP - Virtual Conference Recap: Hurdles to Surmount for Microfinance - Capacity Building & Technology Good 2 day conference on challenges faced by Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) on the critical subjects of capacity building and By Jiten Patel Jul 09, 2010 1 min IT Leadership opinion CGAP Virtual Conference - Day 2 Jul 8th: Getting past the technology hurdles faced by MFIs CGAP Forum - Getting past the technology hurdles faced by MFIs By Jiten Patel Jul 08, 2010 1 min IT Leadership Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe