There have been lots of discussions lately around how CMOs are potentially swallowing up the role of the CIO. In fact within the next few years CMOs are projected to have larger operating budgets than CIOs. Everywhere you turn it seems like the topic of conversation is around the death of the CIO, how the CIO is in trouble, and how the CIO needs to change; basically doom and gloom. Several of the CIOs I’ve spoken with agree that this can get to be a bit depressing and demotivating and doesn’t really further the conversation.
Meet Stephen Lamb, he is the CIO of the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) and he sees something that flies in the face of all the talk of the CMO out-pacing the CIO. BCIT has 45,000 students and a faculty just shy of 2,000. A few months ago a company wanted to do a case study on the social enterprise collaboration software roll-out at BCIT and they asked to speak to whoever was responsible for all the project marketing and communications, Stephen said, “You’re talking to him.”
According to Stephen CIOs are not standing still or running for the hills, and they are certainly not down and out for the count. In my conversation with Stephen he brought up a few things that are not being addressed and discussed when it comes to the CIO which we need to remember.
CIOs Touch All Aspects of Organizational Life
CIOs are uniquely positioned within the organization
and reach everyone and everything and they are perhaps the only ones
with the ability to do so. Whether they do so or not is dependent on the
culture of the organization, influence in the C-suite and the
disposition of the person (there is no cookie-cutter CIO). For every CIO
who is happy to stay back in the data center there is one trying to
break free of the old stereotypes of solely looking after boxes and
wires. For some reason we seem to be neglecting to highlight this type
of CIO, why is that?
CIOs as Scapegoats
It’s convenient to paint CIOs, and for that matter, IT in general as the corporate dinosaurs who are going to become extinct. Stephen believes that it perhaps helps “validate” the actions of those who have gone off and done their own thing (fueling the App-lification of the enterprise and consumerization of technology).
How About Some Acknowledgement?
There is little acknowledgement and mention of the new breed of CIO. The primary focus is typically on historical pain points and doesn’t take into account the new generation of CIOs that haven’t necessarily cut their teeth on coding or infrastructure management. There are plenty of CIOs who don’t come from a computing background, Stephen is one of them. CIOs today don’t need to have a pure-bred computing background and in fact it can be more beneficial if they don’t. Having a background in knowledge management, analytics, marketing, or other line of business can be a unique differentiating factor for today’s CIO.
CIOs can dance!
The notion that you can only be creative if you are in marketing is nonsense! According to Stephen you have to be creative regardless of what leadership position you are in. At Stephen’s institution, he (nor marketing) is leading all of the creative efforts around marketing and employee adoption. The job is about selling ideas and getting people to change their behaviors or adopt new ways of working more effectively.
CIOs aren’t all about the numbers.
While cost savings and revenue generation seem to fall squarely in the lap of CIOs, many of them are actually deeply vested in supporting and even changing cultures within organizations. Oftentimes the CMO is typically external facing and can have very little connection or affinity with the workforce. The new breed of CIO however, is all about building that connection and adapting to the corporate culture.
Stephen makes some crucial points which I think we should all consider. Most people acknowledge that the role of the CIO is changing, but then again so is the role and responsibility of pretty much everyone else in the C-suite as new technologies and behaviors enter our organizations. I think it’s refreshing to hear from someone such as Stephen who is not focusing on the negative aspects of what is happening to CIOs. CIOs are still very much alive and uniquely positioned to drive amazing change within their companies. As Stephen aptly put, “perhaps a few CMOs might want to do a quick shoulder check.”
Jacob Morgan,
CIOs as Scapegoats
It’s convenient to paint CIOs, and for that matter, IT in general as the corporate dinosaurs who are going to become extinct. Stephen believes that it perhaps helps “validate” the actions of those who have gone off and done their own thing (fueling the App-lification of the enterprise and consumerization of technology).
How About Some Acknowledgement?
There is little acknowledgement and mention of the new breed of CIO. The primary focus is typically on historical pain points and doesn’t take into account the new generation of CIOs that haven’t necessarily cut their teeth on coding or infrastructure management. There are plenty of CIOs who don’t come from a computing background, Stephen is one of them. CIOs today don’t need to have a pure-bred computing background and in fact it can be more beneficial if they don’t. Having a background in knowledge management, analytics, marketing, or other line of business can be a unique differentiating factor for today’s CIO.
CIOs can dance!
The notion that you can only be creative if you are in marketing is nonsense! According to Stephen you have to be creative regardless of what leadership position you are in. At Stephen’s institution, he (nor marketing) is leading all of the creative efforts around marketing and employee adoption. The job is about selling ideas and getting people to change their behaviors or adopt new ways of working more effectively.
CIOs aren’t all about the numbers.
While cost savings and revenue generation seem to fall squarely in the lap of CIOs, many of them are actually deeply vested in supporting and even changing cultures within organizations. Oftentimes the CMO is typically external facing and can have very little connection or affinity with the workforce. The new breed of CIO however, is all about building that connection and adapting to the corporate culture.
Stephen makes some crucial points which I think we should all consider. Most people acknowledge that the role of the CIO is changing, but then again so is the role and responsibility of pretty much everyone else in the C-suite as new technologies and behaviors enter our organizations. I think it’s refreshing to hear from someone such as Stephen who is not focusing on the negative aspects of what is happening to CIOs. CIOs are still very much alive and uniquely positioned to drive amazing change within their companies. As Stephen aptly put, “perhaps a few CMOs might want to do a quick shoulder check.”
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