Technology and the Changing Role of the CIO: How have technological changes influenced the changing role of the CIO?

According to the magazine CIO, today, in most companies, the typical Chief of Informational Technology Operations tends to be more in agreement with his or her superiors and other company executives within the corporate structure than CIOs were likely to have been in the past. This is partly because of the greater ease and need to use technology in the workplace. The increasing use of computers by executives has created a greater facility of communication between CIOs and CEOs, for example. Also, the increased familiarity and use of all employees with technology has meant a greater respect for the vitality and expertise of the position of CIO amongst all company staff, including management. "As more executives use PCs," and "almost 40% of managers responding this year said they use a computer constantly," executives and managers better understand the need for CIOs. "In the old days, there was that unusual priesthood who knew things about computers," he says. "Now, everybody has a computer on his or her desk. Everybody has to know it," and they turn to the CIO for advice and guidance. (Taro, 1997)

Another shift in the role of the CIO has been shift away from the role of CIO as primarily a technical infrastructure builder. In most major corporations, "CIOs have already established standards, equipped users and influenced users' IT-related decision making, and now their bosses and peers expect them to play a bigger role in business decisions and to optimize their enterprises' systems by aligning IT and corporate goals." While before, "CIOs were seen as plant managers in a transaction factory. Now CIOs are part of the company." (Taro, 1997)

Thus, as technology becomes more accepted and a network becomes a given, CIOs begin to form a more holistic function in the company. "Aligning IT and corporate goals" have become the CIO's most important role, rather than just trouble-shooting individual problems and building an internal technical infrastructure from scratch.

Works Cited

Taro, Ronald. (April 1, 1997) "Taking Care of Business." CIO. Retrieved 17 Jan 2005 at http://www.cio.com/archive/040197/role.html