The Strategic Role of the CIO in Enterprise Business Systems

Introduction

One of the most criticized aspects of modern business life has been the role of the chief executive. In the public's mind, the CEO is often an overpaid, over-privileged individual rewarded with perks rather than required to perform to his or her maximum capacity as an employee. Concerns about corruption and ethics have caused the media and investors to view this figure in the corporate hierarchy with suspicion. In contrast, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) often faces the opposite problem: he or she is viewed as a specialist in a technical occupation rather than as a critical part of the developing business management infrastructure (Surmacz, 2004).

The CIO has often been seen as a technocrat rather than someone who can contribute holistically to the overarching vision of a business. This is not simply the company's fault, however. Too many CIOs judge implementations "by measuring the technical capacity of a project, instead of considering how it has improved their companies' business" (Schrage, 2004). The corporate structure must therefore embrace the role of the CIO, and the CIO must in turn shift his or her role to accommodate the needs of modern business — creating a forward-looking vision rather than merely satisfying the requirements of a balance sheet on an annual basis.

Information-Gathering Methods for Requirements Analysis

Johan Arleback and Tor Mesoy's article for CIO Online, "Four High Performance Opportunities for CIOs," makes clear that there is a critical role for the CIO to play in today's changing business climate, particularly for companies with highly vested technological interests (Mesoy & Arleback, 2004). According to their analysis, businesses must reevaluate the role of their CIOs within their management infrastructure. Companies, particularly technology companies, are under-using their CIOs. A recent survey of CIOs and CEOs found that most CIOs reported their CEOs still do not actively invite them to strategic planning meetings, but instead expect CIOs to make quick fixes for company losses by cutting budgets (Mesoy & Arleback, 2004).

Business Process Mapping Methods

Through the use of questionnaires and company interviews, organizations must critically reevaluate their leadership structures and the utilization of CIO analysis. Does the CIO make a meaningful contribution to the organization as a whole? And are his or her contributions integrated into the company's long-term strategy?

Information technology is becoming an ever-larger part of the global economy, requiring new long-term mapping strategies to keep pace with technology's growing role in business success. "According to Eurostat, spending on information technology went from 3.9 percent of the combined gross domestic products of Japan, the European Union, and the United States in 1992 to 4.5 percent for 2001, the latest year available" (Mesoy & Arleback, 2004).

It is important to recognize that such information mapping is not intrinsic to any single phase of the business cycle. Even during recessions, new technologies are constantly being developed and may reach maturity during periods that are not financially convenient. Driving the increasing importance of technology development across cycles of growth and contraction is the imperative to manage information technology for high performance throughout varying economic conditions. "Companies delivering the highest total return to shareholders throughout a five-year period before, during, and after the major recession in the early 1990s were the ones managing to retain profitable revenue growth rather than focusing purely on cost cutting" — revenue growth generated by maintaining a healthy expansion of their technical capabilities (Mesoy & Arleback, 2004). The ability of a CIO to highlight both critical technical and financial dimensions of a business as part of a long-term corporate strategy cannot be underestimated.