This, the June 2003 issue, marks the completion of ten years of publishing CIO Canada.
In those ten years, more than 100 CIOs have been featured, as representatives of notable technology-enabled business initiatives or as commentators on the issues and exemplary practices discovered through their experiences.
Many of their faces can be found among the ten years’ worth of magazine covers you’ll find in the collage that is the cover for this anniversary issue. And we like to think that some of the experiences and wisdom they’ve shared can be found in the collective undertakings of their peers and colleagues in the CIO Canada community.
Ten years ago, the title CIO was relatively new, and the now-old chestnut, “CIO stands for career is over,” was in vogue. Indeed, the average tenure of a CIO was something less than two years as companies struggled to find a balance between technology savvy and business skills in the office responsible for the strategic leadership of their companies’ information assets and technology.
Today, that struggle is still taking place in some mid-sized companies where IT may only just be emerging as a strategic tool, but for most large companies the CIO role is well-established, and job security is threatened only by the same politics and demands as any other executive role.
Ten years ago we talked about aligning IT strategy with business strategy as one of the core responsibilities of the CIO. Today, IT/business alignment remains elusive for many, and is certainly one of the top issues in any survey of this most surveyed community.
Still, if this stuff was easy then anyone could do it, and we wouldn’t need CIOs.
So we’re grateful for the challenges and opportunities IT presents. We feel privileged to have spent time with so many fascinating and creative people who’ve contributed to the evolution of IT in Canada. And we look forward to the next ten years and the opportunity to share in your insights, and help share them with your colleagues through the pages of CIO Canada.