Follow Tweet This Facebook LinkedIn

Main menu

Skip to secondary content
Menu
  • Tech News
    • Last 48 Hours
    • Analytics
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Careers
    • Cloud
    • Digital Transformation
    • Ecommerce
    • Education
    • Emerging Tech
    • Infrastructure
    • IT Workplace
    • Leadership
    • Managed Services & Outsourcing
    • Marketing
    • Mobility
    • Opinion
    • Privacy & Security
    • Public Sector
    • Software
    • Wireless & IoT
    • Women in Technology
    • Work from home
  • Resources
    • Reports and Whitepapers
    • News for CIOs
    • CIO Census
    • Digital Security Zone
    • Webinar Highlight Reports
    • Roundtable Highlight Reports
    • 2020 IT Salary Calculator
    • AI Directory
    • ITWC Talks
    • Featured Partner Content Hubs
    • Digital Magazines
    • Blogs
  • Events
    • Canada’s Top Women in Fintech/Blockchain
    • CANADA’S TOP WOMEN IN CYBERSECURITY
    • CIO OF THE YEAR
    • MapleSEC
    • UPCOMING EVENTS
    • FLAGSHIP EVENTS
    • VIrtual Events
    • Webinars
    • Roundtables
    • All IT World Canada Events
  • Videos
    • President to President
    • All Tech Videos
  • Podcasts
    • Cyber Security Today
    • #Hashtag Trending
    • Leadership in the Digital Enterprise
    • CMO Talks
    • ITWC Podcast Network
  • Engage
    • Blogger Opportunities
    • 2020 Vision
    • Gartner Corner
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
#TRENDING
  • Analytics
  • Technicity
  • Women in Tech
  • MapleSEC
  • Work from home
  • Morning Briefing
  • Leadership

OUCH! Free Content gets hurt by enabled Ad Blockers

Please consider unblocking us or Subscribe in support of our great non-gated content.
Leadership

The illustrated (and likely incomplete) history of attempts to replace the ‘I’ in CIO

Shane Schick
Shane Schick
@ShaneSchick
Published: May 25th, 2015
  • Screen Shot 2015-05-25 at 3.38.18 PM.png

     

    It’s never been easy to be a CIO, especially when experts constantly seem to suggest your job title is in major need of a revision. Although there’s technically nothing wrong with “chief information officer,” the challenge of bringing value through technology to a business has often raised questions about whether it fully covers an IT leader’s mandate. Here’s a quick look back on just a few of the alternatives that have been proposed.

  • Screen Shot 2015-05-25 at 3.30.22 PM

    Chief Innovation Officer

    Easily the CIO variant du jour, chief innovation officers are theoretically thinking beyond mere “keeping the lights on” and making more substantial changes to an organization through breakthrough ideas that they either come up with themselves, or help the team at large to produce. The image above is from a site for a keynote speaker who promises to help shape such roles as they emerge.

  • Screen Shot 2015-05-25 at 3.34.52 PM.png

    Chief Integration Officer

    It’s hard to imagine this was really a thing, but back in 2012 Deloitte was among those advocating for CIOs who spend more of their time not just developing or procuring new technology but more effectively weaving them into the fabric of the business. Given the complexity that emerged as more organizations deployed ERP, CRM and now analytics applications, it was understandable but “integration” may have sounded a bit too nuts-and-bolts for some IT leaders.

  • Screen Shot 2015-05-25 at 4.02.44 PM.png

    Chief Intelligence Officer

    Coined by former Accenture chief scientist Kishore Swaminathan in 2008, chief intelligence officers would, according to his Q&A with Computerworld at the time, “develop and oversee how companies collect, store, combine, share, analyze and capitalize on their most valuable corporate asset — huge volumes of data.” Not a bad prediction, based on the rise of big data that has followed over the last three years or so.

  • Screen Shot 2015-05-25 at 4.12.18 PM

     

    Chief Digital Officer

    Forget about the I. What about the big D? Ever since the consumerization of IT and the increased influence of marketing departments on technology decision-making, there has been some question on whether the future of IT leadership will be a sort of hybrid role between CMOs and CIOs, or which ultimately replaces CIOs entirely. There are already some chief digital officers in major cities and a few other industries. Still, the concept of a traditional CIO probably outnumbers those focused solely on “digital,” which may itself be a buzzword that eventually fades.

  • Screen Shot 2015-05-25 at 4.27.37 PM

    Chief Inspiration Officer

    Okay, so probably not an actual title in all but the most feel-good organizations, this was nevertheless put forward by Bloomberg Businessweek and several others years ago. O’Reilly Radar once suggested that the concept of inspiring might simply be something traditional CIOs keep in their heads as they pursue their work, particularly if they are being more innovation-focused than tactical.

  • Screen Shot 2015-05-25 at 4.36.10 PM

    Chief Insomnia Officer

    I’ve heard this as the punchline to a joke nearly as often as “career is over.” Again, not a real job title that anyone is advocating for, but it may be another way to suggesting what it really takes to be CIO — someone who understands enough about risk to be kept up at night, and who will be ready to solve those problems in the morning.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7

 

Tweet This Facebook LinkedIn google+
Leadership CIOs
7 tales of customer engagement from IBM Amplify
Google I/O 2015 Canada
Images from I/O 2015: What IT execs should know about Google's plans for Android

About Shane Schick
Shane Schick

Your guide to the ongoing story of how technology is changing the world

Follow Follow @ShaneSchick on Twitter Join Shane Schick on LinkedIn Shane Schick on Gooogle+ Website

Related Content

McAfee boardroom

Becoming a tech-savvy director; Moving to the boardroom

How to get AI right and keep it that way

a team working together

How to fight digital transformation fatigue

Prepare for the key driving forces that will impact smart mobility

Tweets by itworldca

Follow
Tweet This Facebook LinkedIn google+

Subscribe
Resources CanadianCIO Digital Security CMO Digital CDN Magazine IT Salary Calculator LightningPR Webinars and Events Tech Research Partner Content
IT World Canada Community About Us Contact Us Technology Videos IT News IT Blogs Mobility News Cloud Computing Technology Topics ITWC Talks
ITWC Websites ITWC.ca Channel Daily News.com IT World Canada.com IT Business.ca Direction Informatique.com
© 2021 IT World Canada