Knowledge is power

CIOs must combine a certain degree of business acumen with a good understanding of technological trends

IT professionals rarely attain the status of chief information officer (CIO) without first gaining plenty of relevant knowledge and experience. So how can they then go on to consolidate their position through further personal development, and what is the best way for aspiring CIOs to map out a similar career path?

There is no easy answer, say experts –­ training tends to take the form of informal mentoring or shadowing, while few academic institutions, if any, offer course that can equip CIOs for the role.

Adam Thilthorpe, Professionalism in IT programme manager at the BCS, says the diverse range of skills that CIOs need to acquire means qualified candidates are hard to find.

“CIOs need a combination of skills and competencies that encompass delivery leadership, information services, IT and the business. Rather than just focus on the business or functional capabilities, they need to explore IT and its ability to bring benefit to the organisation and meet business need,” he says.

One of the key qualities that organisations look for in a CIO is decisiveness. The buck stops with the CIO, and he or she will rarely have the luxury of being able to push a decision up the management chain. CIOs must have the confidence and insight to make mission-critical decisions about systems, processes and the people they employ, and in doing so will be better placed to inspire confidence in others around them.

“The most important quality for a CIO is to be an aspiring business leader,” says Sam Gordon, CIO practice director at recruitment consultancy Harvey Nash. “Only if you can inspire people ­ – create a compelling vision for technology within the organisational infrastructure ­ – can you gain respect from the critical stakeholders and achieve success.”

To provide that sort of inspiration, CIOs must be able to sell ideas to everybody – ­ the chief executive, peers and subordinates included. When asking the board to sanction the spending of hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of pounds on new server, desktop, network or storage technology, he or she will need considerable powers of argument to convince them the investment is worthwhile.

Nor should this argument cover just the initial purchase of hardware and software: CIOs also need to be adept at calculating total cost of ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI). This means they must have a good understanding of not only asset and building management processes, but also the cost of each system, software licence, support and maintenance contract, or leasing agreement.

Good communication skills and the ability to work closely with other business executives ­ – the heads of the finance, human resources and sales department, for example ­ – are also essential attributes.

“A good CIO needs an external perspective, not just in terms of developing their own brand in the market, but engaging their peers outside their own industry sector and being able to pollinate their ideas into their own organisations,” says Gordon. “CIOs in the US, for example, are much better at networking with their peers than those in the UK, and use that information to drive things forward from a new perspective.”

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Many CIOs regard strategic planning as the most significant aspect of their job, especially in a downturn where they need to think harder than ever about how IT can be used to reduce operational costs and improve business performance.

“The biggest error that CIOs and wannabe CIOs make is to constantly talk about business alignment and commercial credentials. What they should be talking about is IT as the business, not aligned to the business, and act like a business leader in contributing strategically and not just talking about the technology,” says Gordon.

Strategic planning also involves keeping up with regulatory requirements that affect the business and making sure it is compliant. A typical CIO might need to keep abreast of a range of governance issues, including Financial Service Authority and Data Protection Act (DPA) rules, and Basel II and Sarbanes-Oxley regulations.

While keeping an eye on the commercial and regulatory environments in which the company operates is essential, it should not be done at the expense of day-to-day efficiency. Thilthorpe argues that the first priority of any CIO, even before taking a high-level view of where IT can take the business in the future, is to make sure that current systems continue to support the business in the meantime.