CIO is subordinate to the rest of the board, survey finds

Only 15 per cent of business decision makers believe CIOs should own majority of IT budget

Only a quarter of business decision makers believe that the "traditional" CIO currently owns the majority of the main technology budget, but only 15 per cent of business decision makers think that they should, a report by IT hardware, software and services provider Insight UK has found.

Insight UK commissioned Coleman Partners to conduct research into The reinvention of the CIO. It did this by interviewing 100 UK CIOs and 100 UK business directors.

It found that while six in 10 CIOs believed that should still hold the majority of the IT budget, nearly a quarter (22 per cent) of senior directors believe the majority of the technology budget should sit with the board.

In a similar vein, over half (55 per cent) of the business execs interviewed said they believed the traditional, operational orientated CIO is now subordinate to other members of the senior management team.

"[In other words] the ‘old school' CIO has less sway and significance in the business than they did two years ago, and such CIOs no longer always hold decision making responsibility," the report reads.

Despite 77 per cent of executives acknowledging that the CIO remains an integral part of the business, 55 per cent of business directors said that the operational CIO is now in some way lower than the rest of the C-suite when it comes to his or her role within the boardroom, and 44 per cent felt the CIO role was less important than it was two years ago.

However, Mike Guggemos, global CIO of Insight, suggested that there had been a systematic shift in the role of the CIO within the business - one that other decision makers have failed to see just yet.

Insight UK advised "traditional" CIOs to look to regain the ear and respect of other board members by asking their peers on the board what they feel his or her strengths and weaknesses are, and where he or she can add value.

Insight UK quoted a CIO as saying: "The CIO has had it too easy for too long. The CIO was always responsible for the ‘how' rather than the ‘what': with the business - i.e. the rest of board - dictating what should happen and the CIO would be charged with ‘how'.

"Tomorrow's CIO must start being accountable for - and taking ownership of - what the business does; not just how it does it," Insight UK suggested.