Brian Watson, who writes a CIO column for eWeek magazine, came up with an interesting observation last week. (I would give you the link to Watson's column, but eWeek has this maddening habit of not posting online links to articles that appear in their print publication.)
In recent months a number of companies -- some rather large in size, including News Corp, ConocoPhillips, Harrah's -- are dropping the CIO title for positions that involve a corporation's IT operations. Instead, as these and other firms restructure, they are parceling out CIO duties to VPs and deputy CIOs.
Art Langer, a Columbia University professor, told Watson that "the CIO role has less legitmacy than other C-level positions, making it easier to discard in tough economic times." Unlike CEOs and CFOs who have been around for a while in organizations, CIOs "are relatively new to the C-suite and they lack a defined career/educational track -- and a professional organization to bolster their credibility."
Watson is writing about the private sector but there are parallels to the public sector. Most signfiicantly, public CIOs are relatively new to the c-level in government. It's only been in the past few years that we've seen a rise in the number of CIOs who report to the highest elected official in government. And while the position of the federal CIO is mandated by Congress and state CIOs have a strong professional organization (NASCIO), the role of the local government CIO is much more ambiguous.
I have yet to hear of any county or municipal governments dropping the CIO title, but they are under the most pressure to cut costs in the economic downturn and would be the most likely to jettison the position and restructure it into something that isn't called a CIO.
Because there's clear evidence of the problem in the private sector, Watson believes the CIO role is in a crisis. I don't think that's the case in the public sector, but his advice is something any CIO, public or private, should consider in these turbulent times. CIOs need to make sure they are "true" partners with their leaders, thinking strategically, collaborating closely with their executives and business units and "canning the tech-speak."
Good post, Todd.
I don't see this happening in government. Certainly there is a hierarchy of C-level executives - we call them department directors. But the amount of power or prestige or political capital each director has depends on a lot of factors, including who is the Mayor, the City manager, the other elected officials, the goals for the government and so forth, but also and more importantly, the relationships each director has established with others in the government.
The biggest factor, though, is that we are simply doggoned slow to change, in government. We were late to creating CIO positions, and, by the time we get around to the trend of eliminating them, the recession will be over and everyone will be clamoring for more technology!
Bill, I agree with your assessment. The slower pace of change in government acts as a break on trends that could end up being short term, relatively speaking. What will be interesting is whether the "crisis" Watson sees in the private sector goes from a trend to becoming a fact of life. If it does, it certainly would prove Nick Carr's prediction about CIOs ending up in the same pasture as VPs of electricity did nearly 100 years ago....