CIOs on the way out?

The role of CIO may not exist in the future as other board members take on more responsibility for technology strategy and operations, claims a leading analyst.

Speaking at the NCC conference on 'The next role of the IT leader' in London, David Metcalfe, research director at Forrester Research, said investment in technology is coming under increasing scrutiny and control of non-tech board members.

He said CEOs are under more pressure than ever to justify large sums spent on IT to shareholders and City analysts and that the financial director or CFO is likely to resist major changes to a firm's infrastructure that involve large budgets.

"High financial performers spend just 3.3 per cent of revenue on IT and 30 per cent of firms require executive committee sign-off for all new IT investments."

Metcalfe cited the example of a new IT director he talked to at an aerospace manufacturer who cut £70m from the IT budget over two years with no impact on business performance.

In future, an organisation may have a CFO in charge of technology procurement, a CTO in charge of R&D, a COO in charge of applications and services and then a VP of technical operations in charge of the day-to-day running of IT.

But Cathy Holley, director of leading head-hunting firm Ellis Holley Maxwell, said it is completely in the hands of senior IT executives to become CIOs and to penetrate the board level 'inner sanctum' and be a valued confidante to the CEO in the running of the organisation.

"The best CIOs are brave. They have something intelligent to say on every topic. Most IT directors are not brave enough," she said.

The difference between IT directors and CIOs is that IT directors act on behalf of the IT function and not necessarily in the best interests of a company's strategic objectives.

"The IT director will just go in and blindly fight for that upgrade. The CIO will look at the merit of each capital investment and demonstrate pragmatism and real business judgement. Maybe the answer is let's sweat these assets a bit more," she said.

Holley said a successful CIO will be able to assemble a strong team that allows him or her to focus on the wider business issues and not get bogged down with just fixing mainframes.

She said: "If you don't have that fabulous team you will still just be managing the IT function. If you have that team you can escape the day-to-day tech issues. You can make it to the board and inner sanctum."