Boardroom Despatches: The death of the CIO

The top echelon of IT is going to be dominated increasingly by those whose background isn’t in the profession. That’s the way it looks if the recent history of the sector is anything to go by says Rene Carayol. But it needn’t be that way…

I’ve been doing a lot of work with headhunters recently. A number of blue chip organisations have it in their minds that they need some kind of uber-CIO, a head of IT to top all heads of IT. So I have found myself on the final panel of the selection process.

Can these organisations find the individual they think they need? What kind of candidate are they tending to plump for? Let me take a step back to explain a seismic shift that is going on.

IT kicked off properly around the 1970s. Of course there were computing functions before then and big strides such as the client-server model and internet-everything found their feet in the 1980s and 1990s but cast your mind back 25 years or so.

IT then reported in to Finance. So it still does in many cases but then that was the norm because it was bloody expensive, a massive investment.

What’s more – and keep this in mind – it was about efficiency, timeliness and accuracy. It was about putting go-faster stripes on the side of the organisation.

The board wanted IT to be careful and safe, for heads of IT to be obedient, doing as they were told.

As a result we were blessed with a generation of IT supremos who were risk averse. Automating existing manual processes was about as good as it got.

Fast-forward those 25 years. We have fostered an IT culture that doesn’t surprise me. CIOs known as service providers within their organisation are held up as the cream of the crop. The current crop of CIOs, IT directors, heads of IT – you pick the naming convention – are for the most part not a colourful bunch. Grey and unexciting are two words that come to mind.

Now consider how in most companies the reputation of IT – I’m being brutally honest here – is in shreds. Board members have shaken their heads in unison at the hype around Y2K, the dot-com boom and bust and the general over-investment that subsequently led to downsizing.

Hear these words: The empire is striking back. The last thing many of them are looking for when doing that CIO headhunting is another geek. One of the hardest things in the world is making a technologist commercial. So they’re doing the opposite.

Increasingly I am seeing the interviewing and appointing of CIOs who speak business speak, who want to win and who embrace risk.

Why are they doing this? Every company has bought IT now. Every company is asking how it is delivering competitive advantage. Only the problem is businesses are often moving seven times faster – that’s right, x7 faster – than IT can respond.

To align technology with business CIOs are being sought who are commercial big hitters, people who deliver.

We’re now seeing capex return to IT. After some hard years it’ll be one of the big trends of 2004. Businesses are becoming more confident again. If the war in Iraq marked a low point at the start of this year, the recent capture of Saddam Hussein has added to the upsurge in good feeling.

But if I’m a CEO or CFO, if I’m one of a number of top executives sitting in that board meeting, I want to make sure that when the organisation is going to spend money on IT, the organisation will have someone in charge who knows business.

It’s a case of goodbye Mr Geek, hello Mr Marketing, Mr Operations, Mr… you get the idea.

Companies are promoting on the all-round package, including knowledge of a sector, technology, business and their personality.

Now don’t get me wrong. I still believe there has never been a better time to be in IT. But if we’re not careful all the bosses won’t have come up through the IT department. Trust me, there will be someone willing to do that MBA, to make the right noises to recruiters and board members and amass just enough technical knowledge, who will not pass Go and go straight to the post.

And that’s dangerous for the industry I love.

The IT function is fast becoming the dustbin for corporate losers. We are not attracting the best and brightest and won’t find ourselves led by those who have come from an IT background.

So what to do? There is no simple answer – something that has crept up on us over years won’t change overnight – but let me leave you with three things to think about:

1. Ban the word ‘them’ in your organisation. It’s not about IT and then everyone else in the company. You are all on the same side and you must speak their language rather than expect them to speak yours.

2. Realise technology per se has never delivered competitive advantage, not on its own. It’s all about how and when it is utilised. It’s the implementation that makes the difference.

3. It’s about people, stupid. I’m sure I don’t need to explain that.

We are at a tipping point. As we enter a new year, I feel those of us from IT can win if we want to. The prize is huge and critical for all our organisations and the wider economy.

But change is imperative.