InformationWeek

September 28, 1998

The CIO Of Tomorrow

By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

ust a decade ago, most businesspeople had never even heard of a CIO. Until the late 1980's, the top person in charge of a company's computer operations was called director--and occasionally VP--of data processing or management information systems. In most cases, this person reported to the chief financial officer, who would approve any IT spending. Occasionally, the head of IT reported to a divisional president or the CEO, says James Cortada, an executive consultant for IBM Global Services and author of the historical account of the IT industry, IT As Business History (Greenwood, 1996).

Today, the top IT person has a new role and status. Typically, the CIO or VP of IT reports directly to the CEO. Also, many CIOs have a general business background rather than a technical one. "IT is so much more visible and takes a bigger part of the budget today than just 10 years ago," says Cortada. "The CIO is under greater pressure today to demonstrate the value of IT to business than ever before."

What will the CIO of tomorrow be like? "Very few historical patterns will be meaningful in forming the future CIO," predicts Bernard "Bud" Mathaisel, who joined Ford Motor Co. in March 1997 as executive director and CIO. "Younger people shouldn't get hung up on the track on becoming a CIO."

There's a good chance the title of CIO will evolve into something else, such as CIIO--chief information infrastructure officer, says Mathaisel. He and others say many of today's IT functions will become as common as electricity. "In 10 years, when more and more technology will be built into things, the job will be less of construction and operations and more of applications and infrastructure," he says.

To peek further into the near future, Mathaisel sees the CIIO backed by other IT execs who head specific areas, such as applications and product delivery. Many large companies have already begun to assign people to such positions. For example, years before Steve Curd became United Healthcare Corp.'s CIO of strategic business systems, he was VP of applications development at Sabre, which was then part of American Airlines.

Whatever the top IT person is called, he or she will have to be a sharp negotiator and a skilled diplomat. That's because it will become common practice to outsource projects--either part of a job or even the entire operation. It will be up to the CIO to make sure the provider understands the company's expectations and fulfills its promises.

Return to main story, "What It Takes To Be A CIO."