10 CIO Career Trends That May Surprise You
The CIO role is fundamentally changing as the position increasingly calls for being a combination of a technology strategist, revenue generator, and business leader. Here are 10 trends that illustrate this transformation.
In recent years, the role of the CIO has become one that is more strategic to a company's overall mission. It touches departments beyond IT within an organization, and might help a CEO drive revenue or reduce costs.
But as recently as five years ago, that was not the case. There was even talk of whether the CIO position would remain relevant, given the increasing stature and importance paid to the role of chief marketing officer, who would be responsible for a company's digital efforts.
Adding to the doubt was the growing emergence of shadow IT, which was initially expected to further reduce the role of CIOs, until it was as largely moved to the list of CIO responsibilities, Bob Miano, president and CEO of Harvey Nash USAPAC, told InformationWeek. However, he added that shadow IT has since been largely moved to the list of CIO responsibilities.
As technology infrastructures have become more stable and app development cycles more robust, CIOs now have more time to do strategic planning and are freed up to work on projects that bring in revenue, Miano said. These new focuses are elevating the role's stature to have more contact with the CEO and executive boards, he added. That was not so in earlier years, when the role centered mostly on keeping IT operating and on stomping out emergencies, he said.
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"Now, it's more exciting for CIOs to help grow revenue, rather than the utility role of keeping the lights on at the organization," Miano said, noting that technology is becoming more crucial to business.
That role shift and others are highlighted in the recently released Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey 2016, in which 3,352 CIOs and technology leaders from 82 countries participated. The 18th annual survey was conducted between Dec. 12, 2015 and April 10, 2016. The findings give insight into the growing influence of CIOs, the composition of women in senior IT roles, and the overall satisfaction that CIOs have for their jobs.
Here's are 10 interesting results of the report. Let us know what you think in the comments section. How do the findings compare with your or your boss's experience?
The percentage of CIOs reporting to their organization's top executive edged higher this year, compared with last year's 31% of survey participants. Miano pointed to the types of discussions that CIOs are having with their CEOs as contributing to this shift. "If you are a CEO, how interesting is it to discuss the up time with hardware and software, versus how to get more customers? These types of conversations [about customers] are more interesting and impactful to a CEO," Miano said.
CIOs serving as executive board members greatly increased their ranks this year over last year's 51%. Interestingly, the role of a CIO was not part of a company's executive board in earlier years, but today is more the norm, Miano said. He pointed to the need for CIOs to collaborate and seek input from other departments, such as finance, operations, and marketing, when it comes to technology projects as a contributing factor.
Although more and more CIOs are reporting directly to their CEOs, and sitting on executive boards with other key players such as the chief financial officer, chief operating officer, and other high-ranking executives, slightly fewer survey participants than last year's 68% said they feel the strategic influence of the CIO role will grow this year. "While I can't answer why that is, specifically, it could be based in part on what amount of funding the CIO is getting," Miano said.
While the number of women in senior IT leadership roles has risen to 9% from last year's 6%, overall representation is still very small, according to the survey results. In explaining the single-digit percent of women who hold senior IT roles at companies, Miano noted that the pool of women IT workers needs to grow more before anyone can expect to see a larger number of female IT leaders.
Women make up about 30% of overall IT labor pools at companies reporting the gender breakdown of their workforce, he said. However, Miano added, that once those women are in the system, the challenge is how to encourage them to stay and apply for higher-level positions.
He pointed to teaming women up with mentors as a possible answer. In the US, Harvey Nash is actively involved with Attract, Retain, Advance (ARA), which seeks to mentor women in technology.
CIOs are on the move, with 15% of those surveyed indicating they took a new job in the past year, up from 12% last year. Some of this movement is attributed to a desire of CIOs and IT leaders to work with the latest and greatest technology.
Some industry sectors will see more churning of their IT executives and others, Miano said, adding, "Manufacturing, for example, may not be the most exciting and challenging."
When it comes to job duration, 31% of the survey respondents indicated they have been in their current CIO role for two years or less, compared to 29% of survey participants last year. It turns out that a large portion of this short-timers group is made up of millennials, who often tend to believe they should be CIO in two or three years, and will frequently jump to new jobs to try to quickly rise to higher titles, Miano said. "Job-hopping used to be a negative or disadvantage, but it no longer is," he said.
On the flip-side to the short-timers are the long-timers. The survey found that 21% of respondents have been in their CIO post with the same employer for a decade or more. That figure is slightly up from the 19% of survey participants last year. That can be attributed largely to golden handcuffs.
"A number of people we talk to say they wished they could leave, but can't because of their position and compensation," Miano said. "It is very difficult even if you want to leave to find something similar to the way you are being compensated now."
Other factors that play a large role in the longevity at a company include the level of influence a CIO has, the size of the company, the size of the IT budget, and company culture. For example, companies with budgets over $100 million tend to have a higher proportion of CIOs stay 10 years or more. In fact, 27% of the long-timers' group worked for such large companies, in part due to more career options.
The vast majority of CIOs and technology leaders surveyed, 84%, say they feel either fulfilled or very fulfilled in their role as CIO, which is up from 80% of survey respondents last year. The happiest CIOs tend to work in the non-profit sector or for charities, with 91% of them saying they are fulfilled in their jobs.
When it comes to CIO compensation, 34% of survey participants reported receiving an increase to their base pay last year. That was up from 27% in the previous year. During the past seven years, approximately 30% of respondents of the Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey reported receiving salary increases on average. There have only been two salary spikes during this time. The first was in 2011, with 43% of survey participants noting a pay increase. That spike was attributed to a sort of "catch up," as companies pulled out of the great recession of 2008, Miano said. The second spike came this year and is attributed to more CIOs reporting directly to the CEO and perceived to hold more value, as a result, he added.
Despite having more direct contact with the CEO, executive boards and chances of a salary boost, 55% of survey participants said they believe in the next five years their career will take them outside of working in IT. That figure is up from 48% last year. "I was surprised by the 55%, but also not surprised," Miano said. "As more CIOs work with other departments and see the business side of things and get closer to the money, they go from a situation where they are completely internal in the early years to working closer with the user communities and generating revenue, which can be more exciting."
Despite having more direct contact with the CEO, executive boards and chances of a salary boost, 55% of survey participants said they believe in the next five years their career will take them outside of working in IT. That figure is up from 48% last year. "I was surprised by the 55%, but also not surprised," Miano said. "As more CIOs work with other departments and see the business side of things and get closer to the money, they go from a situation where they are completely internal in the early years to working closer with the user communities and generating revenue, which can be more exciting."
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