Setting your Sights on the CIO Role in your Future
Chief Information Officer. Those three words represent the pinnacle of success in IT. Normally abbreviated to simply CIO, it represents the highest corporate position normally available to those who climb up through the ranks of technology. This article will examine the role of the CIO in a modern corporation and describe some of the qualities the position requires.
The CIO of a corporation is the person responsible for the information assets of the corporation. This normally includes all technology assets and resources, strategic technological initiatives, information protection and safeguards, and disaster recovery.
The major responsibility of the CIO is to ensure an appropriate budget for information resource management in support of corporate strategic business requirements. The primary tasks of the CIO can be broken down into three strategic initiatives:
1. Ensure sufficient funding to support existing information management systems.2. Evaluate new information management systems and provide funding based upon expected Return-on-Investment (ROI).3. Evaluate new technologies for possible expansion of corporate business lines.
The CIO is the senior liaison between the business units of the corporation and the technology support units. With the primary role of ensuring that technology is applied appropriately to have the minimum negative impact on the companies bottom line. As such, the CIO is generally well schooled in Business (in fact, the MBA is slowly becoming the preferred degree in all senior IT management), and to a lesser degree in technology.
If you are in the field of technology, the most important preparation you could make in regards to advancing to the position of CIO, is to obtain not simply a degree in computer science, but also a degree in business. Knowing how to use technology is a vital part of being a CIO, however, the knowledge provided in the attainment of a business degree (especially an advanced degree) will prove invaluable in your quest to become a CIO.
