Blog contributor, Eric McVey, CIO Tier4 Advisors
I read a recent article by Samuel Greengard in CIO-Insight entitled “The CIO Is No Longer the Top Technology Geek”.
In the article, the author points out how CIO’s in today’s world wear many hats and are not just the ones responsible for “keeping the lights on”. He mentions that at times, today’s Chief Information Officer is also the chief integration officer, chief intelligence officer and chief innovation officer. In other words, today’s CIO has to understand how to communicate the technical benefits in business terms to “sell” IT, pardon the pun, even to the point of detailing ROI, risk, reward, long term benefits as well as exit strategies.
With new and emerging technologies such as AI, Robotics, Cloud, IoT, and Mobility coming out every day, the author points out that today’s CIO needs to be able to convey not only “how it all fits together”, but how to utilize different mechanisms to take advantage of the opportunities in the market that allow new ideas and products to be generated more quickly. The author mentions innovation labs, university partnerships, incubators and VC as being part of those mechanisms. Partnerships and acquisitions may be part of the solution as well. Some companies are bucking the traditional role altogether, according to the author, and are opting for a CIO-as-a-Service approach, citing the need for an external and internal focus vs. internal only.
Tier 4 is in an interesting position to be able to help today’s CIO navigate the ever-changing waters of technology. Our Solutions Architects are constantly attending the latest technology webinars; reading the latest research; meeting with these emerging technology vendors. Why? So we can weed out the non-productive vendors on the CIO’s behalf and, after determining what the business is asking for, bring the right solutions for consideration.
Tier4 Blog Edition 17: December 6, 2017
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