Lesson1

Throughout the years, the role of the IT manager has evolved from being a more technical position to a strategic management role. In the early years the role of an IS was an educated technician that would mange data processing. In the 1990’s the CIO (Chief Information Officer) was introduced and this new title gave the old IS a promotion to a C-level position (Chun & Mooney, 2009). 

The role of the CIO during the late 1990’s changed during the dotcom boom.  CIO’s had to change from having a technical mindset to a strategist that could assist different business units use information technology to help the organization meet its strategic goals.

Recently the CIO position has established into two separate roles. 

• Chief Innovation Officer: one that relies on technology to generate more revenue and assist with providing new ideas and changes.
• Director of IT: on that will manage cost by using the current IT infrastructure of the company to increase ROI (Chun & Mooney, 2009).

For the CIO to be successful they must develop or obtain skills that every manager should have which is to build a solid team, to motivate their team, provide proper communication and guidance. They must have a strategic vision that aligns with the company’s strategies for future growth.

CIO’s must have effective communication skills as they will be interacting with all the different business areas within an organization. The CIO must provide innovative strategies that IT can help each business unit function at an optimum level that will benefit the organizations planned strategies.  With technology advancing at a rapid rate the CIO cannot learn or keep up with this trend, so they must build a team with experts in different areas of technology. With information being exchanged using technology (e.g. The Internet) another key and very important responsibility for the CIO is the safeguarding of the organization’s and the clients of the organization’s information.  As companies look to outsource their IT and move away from creating their own software and procure package software, another obligation of a CIO is to obtain and mange outside relations with IT vendors.

The Role of a IT manager has come a long way from being just a back office support position to one that uses technology to help organizations implement there strategies more effectively. Technology is everywhere, it starts from the front line of a business to the highest ranking position the business offers and because of this the CIO role is a diversified position as they deal with all aspects within an organization. The role of the CIO will become increasingly more important in the future as IT becomes more integrated into an organizations progression.