This is a tired conversation. It’s gone on for several years now, for as long as the Chief Information Officer title has been hip.
The answer is simple. Why not both?!
I’m not going to hire (or be) a CIO that doesn’t know tech. And I’m not going to hire (or be) a CIO that doesn’t fully understand how to align their division with the business goals of the organization.
To further expand on the role of the CIO, in 2009 we will be adding a specific requirement that satisfies marketing initiative requirements. The CIO must understand and must support social media. Period.
What do you think? Should the CIO shoulder this much expectation?
Related reading from my desk (or BlackBerry):
Depends on type of business and at what stage your project is in….In my experience, one needs to have both skils…
Thanks,
krishna
Posted by Krishna Mamidipaka * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 12:46 AMI agree that the IT Chief should have the knowledge of both technology and business. Which is more needed is really dependent on the Organization’s size, Structure and the business. It boils down to the role of “IT” – whether it is the core function of the organization or is it a support for the organization’s management and efficiency… The term “IT” is a broad term to select between these two.
Where the company is an “IT” company, (e.g. Software Development) a technically competent person would be more acceptable to the people and contribute more towards the business, whereas for and non-IT organization, a “business-savvy” person could contribute more towards organization efficiency.
Posted by Sandip Mukherjee * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 1:02 AMBoth. To deliver business capability from IT, the “IT Chief” needs to understand the business and the technology that he/she is delivering. That said, I agree with Sandip and Krishna that the exact skills mix will depend on the business, industry maturity and the technology being delivered.
Posted by Mike Clarke * from LinkedID * | 09. Jan, 2009, 4:11 AMI agree the CIO must have both skills, but in terms of drive s/he should focus more on the business side, as normally his/her people are not business-oriented and his/her C-peers do not (normally) talk technology.
Posted by Roberto Dolci * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 4:12 AMAn “IT Chief” requires to be both technical and business savvy. The size of the company, the industry it operates in, and the make-up of the executive team will determine what skew is needed between technical and business skills.
Where IT is a key contributor to the profitability and growth of a company, the “IT Chief” must be a co-author (and co-owner) of the business strategy.
Posted by Adam Long * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 5:17 AMBusiness savvy first, techie secondary. Simply to know that the CIO is the CEO but to be able to apply IT to Business like mind reading.
Posted by Peter Bournias * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 7:16 AMCIO needs not be ‘techie’ by trade or by education, but he does need to have the passion for technology to really be able to drive it. He does not have to have an MBA or equivalent degree to satisfy “business savvy” requirement — but he does need to understand the business that he works in, be able to relate tech to it and vice versa. Anything else results in confrontational “us vs. them” theme where business knows naught about IT and IT cares zip about business.
Posted by Andrei Popov * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 7:17 AMBoth skills are best.
However, sometimes the most wonderful innovative ideas come from independent people with fresh eyes
Posted by SONYA JORION * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 7:18 AMA good analogy are Army Cooks. They are soldiers first and cooks second.
A good CIO should be a driver of business change, perofrmance and effectiveness first and foremost. The technology is secondary and a means to an end. The CIO, as with a Marketing Director or Operations Director should contribute to business strategy and operational perfomance first and the technology should be secondary.
A good set of CIO skills should include strategy and planning, performance measurement and management, commercial and legal abilities, great people skills. Knowledge and experience of technology is not paramount and sometimes too much of a hinderance, the ability to know where to look or who to ask for answers is much more important.
Having worked in at least 6 different industries or sectors, big companies and small ones, knowledge and a detailed understanding of technology has proved the smallest contributor to success, a willingness to challenge and drive change and the ability to motivate and lead people has been much more important.
Posted by Paul Thrustle * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 7:45 AMDo not confuse CIOs with CTOs , the first are business people the latter are techies. Depending on the company’s dna either or both may be needed.
Just make damned sure that the CIO knows math. I am serious do not hire people that for example cannot read a logarithmic scale. Just basic MBA skills are not enough. A CIO should have that little umph that will help them talk the talk and walk the walk in today’s tech centered world.
Posted by Angelos Karageorgiou * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 8:30 AMBoth – CIO is primarily a change agent. Change is (or s/b) driven by business imperatives or business environment (hopefuly as defined by a strategic plan). Technical awareness of what’s possible is critical to aligning IT with business requirements. Leave the nuts/bolts to the true techies and have the CIO spend time in strategic planning activities w/ all the business units translating IT to Business and vice versa.
Posted by Bob Hocutt * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 3:19 PMYou know that the problem with posting a comment now is that everybody else has already make the valid points. Nevertheless, I will add my 2 cents.
A CIO needs to know enough about technology to understand what it can and cannot do for any given organization. This person needs to insure that the company / organization has the technology tools to further the goals of the company / organization.
Too often firms have technology for it’s own sake without regard to it’s use .in achieving the company goals.
Posted by Walter A. Haenn III, MBA * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 4:20 PMInformation Technology (IT) is just that. The IT Chief’s largest role is to provide executive management the information they need to make business decisions. The Chief is responsible for collecting, storing, protecting, and delivering this information. This is an ongoing process. The technology portion of the job, is the technology that this information is acquired and process with. This should be a function that is performed less often. This involved the infrastructure. The infrastructure should not take as much time as the information, or application side of the business. Therefore, the emphasis should be placed on information, applications, and business, not so much on technology/infrastructure. This should be done once, and right the first time.
Posted by Robert Cordisco * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 5:19 PMIt is funny how this thing is growing…back 20 years ago you had the Systems Manager or IT Manager and we handled it all from Infra-Structure to Development, Tech Support and Communications… Nowadays you have CIO’s, CTO’s, Chief, VPs, Directors, Managers… and so far the only truth is that you need someone with competence to lead your IT efforts… how do we call him (or her) does not matter… it is not the name but the knowledge and experience that will result in something that will support the company operations and growth…. If you put too many people on a table to manage IT you will end up with a lengthy and unproductive clash of ideas… just get a good manager, director, CIO, CTO, VP or whatever and let him define and manage his team and the results will come independently of the title he (or her) may have.
Cheers
Posted by Luiz Antonio Sao Paulo * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 7:21 PMI think it really depends on the type of business. If a company is providing technology services or products, it should definitely have a CIO who is tech heavy with some business exposure. If it is a business using technology to support their internal applications and infrastructure, they don’t need to be tech heavy but, they need to know how to manage vendors and service providers.
Posted by Ashok Sami (Muthuswamy) * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 8:19 PMIT Chief must be both.
Posted by William King * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 8:22 PMRight blend of both mix with agile apptitude.
Posted by Col(Retd) Shankar Gurkha * from LinkedIn * | 09. Jan, 2009, 11:22 PMAs a tech person advances in their career they become more of a politician and a business person. It’s important to retain some technical skill, that’s the challenge. You cannot be CIO without being technical.
Posted by Mike Peters * from LinkedIn * | 10. Jan, 2009, 7:21 AMThe ideal ‘CIO’ also sells his company’s product/service by participating in industry forums and selling the vision of how technology can be leveraged for improving the product/service and being competitive all through. He/She has to be business savvy. In corporate sales situations customers like to speak to the CIO to understand the vision.
Posted by Samrat Parasnis * from LinkedIn * | 10. Jan, 2009, 7:23 AM