How CIOs Can Reinforce Their Importance

Information technology has been infiltrating a number of different divisions within companies, as more and more corporate components are in need of significant innovative sprucing. While some IT experts may feel that this would drive demand of chief information officers’ functions, others believe that the opposite could be occurring. As tech becomes increasingly integrated into business practices, CIOs may find that their job descriptions are evolving, and they should adjust accordingly to ensure that their position remains relevant in the long run.There are numerous factors influencing the role of CIO among organizations throughout the world, according to ComputerWeekly. With trends like cloud computing and other shadow IT subsectors being adopted at rapid rates, fewer tech functions are actually carried out by onsite corporate staffs. Because of this, some business executives may be re-evaluating their companies’ need for a CIO.On top of this, as technological solutions become increasingly user-friendly and are incorporated more frequently throughout other departments, executives in charge of various areas of a business may step up to the plate and take over managing these tools themselves. As other professionals are capable of handling IT advancements on their own, CIOs may not be constantly on call because their services may not be as highly demanded as they had been in the past.Accommodate corporate mobile demandsDespite these elements, to which some professionals may point as indications of an approaching decrease in the need for tech executives, other experts within the IT field argue that CIOs are here to stay – as long as they make modifications and adapt to the changing business landscape.ComputerWeekly explained that the best way that IT executives can ensure that they remain relevant to companies is to be prepared to give organizations what they want. It is no surprise that as businesses get wind of strides made in the development of various digital capabilities, they are going to raise their expectations in terms of what their CIOs can provide. One of the advancements that is quickly becoming a given when it comes to tech standards is mobility.”The impact of mobility is changing how industries work today,” stated Adrian Drury of IT consulting firm Ovum, according to ComputerWeekly. “As a CIO, if you are not thinking about how you can enable your business to use mobile to change the way it deals with customers, you are missing a trick. And it is not just about customers, but also employees.”As businesses place a greater emphasis on the need to develop and implement mobile solutions, CIOs will have to rise to the occasion and ensure that they have the proper expertise to enable their companies to do so. This means that executives should have a handle not only on the devices themselves, but also all of the supportive solutions involved in utilizing these tools. For instance, they must be ready to handle technologies ranging from cloud collaboration platforms to procurement software.Without the know-how required to deal with all solutions involved in mobility, CIOs may not be prepared to accommodate the expectations of their companies, which may prompt organizations to find a way around these executives and increase their IT capabilities without these executives’ help.Get to know what other executives wantThis is only one component that tech professionals may have to address, and there are many more for which they will have to plan if they would like to provide their companies with essential services. Although CIOs’ businesses may be more vocal about certain solutions that they want, it is possible that these experts are overlooking innovations that could be of use to their organizations. To prevent this from happening, the Houston Chronicle advised that CIOs start to work closely with their CEOs and other executives throughout their firms.CIOs may want to acknowledge that they are on the same team as their respective executives. By developing a collaborative relationship with CEOs and even CFOs, IT professionals may be able to identify their companies’ tech needs well before other upper-level personnel realize it. If CIOs propose the adoption of solutions to improve problem areas prior to other staff members asking, tech executives may prove their worth regardless of any limited IT skills that general business professionals may have.