Gartner Research

A CIO’s Guide to Becoming a Trusted Ally of the Board of Directors

Published: 16 March 2022

Summary

Digital acceleration requires good relationships between CIOs and boards of directors. To deepen these relationships into a business advisory role, CIOs should understand the board’s business priorities and take steps to advance them.

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Overview

CIOs play a different role today than they did 10 years ago. More of them have the ear of the board of directors and belong to a subset of executives who regularly advise the board (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. What the Board Expects From the CIO and Executive Leaders to Drive Business Model Transformation

According to the 2022 Gartner View From the Board of Directors Survey, 83% of directors say that their CIO is either a trusted ally or a partner (see Figure 2).

So, the real question CIOs must answer is: What do the board of

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