CIOs Role in Digital Transformation

• Digital ideation and delivery: Identify, test and scale the most promising digital business ideas within business budget. 
  
• Digital foundation building: Manage cross-cutting platforms and integration.
  
• Traditional IT management: Manage legacy infrastructure, security and core enterprise. 
• General business management: Work with business leaders to shape the organization’s approach to digital business transformation and build the digital dexterity of leaders.

With the rapid rate of digital transformation changing the face of enterprises globally, the role of the CIO is also transforming. Insular IT management is a thing of the past, with CIOs now a linchpin in the C-suite, educating and guiding business leaders on ownership of critical digital responsibilities to help accelerate digital business progress. 

Moving into the future, CIOs will have to cement that critical inclusion in business leadership as management develops more advanced digital dexterity. 

Taking a more holistic view of business strategy and transformation instead of just IT, CIOs will need to shift their focus to building the digital competencies of general managers and overseeing implementation and growth of digital strategy.

In 2019, 82% of businesses surveyed had a digital transformation plan in place. Having embraced the importance of technology in the changing face of business, organizations are now developing leaders with their own IT and digital talent to progress with business initiatives, unreliant on IT teams for delivery or implementation. While this is welcomed news for business growth, the traditional role of IT management or CIOs has rapidly changed. 

To maintain their hard-fought influence in the C-suite, CIOs will need to redefine their teams and approaches to business integration. All of IT will need to shift focus to educating business partners on emerging technologies, coaching business partners on iterative development methodologies and helping business partners understand integration requirements to remain relevant to an organization’s growth strategy.

As the digital dexterity of the workforce grows, CIOs need to ensure they’re delivering more than just IT advice to an organization.