Changing_Role_of_Cio

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) position is changing in response to a turbulent, hypercompetitive business market, in which organizations increasingly turn to technology and business process innovation to gain competitive advantage. Over the years, Information Technology (IT) has been perceived as a supporting organization in most companies. Today, information systems and technology have become such an integral part of the business world that more and more organizations realize the importance of their CIOs possessing the business management and leadership skills required to integrate the organization with the major components of an information system. The companies today realize that the IT department has to be involved in making key business decisions. An article on CIO insight states the results of a survey on what work the CIOs perform and how they also play an important role in business strategies. 26% of CIOs spent half their career in IT and half outside of IT. 55% stated that contributing to corporate strategy is one of their three responsibilities. 34% of CIOs managed another corporate function in addition to running IT project. One such company is Johnson & Johnson (Philippines) Inc. where the IT department has taken on a new role1. Rowther the CIO plays an integral role in the business strategies of his company. He tries to implement new systems by tying them to organizational goals. Some of the innovated implemented by him include enterprise resource planning system and Neutrogena Philippines website. He is faced with a very common everyday challenge between innovation and balance of budget. Especially in a developing country such as Philippines, the companies face problems of a technologically young environment. It is very important to give importance to both innovative projects and maintaining budget. These projects seem to be of great value for the company. Such projects can help automate company’s core functions, targeted consumer marketing and faster and reliable order processing process. Thus such projects can help the company to function more efficiently and reach its consumers more effectively. This in turn can prove to be beneficial for the company’s overall success. But at the same time, the company’s budget constraints also should be kept in mind. As mentioned, much of the IT budget is used in systems maintenance. Rowther can also focus on how to minimize these maintenance expenses so more budget can be diverted to innovate projects. Rowther should try to plan such projects and try to demonstrate the effectiveness of these projects and its effect on the company’s overall success. That can help him convince the corporation to invest more in his designed projects.