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Will CIOs Vanish Into The Cloud?

This article is more than 10 years old.

Guest post written by Keith Engelbert

Keith Engelbert is CIO of Student Transportation Inc., an operator of school buses.

A recent report from Getronics, “The Changing Role of the CFO,” found that 17 percent of corporate financial decision-makers believe the position of the chief information officer will disappear from the business landscape in the next five years. The cloud is at the heart of this bold projection, because the technology has dramatically changed the way organizations invest in and consume technology. CIOs who do not value the cloud in today’s current IT environment are putting an expiration date on their usefulness in the enterprise. Executives need to fundamentally shift their strategic thinking as it relates to technology because cloud services all but guarantee uptime and data’s availability. CIOs can now use cloud services to focus on how data is accessed, shared and used within the organization which is the next evolution of the title.

Doing Things “Like We Always Have” Doesn’t Cut it Anymore

Cloud computing has companies operating under a rigid ‘do more with less’ mentality while the economy recovers. This shift signals the death knell for Big IT, large teams armed with gobs of money to maintain legacy systems. Smart businesses run lean and mean and senior executives need to adapt and take on new responsibilities to remain competitive in this new world. CIOs can no longer be satisfied with simply "keeping the IT lights on" - they must demonstrate value creation for the business. The cloud is the easiest way to shrug off mundane IT tasks so executives can elevate their role beyond traditional expectations of the CIO and contribute more directly to the bottom line.

Can You Teach an Old Dog New Tricks? Important Skills for the Next-Gen CIO

The cloud is quickly evolving the role of the CIO to be more in line with that of a chief data officer. The term “information” is deeply ingrained within the data server closets of the world and will not be an apt description of what the person in charge of the technology of the corporation of the future’s role will be. Here is a sampling of what his or her duties will likely include:

  • Shared IT Responsibilities in the C-Suite

As companies increasingly turn to the cloud for many of their IT needs, a chief data officer - the CDO -  will relinquish some of their traditional IT responsibilities and ultimately share select technical duties with the cloud solution and services providers. The Getronics report stated that the finance department is handling more IT decision making these days, with 77 percent of the CFOs and financial directors indicating they already have assumed greater responsibility for technology decisions over the past two years. As companies increasingly store more data in the cloud, more C-level executives and senior-level decision makers will also have access to corporate data in the cloud, which in turn will increase their influence with IT decisions that pertain to the cloud.

  • Financial Duties

The cloud provides substantial costs savings to almost every organization that leverages the technology – we were able to reduce our IT spend by 72 percent, roughly saving $7.6 million, using cloud services – which will please the CFO. What also makes CFOs happy are the cloud’s consistent, recurring license fees which makes budget meetings a breeze. I’ve actually been cut out of the regular finance meetings because our IT costs are now so predictable with the way we are leveraging the cloud. CDOs will leverage the cloud as a business-enabler and use it to contribute to the company’s growth.

  • PR and External Communications

With the cloud handing the mundane tech duties of the traditional CIO, CDOs will have time to take on a broader array of responsibilities including public relations. As the primary caretaker for an organization’s information, the CDO will need to control data that is disseminated to the media, customers, investors and shareholders.

  • Cloud Broker

According to the Cloud & Technology Transformation Alliance’s “2012 State of the Cloud Channel Report,” IT solution providers are more apt to develop their own cloud and hosting capabilities. Furthermore, channel partners are making headway in their adoption and development of cloud practices. As companies routinely leverage more than one vendor, system integrator, managed service provider or reseller, CDOs will need to be diligent in selecting cloud solutions that will complement the cloud infrastructure that is already in place.

  • Data Scientist

With the sheer volume of data being stored in the cloud, the responsibility of making sense of this data and sharing relevant information with the right stakeholders will rest on the CDO’s shoulders. The CDO’s ability to effectively and efficiently route cloud information to empower the workforce will directly influence the organization’s growth and success.

These duties are not indicative of an overnight shift of the CIO’s role. However, it is imperative to understand the evolution of the position to extend the value you offer as a next-gen CIO, which is more akin to a CDO. Regular communications with the CFO and CEO will provide you with guidance on where the company would benefit from your expertise. The role of the CIO is not disappearing into the cloud; instead, it is becoming more strategic because of it.

Responsibilities go beyond hooking up servers and making IT connections. It’s all about the data: how you gather, protect, leverage and execute on the information available will be the key to success. Pundits that sounded the alarm for the cloud’s role in the demise of the CIO were absolutely correct. The cloud is going to cause a lot of CIOs to get fired. The bad ones.