Chief Information Officer Career Analysis

When I think about my career in the next 10 to 15 years I envision myself being in a chief information officer (CIO) role. As I have worked through a number of roles in my career from PC support to Systems Consultant then to Network Administrator and now as Manager of Information Technology I see the CIO role as a clear path of progression for my career. The CIO role is a senior executive level position that is responsible for all information technology functions along with developing the strategic and long term information technology goals for the organization based on the company’s strategic and long term goals.
The CIO of today performs a number of tasks, one of which is to provide strategic direction “A chief information officer works with
When developing the strategic directions the CIO must make a judgement on what strategic initiatives will have the greatest effect on the business goals. Another important task of the CIO is the building, developing, and leading of strong teams that are able to develop solutions to drive the information technology department’s strategic goals within their budget and resources limitations. Information technology teams that are able to develop and implement solutions to drive the company’s strategic needs are a sign of the CIO’s ability to build and develop the correct people for the organization, thus it is one of the most important jobs of the CIO. A CIO who do not affectively manage their teams often do not effectively communicate the business strategic goals to the information technology team. The CIO must also make the decision on when to hire a full time employee or outsource the work that is in need of being done. Another important task of the CIO is to produce an annual budget for the information
The CIO must also possess skills and experience such as leadership, strategic planning, information technology governance and trend analysis. Without the CIO position, information technology departments often report into another area of the company such as finance or engineering. When this occurs the focus of the information technology department is often not aligned with the companies’ goals but only with departmental goals of the area that oversees the information technology department. Thus resulting in the information technology department not meeting the needs of other business units such as sales, customer services and operations when it comes to developing technology based