Homer Simpson And The CIO’s Expanding Sphere Of Influence

Do you remember 1990? It was the year that East and West Germany re-united, the Simpsons aired on TV for the first time, Tears for Fears were a popular beat combo, the term “politically correct” was apparently coined, the year Tim Berners-Lee published a more formal proposal for the World Wide Web and the first web page was written. Microsoft Released Windows 3.0.

Fast forward to 2015: a united Germany is the dominant European power, ditto the Simpsons on TV, Tears for Fears are sadly defunct, we are now up to Windows 8.1, i-Tech is ubiquitous, and this is the year of the words “selfie” and “hacktivism.”

Why my apparent nostalgia? I am simply trying to make the obvious point that things come and go. New words, new technologies, new ways of working replace old ways and this impacts us all but I am particularly interested in how the advent of transformative social and disruptive technological change impacts the worlds of modern day CIOs and their responsibilities.

Being a CIO in 2015 is challenging and difficult work. The job is rapidly becoming more complex and more diverse as social media, big data, the internet of all things, BYOD and, looking ahead, AI all swell the modern CIO’s in-box, which today is probably being hosted in The Cloud.

No-one can be expected to possess completely granular knowledgeable across all of areas of the modern-day CIO’s sphere of influence. Even backed up by a good team, CIO’s are likely to need help in the shape of flex-execs to ensure that they have all bases covered with the different components of an IT central and outsourced function working together in a way that is both strategic and aligned with the needs of the business.

Think how the world of technology in the wider sense and B2B IT has transformed since the 1990s. Many people’s first experience of email and the internet wouldn’t have been until the mid-1990s.

This was a time before the Internet and the launch of the World Wide Web.

Imagine, no Facebook, no MS Outlook to keep in touch with friends and family. No twitter or Instagram. We got our news from newspapers printed on, of all things, pulped wood! And if you wanted to find the answer to a fact, you would consult a larger collection of pulped wood in the form of an encyclopedia, well before the creation of wikipedia or even Google.

A Cloud was widely understood to be quite simply a visible mass of condensed watery vapour floating in the atmosphere. It’s hard to believe isn’t it! A time when there were in the UK at least only 4 TV Channels, a handful of radio stations and if you were out and needed to make a phone call you would insert 10p in a smelly public payphone and reverse charges if money was a bit tight that month (especially if you were a student).

Society sure has changed us all. For my part, I no longer use a lovely Moleskin book to keep a record of meetings, thoughts and ledgers, I retain all that information on a smart Samsung tablet that is able of capturing my handwriting or my typing. That got me to thinking: how has the world of technology and modern business demands changed for a CIO that would have started their career in 1990s?

What skills and knowledge would a CIO in 1990 have required and how much will these skill sets have needed to evolve to the point we are at in 2015?

By my estimation, a CIO in 1990 would have overseen 12 core IT functions, which I will list in my next blog posting. Today, I believe that a CIO will be responsible for 15 core IT functions as the rise of the internet and mobile technology (among other things) takes hold. By 2020 – a mere 5 years away – that could rise to as many as 18 responsibilities and heavens knows what known unknowns may be added to the list in that time?

This blog is the first in a series that I will be posting over the coming months that explores the phenomenon of transformation caused by social and technological change in both consumer electronics and enterprise and how CIOs will need to adapt by flexing up and down with the needs of the business as new innovations kick in.

Most importantly, upcoming posts will look at how delivering strategy through continuous service improvement aligns the business and the IT leadership teams while delivering CIOs a place at the heart of the C-suite sweet spot – the boardroom, and that the importance of this alignment is increasing with the changes in breadth and complexity of the CIO role.