The CIO's role has shifted significantly over the years, often switching between being a technology manager and a digital strategist. As a result, CIO job descriptions have undergone many revisions since the start of the century.
To understand how CIOs will evolve in the next few years, we need to understand how they have evolved in the past. Continue reading for a brief history of the CIO and how this ever-changing position can impact business success.
The CIO's Role in the Past
The introduction of technology into the workplace required organizations to hire people with technical skills to manage their operations. In the following sections, we'll examine how this technology leadership position has evolved throughout the years.
The 1980s: CIOs First Appear
In the 1980s, the workplace did not depend on technology. However, businesses began incorporating computer technology into their offices when it became clear that a digital future lay ahead. Initially, these digital roles were filled by "IT managers," with high technical competence levels but little business management experience.
The job quickly evolved as technology advanced. With time, the role of the CIO expanded to include various duties, such as directing programming, technological innovation, and infrastructure management.
The 1990s & 2000s: Technology Transformation & CIOs
During the 1990s, CIO roles were further expanded. By the turn of the millennium, technology became so integral to business models that CIOs soon needed business expertise and IT skills to succeed. In addition, CIOs became essential members of every team due to their role in managing information storage, sharing, and use on a daily basis.
This role became even more crucial in the 2000s. Success and the future of a company often depended on the effectiveness of the CIO. At this time, the CIO was often responsible for organization synergy, innovation, and business strategy.
What is the Role of the CIO Today?
The CIO's role has become increasingly critical, and it shouldn't be a surprise. Innovation and productivity have increased rapidly in recent years due to digital transformation.
In response, CIOs are increasingly taking on key roles in technology-driven innovation, digital transformation, and organizational change. In fact, many CIOs already consider themselves both strategic leaders and transformational CIOs.
CIO Roles in the Future
How will the CIO's role evolve in the future?
As we look ahead to the coming months and years, we can expect the following trends:
CIOs are increasingly taking on leadership roles.
In today's business environment, the CIO's role has become more strategic, focused on business, and less concerned with IT services management (ITSM). As a result of this transition, the CIO will also have to possess business skills in addition to their IT skills.
They will be responsible for leading an organization's digital transformation.
While all business leaders should understand digital transformation, the CIO should be at the forefront of it. In the digital economy, their role is to help businesses identify and utilize technology efficiently, effectively, and competitively.
CIOs will be required to work closely with other business leaders.
For example, CIOs of the future will need to collaborate with CEOs to ensure their vision aligns with the CEO and the company. Furthermore, it will be imperative for them to work closely with department heads and line-of-business leaders.
To succeed, they must be familiar with emerging technologies and digital transformation.
In the digital age, companies that adopt emerging technology early will become industry leaders in the future. However, for these initiatives to succeed, CIOs must take the lead and drive innovation within their organization.
CIOs need to be both tech-savvy and business-savvy to remain competitive.
Technical expertise will suffice for IT operations managers but not for business strategists or transformational leaders. For CIOs to remain relevant, they will need to adapt to their new roles, embrace their new responsibilities, and master the skills they need to succeed.
They must be able to make complicated decisions very quickly.
With CIOs becoming more strategic leaders, complex decisions will need to be made quickly. For the new CIO to make the right decision, they'll need to be able to gather and digest the right information in a short amount of time. CIOs will no longer be the IT manager looking after IT infrastructure and business support. Instead, the CIO must be part of the business leadership team alongside the C-suite.
The Changing Role of CIOs in 2023
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertain economic climate, enterprises worldwide are undergoing massive changes to their business operations and how they provide services.
With the threat of a recession, companies are setting their sights on delivering practical value alongside efforts to grow their customer base. As a result, CIOs will have to balance two competing priorities in 2023: developing new services to stay competitive and reducing costs.
As we enter 2023, CIOs will need to address the following industry trends:
Preparing for Next-Generation Technologies
CIOs are also preparing for the adoption of a range of technologies at different stages of development. Next-generation analytics, IoT, the metaverse, and Web 3.0 are among them. When evaluating these new technologies, CIOs must consider their potential for cost savings and revenue generation.
Using the Cloud for Critical Business Applications
In the early days of cloud computing, enterprises tended to implement cutting-edge technologies and applications. Now, enterprises are starting to catch up. In 2023, CIOs will encourage more widespread adoption of cloud-based business applications for supply chain management, CRM, HR, and other areas of business.
Using Programs and New Technology to Support Sustainability
In 2023, CIOs will be tasked with supporting sustainability initiatives around carbon reduction and circularity, making their role even more complicated. It will become increasingly important for CIOs to review apps, data, and frameworks and to discern speculative claims from industry initiatives that deliver measurable results on sustainability goals.
Why the CIO Role Is Changing
In the past, the CIO was responsible for deploying, managing, and maintaining the company's IT systems. In recent years, however, digital innovation and technology-driven change have transformed the global economy. In today's economy, digital technology powers both businesses and the economy.
As a result of disruptive transformation, businesses have seen growth, a shift in their competitive landscape, and changes in their business models. These changes have shifted IT to the center of business strategy.
How to Prepare
In the coming years, CIOs will be impacted by a number of new trends. To thrive and survive in the digital age, an organization must understand and prepare for those shifts.
CIOs should leverage emerging technologies to drive business performance.
The importance of this will only increase in the future. It is inevitable that new and emerging technologies, such as AI, IoT, and blockchain, will profoundly transform the world. Several experts even predict that such technology will influence society more than the internet.
While CIOs will be required to stay on top of these trends, they will also be required to use them to drive business results.
IT leaders will need to drive culture changes centered around digital technology.
As digital technology becomes central to modern businesses, business culture must adapt. An organization that adopts a digital-first approach, for instance, is likely to thrive if its culture is data-driven, digitally savvy, learning-oriented, and self-reliant.
In the digital age, cultures and behaviors associated with traditional office environments may struggle to adapt. For example, we all know that during the COVID-19 pandemic, offices worldwide became fully digital and remote. Businesses that caught on quickly typically saw greater productivity and adapted to a changing landscape more effectively.
In creating a digital-first corporate culture, CIOs will play a more prominent role both now and in the future.
Rather than managing IT, the CIO role will increasingly focus on leadership.
Today's CIOs tend to focus on strategy rather than IT services management. As a result, other IT leaders are taking on these duties. In the future, this trend is expected to continue.
As technology advances, it will play an increasingly important role in the economy and business world. A number of organizations have already begun hiring new leaders to manage their digital strategies. Some of these roles include digital transformation leaders, digital adoption managers, and digital innovation directors.
On the other hand, the CIO has become an established executive position, likely to remain for years to come. In a world where digital innovation and strategy are becoming increasingly important, CIOs will undoubtedly take the lead.
Managed IT Services for Strategic CIO Leadership
As the CIO role evolves, so must the CIO's skillset. From becoming a strong executive, strategist, and business leader to serving customers, creating a resilient IT team, and improving recruitment, these skills are essential to propelling IT and driving measurable results for an organization.
With managed IT services, CIOs can establish an ongoing partnership, integrating services, tools, and education whenever and wherever needed. A qualified managed service provider such as Prescient Solutions enables CIOs to boost productivity, improve IT investments and capabilities, and enhance IT's ability to drive business growth.
For more information about how Prescient Solutions can improve your IT strategy, contact our team at 
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