CIO

agreed, "change agent" is a great way to put it, CIOs are being asked to simultaneously reduce/rationalize IT footprints and infrastructure while delivering greater value and insights to business leaders, no small feat!

Increasingly I see CIOs brokering transformations across functions.

CIO are dealing with with more business-driven technology choices such as bring your own device, shadow IT initiatives and in some cases, new security regulations and compliance requirements.

CIOs aren’t just focused on serving internal systems but working more closely with the business and become an advisor to find the right systems and solutions to make the business successful.

@jsa_SF Agreed with the caveat that the CIOs working on transformation need to first understand their business. One of the big challenges I see there is whether the CIO believes that the "customer" is the employee base or the company's actual customers. #AnaplanHub

@Rup3r7_7 Agree. "Shadow IT" is really about employee productivity and creating an IT management strategy that focuses on better outcomes rather than standardization for its own sake. #AnaplanHub

It has to be challenging for CIOs to comprehend both the technology challenges of their customers (LOBs) and what transformation and/or technologies help the businesses.

@chrisbadger And CIOs can get lost in the details of defining technology standards rather than defining transformation.

To that point how do CIOs balance playing defense (keeping the infrastructure monitored and running) along with an offensive strategy - understanding transformative new technologies?

Many CIOs and IT leaders find themselves stuck in the technology delivery business when they would rather be providing measurable business value to the enterprise.

They find themselves caught between demanding users, execs who drive business priorities, and finance teams looking to maximize profits and cut costs—all while maintaining a technology stack that they inherited from someone who moved on a decade ago.

CIOs are concerned about product and service innovation, staying on top of technology innovation, and hiring hard-to-find skilled resources.

@chrisbadger if keeping on the lights is the CIO's main job, that's a job that can be outsourced over time and isn't a true C-level job. That's what makes the CIO job so tough!

Those skills need to evolve quickly as the cloud paradigms shift. The speed of innovation seems to be always going faster. But good planning is good planning.