CIO’s – Who do you report to? Does it matter?

The CIO industry press often states that who you report to does not matter and that it is possible to lead and be innovative from any reporting line within a company. The evidence suggests otherwise. My own research http://businessitvalue.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/is-your-it-team-strategic-or.html shows that organisations that use IT strategically always have the CIO reporting in to the CEO or is a member of the executive team. The current trend of shifting the CIO under Finance in many organisations indicates a view that IT is not strategic but operational and a cost to be minimised.

New research published this week by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) adds to the evidence that reporting and organisational structure is important and does determine the role and effectiveness of IT in the organisation. They found that high performing organisations (25% of the 489 surveyed organisations) were twice as likely to have the CIO reporting to the CEO than other organisations, indeed they considered this essential to the effective use of technology. In these organisations IT regularly delivered on business needs.

They conclude that “unlike the predictions of some pundits who say IT is commoditizing, we see that those IT organisations that can effectively serve both their customers and their firm, deliver projects on time and on budget, and distil mountains of bits into meaningful insights are as rare as ever. In this way IT’s ability to drive business value is becoming more – not less – differentiated.”

With the rapid changes in technology, and even more rapid changes in technology use (think social, global, individual) the opportunities to gain competitive advantage from innovative use of IT has never been greater, for organisations willing to integrate technology into their strategy and recognise the CIO’s pivotal role in helping the organisation through the reporting structure the potential rewards are immense. Who do you report to?

The PWC report can be accessed at:
http://www.pwc.com/us/en/advisory/2011-digital-iq-survey/index.jhtml

David Gwillim
Exploring the value of IT to organisations
email: david.gwillim@optusnet.com.au
blog: http://www.businessitvalue.blogspot.com/