Are chief information officers in Asia-Pacific facing a glass ceiling?

According to a report by The Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), it may take more than technical expertise to convince senior management that today’s successful CIO will be a good choice for tomorrow’s CEO.

The report, “The Future for CIOs: Which Way Is Up?”, was based on a survey of 1,000 senior executives in 13 economies across the Asia-Pacific region, namely Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, and six Asean members. 

The findings are that the modern CIO has a strategic role that goes beyond just managing the information-technology function in nearly nine out of 10 (89 per cent) organisations. In addition, the majority of respondents (84 per cent) agree that the CIO should be involved in all business-critical decisions at an early stage.

CIOs have may have won the respect of their business, but reaching the next level will be difficult.

“This research shows that CIOs are well respected by the business, particularly during the past year, when they helped firms cut costs by being more efficient. Looking forward, CIOs need to take the next step and contribute to business growth by developing new products or services and generating revenue,” said Neville Vincent, senior vice president and general manager for Asia-Pacific at HDS. 

He added that “66 per cent of respondents believe that the CIO should be a potential candidate for succeeding the CEO – so there are already noticeable cracks in the glass ceiling”.

CIOs and other IT executives seem to be aware of the areas where they will be required to deliver. However, they may underestimate the skills and experience needed to achieve this. 

According to CEOs, the top three areas where CIOs should develop their skills are: a greater understanding of the business (41 per cent), the ability to think strategically (26 per cent), and an awareness of broader industry developments (23 per cent). 

However, none of these feature at the top of the CIOs’ own development goals: demonstrating business case for IT investment (28 per cent), technical skills to integrate new technologies (24 per cent) and knowledge of emerging technologies (23 per cent). 

 

Innovation drives growth 

More than four in five executives across all functions (85 per cent) agree that the CIO should drive innovation across the business, even though IT is considered a driver of innovation at less than a third (28 per cent) of firms. Thus technology may have thrust the CIO into the spotlight, but his or her career is not tied to IT. 

 

Steps to CEO 

Until recently, it was believed that the rapidly changing IT environment would make the CIO irrelevant, or at least reduce his or her responsibilities to technology governance and information security. This survey shows that, in the Asia-Pacific region at least, it is not the case. 

To succeed, CIOs need an accurate idea of how existing IT assets can increase their organisation’s revenue, and not just focus on making better business cases for yet more technology. The report suggests that CIOs can further drive revenue generation and business growth by following these five steps: 

 

1. Take ownership of information: CEOs are looking to better data management and analytics to drive sales growth. Providing greater insights should be an easy win for CIOs, placing them at the centre of strategic discussions.

 

2. Better align IT with business needs: CIOs should be looking beyond their department, focusing on discovering new ways of harnessing technology to increase their organisation’s competitive offering.

 

3. Deliver return on IT investment: A CIO’s future prospects are likely to be determined more by money made than by money saved. The vast majority of executives now expect CIOs to generate revenue – particularly among CIOs themselves.

 

4. Demonstrate leadership: Ambitious CIOs need to acquire additional knowledge and experience beyond their traditional IT skill set. This requires taking the initiative, such as immersing themselves in other parts of the business.

 

5. Drive the innovation instead of just contributing to it: Technology can facilitate or obstruct innovation, but it is not a cure for all problems. CIOs need to invest in understanding the business and working closely with C-level colleagues to drive innovation and be involved in business-critical decisions at an early stage.