1. Become a Strategic CIO
Create a personal development plan to take your CIO career to the next level.
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2. Our understanding of the problem
CIOs running a stable and trusted IT department.
CIOs seeking to become a strategic business partner.
CIOs looking to develop strategic business competencies and pursue personal development initiatives.
Develop the core competencies required to become a strategic CIO.
Become a business-facing CIO.
Build and manage relationships with executive level stakeholders.
Create a personal development plan to advance your career.
Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
Chief Digital Officer (CDO)
Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
Understand the expectations that executive business leaders have for IT.
Uncover the various actions and activities that may be pursued to fast-track career development.

3. Executive summary
As a CIO, you are currently operating in a stable and trusted IT environment, but you would like to advance your role to strategic business partner.
CIOs are often overlooked as a strategic partner by their peers, and therefore face the challenge of proving they deserve a seat at the table.
To become a strategic business partner, you must think and act as a business person that works in IT, rather than an IT person that works for the business.
Career advancement is not a solo effort. Building relationships with your executive business stakeholders will be critical to becoming a respected business partner.
Executive business leaders’ expectations are constantly changing and are often difficult to uncover.
CIOs are unsure of where to focus their efforts to prove their value to their peers as a business leader.
Many CIOs fail to plan for their personal development.
Create a Personal Development Plan and Stakeholder Management Strategy to accelerate your career and become a strategic business partner. For a CIO to be considered a strategic business partner, he or she must be able to:
Act as a business person that works in IT, rather than an IT person that works for the business. This involves meeting executive stakeholder expectations, facilitating innovation, and managing stakeholder relationships.
Align IT with the customer. This involves providing business stakeholders with information to support stronger decision making, keeping up with disruptive technologies, and constantly adapting to the ever changing end-customer needs.
Manage talent and change. This involves performing strategic workforce planning and being actively engaged in identifying opportunities to introduce change in your organization, suggesting ways to improve, and then acting on them.

4. Organizational Benefits
Developing strategic CIO competencies will benefit both you and your organization
Personal development planning is often seen as an individual effort, isolated from the organization and intended for personal benefit. However, this is not the case. By developing the strategic competencies Info-Tech has identified and completing this blueprint, you will not only realize personal benefits, but also deliver increased value at your organization.
Individual Benefits
Organizational Benefits
Increased tenure as CIO at your organization.
Increased job satisfaction by pursuing initiatives you are passionate about.
Increased compensation and perks.
Increased opportunity as executive peers realize your commitment to the organization and desire to become a strategic business partner.
Building of strong executive stakeholder relationships and leveraging them to advance your career.
Increased alignment with business peers and corporate initiatives.
Decrease in costs as the CIO and IT have greater transparency into business operations and opportunities.
CIO working closer with business partners, identifying opportunities to generate revenue.
Truly understanding and meeting the expectations of executive business stakeholders.

5. The tenure of the CIO is limited
A 2014 study of CIOs in the United States, South America, and Europe shows that the tenure of a CIO is quite limited, with a median tenure of only 4 years and 4 months. However, the likelihood of a long career increases substantially for those CIOs that make it past the 2 year mark.
Median Tenure: 4 years, 4 months
Percentage of Respondents
Length of Tenure
Source: Janco Associates, Inc. “CIO Median Tenure Moves to 4 Years”

6. In the same survey, when asked how to improve performance, respondents selected to simply replace IT leadership
Respondents were asked to select initiatives that would improve IT performance. Shockingly, 20% of respondents elected to simply replace IT management with new leadership. More shockingly, the majority of those respondents were IT leaders themselves.
20%
13% of IT leaders believe new leadership will improve performance
20% of all respondents believe new leadership will improve performance
7% of business leaders believe new leadership will improve performance
80%
Respondents not selecting replace IT management, 80%
Source: McKinsey & Company. IT Under Pressure: McKinsey Global Survey Results

7. Furthermore, business stakeholders’ satisfaction with IT continues to decline
From , satisfaction among executives regarding IT’s ability to meet key business objectives dropped steadily.
Most notably with respect to revenue generating objectives such as product creation and entering new markets.
These findings are contrary to other surveys that indicate that IT has matured and increased its capability.
The discrepancies could be attributed to rising expectations of IT. As IT improves, the business will demand more.
Source: McKinsey & Company. IT Under Pressure: McKinsey Global Survey Results.

8. C-level stakeholders are not satisfied with the CIO’s ability to be a strategic business partner
Info-Tech asked over 200 C-level business stakeholders to rate their satisfaction with their CIO’s performance as a business partner on a scale from 1 (low satisfaction) to 7 (high satisfaction).
More than 70% of business stakeholders rated their CIO as a 5 or lower.
The most shocking finding was that only 27% of business stakeholders were very satisfied with their CIO’s performance as a business partner.
Source: Info-Tech CIO-CXO Alignment Diagnostic. N=215

9. It is time for CIOs to step up to the plate and become a strategic business partner
CIOs have the potential to take their career to the next level. To do so, they must demonstrate to the business their capability to drive the organization toward their strategic goals.
According to a study conducted by IDC:
By 2017, 40% of CIOs will rise to the challenge of becoming strategic partners.
The primary role of the CIO will shift from directly managing IT to becoming strategic business partners.
Furthermore, a survey conducted on IT leaders by CA Technologies indicates an advancement in IT’s role over the next three years. (Refer to the chart on the right.)
Primary Business Role of IT
Today
In 3 Years
Strategic business partner and advising the business
30%
35%
Improving the customer experience
29%
Broker for IT services supporting the business
20%
17%
Driver of new business initiatives
14%
25%
Developer of innovative products/services
11%
Adapted from CA Technologies
Source: CA Technologies. “Tech Insights Report: The Changing Role of IT and What to Do About It”
Source: IDC Study. “Worldwide CIO Agenda Top 10 Predictions”

10. Info-Tech has identified three obstacles preventing the CIO from becoming a strategic business partner
To determine what is needed from tomorrow’s CIO, Info-Tech examined core areas where the CIO continues to struggle. 1
Acting as a business leader
Look for this diagram at the top of each page to keep track of which failure is being discussed. 1 2 3 2
Aligning IT with the customer 3
Managing talent and change

11. CIOs and their IT departments are failing to meet business stakeholder expectations1 2 3
According to Info-Tech’s Business Vision survey conducted on over 2,300 executive level business stakeholders:
Only 53.8% of business leaders are satisfied with IT core services.
While less than 40% are satisfied with IT’s ability to deliver solutions that satisfy business capability needs.
Some of these findings may be attributed to the CIO’s inability to:
Effectively manage stakeholder relationships.
Understand the capability needs of business partners.
Enable innovation to help business stakeholders capitalize on technology opportunities.
Source: Info-Tech CIO Business Vision Diagnostic. N=2369

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