Summary: Survey finds traditional CIOs worry more about IT operations, versus digital CIOs, who work closely with top management. But corporate culture may be more a factor than individual styles.
There’s a lot of talk these days about “digital” initiatives, which tend to be treated separately from plain-old information technology work. But are the two really so different?
Yes, says CIO’s Maryfran Johnson, who just presented the results of CIO magazine’s “13th annual State of the CIO” study, which reveals “stark contrasts between traditional CIOs who focus more on internal operations and digital CIOs who expand IT’s influence externally to work directly with customers and business colleagues.”
Data Center at CERN 2 -photo courtesy of CERN Press OfficePhoto: CERN Press Office
In other words, “traditional” CIOs — who worry about the uptime of the mainframe — are different from “digital” CIOs, who are spending time on strategic business growth. (Not to be confused with the emerging title of “chief digital officer,” who focuses on social initiatives, or the existing role of chief technology officer, who is concerned with selling technology solutions.
