David TaylorInside track
John Whitworth, chief information officer (CIO) of Cox
Insurance, explains the difference between chief information and
technical officers and IT directors and which role has the
potential for taking on the job of chief executive officer.
DT: John, you are a high-profile CIO. What differences do
you see between that and being an IT director?
JW: The key difference can be summed up by the CIO's
ability to manage ambiguity, not be consumed by it. This is
possible as the CIO is a key component of the main business and not
running an important but peripheral support function.
They are, therefore, empowered to be at the forefront of, and
often the catalyst for, change in the organisation. They have the
best overview of how to pull the change levers of people, business
process and IT.
DT: How does this work with, say, IT strategy in these
times of lightning change?
JW: The IT strategy must not just be aligned to the
business strategy but actually be embedded within it. Therefore,
key company deliverables and their associated business measures
become entrusted to the CIO to realise, and these, in turn, then
effectively have a powerful champion for success, something that
has been missing previously.
DT: A very direct answer, but where does that leave
technology? New dotcoms are turning to chief technical officers
(CTOs), young whizz kids who are making technology seem sexy again.
Where do you see the so-called dotcorps going in this area?
JW: I see the CTO with a much more single-minded
technical focus, as is often needed in dotcoms. However,
traditional companies have known this for some time, and although
they may not have called them CTOs, they will have this area well
covered.
DT: I'm not sure I understand the relationship between
the two, as you are suggesting.
JW: The roles of CIO/CTO are not mutually exclusive. They
should have a CTO role reporting to a CIO. This is the best of both
worlds: senior, high-value technical competence and ability,
combined in an environment where this is totally channelled into
business success and not technology for technology's sake. The
lesson is now well understood by recent dotcom failures. CTOs need
to report to business IT competence, not traditional CEO and
finance directors.
DT: As you know John, I believe strongly that future CEOs
will come from IT's ranks. Any thoughts?
JW: The CIO is an ambassador, negotiating with internal
and external entities to achieve business success through constant
management of change; measured by return on capital employed, not
traditional IT director project measures of the past, such as on
time and on budget. This is, therefore, an apprenticeship for the
CEO role of tomorrow. I agree - in the next two years we will see
many CEO appointments from CIOs. The new breed of CEO must also
combine traditional sound management skills with an openness and
flexibility to drive the business forward by applying the new
distribution and knowledge models currently employed in the best
e-commerce companies.
The CIO is one of the few senior executives who constantly has
the necessary depth of exposure to this fast changing environment.
This makes the progression to CEO both natural and seamless.
David Taylor's Inside Track. A provocative insight into the
world of IT in business, is out now. The book is the latest in the
Computer Weekly Professional Series, published by
ButterworthHeinemann: 01865-888180