The role of chief information officer could disappear
within 10 years, as in future all senior board members will have to
be equally adept at handling information.
That was the view of J P Rangaswami, CIO of Dresdner Kleinwort
Wasserstein, in an opening keynote presentation at last week's
Triple i Convention.
"It is only a matter of time until every 'C' level officer needs
to have the same level of information as the CIO," he said.
Rangaswami suggested that in 10 years' time, if an organisation
had a CIO it would suggest that the rest of the board has abdicated
responsibility for information to that person. "There will be a CIO
of sorts but it won't be the same as today," he said.
There would be a role for a chief technology officer, he said,
which would be similar to the current CTO role in technology
supplier companies, which involves laying down a core technology
strategy. The IT discipline will not go away, but will be diffused
throughout the business. "There will be IT graduates in sales,
marketing and design, rather than in IT," said Rangaswami.
As for the present, he said the main thing the CEO wants from
the CIO is peace. It is a deduction drawn from conversations with
35 CEOs in various organisations.
"The CEO wants the IT department to be seen, not heard. He wants
it to work like clockwork, so he can spend his time making money,
and with clients." But the CEO cannot do this unless he understands
what he spends on technology and what he gets back, and that is the
CIO's responsibility, said Rangaswami.
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