Presented by:
Richard L. Routh, Ph.D.
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1960’s:
◦ A priesthood that was kept at arm’s length by business
people
◦ Not much understanding of how to use computers for
business advantage
◦ Used for tasks such as Payrolls
◦ The top IT person was called the “head of DP”
◦ DP people were stereotypically viewed as “technonerds”
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1970’s:
◦ Beginning of emergence of mainframe computers as
business systems
◦ The term “Information Systems” was born (Emphasis on
“S” in “IS”)
◦ The top manager was now called “IS Manager” Almost
all “IS Managers” used to be programmers
◦ Still kept at arm’s length by most business people
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1980’s:
◦ Emergence of PCs
 At first just a novelty
 Then spreadsheets and PC-based word-processors
appeared
 Then creative folks began to demonstrate that PCs could
be used for real business needs
◦ One MIS Manager said, “I wish I could kill these
PCs. They spread like Kudzu.”
◦ Some PCs were networked with others in the
office, but most were standalone
◦ An understanding of how to use PCs for business
advantage began to emerge
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Early 1990’s:
◦ The internet began to emerge as something—but
no one was sure what
◦ Email started catching on in business as a
required business tool
◦ Most white-collar people had a PC
◦ The head IT person was called the “IT Director”
(Emphasis on “I” in IT)
◦ People started to realize that interconnectivity
could give them some significant business
advantages
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Late 1990’s:
◦ The internet was seen as a global library and also
as billboards in cyberspace
◦ Email entrenched as a required business tool
◦ All white-collar people had a PC or laptop or both or
several
◦ IT was now seen as a strategic business force (no
longer a tool)
◦ Head IT person was now a “CIO”
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2000’s:
◦ Increasing number of CIO’s not coming from IT
◦ Increasing number of CIO’s becoming CEO’s
◦ Increasing reliance on CIO’s to be strategic business
champions
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Commoditization of IT
Sourcing
IT Architecture & Infrastructure
InfoSec
The business justification imperative
The CIO as THE LEAD strategic business
planner/champion for the corporation
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Some commodities:
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Nails
PCs?
Gasoline
Electricity
Nicholas G. Carr’s article in May 2003
HBR: “IT Doesn’t Matter”
◦ IT is like electricity—important, but a commodity
◦ You don’t need a “Chief Electricity Officer” so
why do you need a CIO?
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The general consensus on the “Is IT a
commodity?” debate:
◦ IT infrastructure may well be:
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Network connectivity
Desktops/laptops/servers
Services like internet and email
Programming services?
What else?
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But the strategic business advantage that
comes from innovatively employing IT is not a
commodity
◦ Strategic business applications
◦ Sales and client data (How you collect it, what you
do with it)
◦ Internet marketing, sales and service strategies
◦ These are the indispensable competitive business
levers of our time
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Trend toward requiring all IT initiatives to
have solid conservative ROI estimates
Holding feet of CIO to the fire to deliver the
projected ROI
Gives rise to new corporate governance models
◦ Ownership of business units
◦ Funding from non-IT budgets
◦ CIO must speak and think like a business executive
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CIO must also champion the creation of
strategic solutions (Why?) .
- The CIO must be a politically skilled team player
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Integrated into the social milieu of the executive
team
Politics is important
Must understand all aspects of the business
(marketing, sales, production, customer service,
financials, legal, etc.)
Never, never , never utters techno-ese in the
presence of non-IT people
Champion the strategic planning for the business
No wonder more and more CIOs are rising to the
CEO chair
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Be familiar with technology issues (as an
important background), but
Become an expert at strategic business
analysis and how IT can be leveraged to gain
optimum business impact
Develop the business skills and the
communication skills to make it happen.