As IT chiefs add letters and words to their titles, is "CIO" on the way out, or are the responsibilities of the job what really matters?
"It probably has run its course a little bit," Jarrod Phipps, CIO at auto services company Holman, told CIO. "Today, 'information' is only a piece of the role. A lot of what we do is about building capabilities. There's also a transformation element to the role and another component about informing broader business strategy."
The role has evolved to keep up with digital disruption and strategy, the Oct. 11 article noted. In turn, CIOs have had words like digital, data, technology and transformation added to their monikers. "The whole title game is often just organizations trying to send a message about what's important," Mr. Phipps told the news outlet.
"Are we ever going to land on an actual title for this leader or are we going to continue adding letters infinitely?" Lily Haake, of executive search firm Harvey Nash, told CIO. "I think eventually we are going to have to create a strong definition. What skills is the digital leader of the future going to need and what characteristics will they need further down the line?"
CIOs believe their top task by 2026 will be driving innovation, according to CIO.com's 2023 State of the CIO survey. That's another term that gets added to IT chiefs' title — but one that may stick.
"There will be one important shift that successful CIOs will make over the next 10 years — the role will have a massive focus on innovation," Nigel Richardson, senior vice president and CIO for Europe at PepsiCo, told the website. "Future CIOs will spend more time working on business strategy and developing new products and services that drive growth."