The CIO title is declining as tech leaders take on new functions and people see the moniker as limiting for their careers, Forbes reported.
"CIO feels a little dated, even though it's still very important," Karena Man, co-leader of North American tech officers for recruitment company Egon Zehnder, told the news outlet. "We largely see chief digital information officer, or chief digital and technology officer." Throw in transformation, AI, data and innovation to the list of terms the positions might include nowadays.
The lines have also gotten murkier between the CIO and the chief technology officer, while some candidates decline to be interviewed for CIO-only roles, Ms. Man said in the March 23 story. Increasingly, she said, the role's responsibilities have expanded to include the cloud, overall tech policies, and working with the marketing team on customer engagement.
Ed Stadolnik, leader of functional practices in the Americas for executive search firm Spencer Stuart, told Forbes the position still plays an important role in the C-suite: strategic oversight of IT internally, data and analytics, cybersecurity and external-facing digital platforms. But he said CIOs need "an entrepreneurial product mindset, in which you're anticipating the needs in the market … you're iterating and innovating and creating products that can be monetized."