You wouldn't expect a traditional CIO to manage the process of, say, opening 10,000 seasonal locations and hiring 100,000 seasonal employees, and then be asked by the CEO to run a line of business in addition to the IT function. Nor is it typical for a CIO to routinely work with business leaders to clarify their strategy and translate it into action, and then be asked by the CEO to manage business strategy worldwide. But this is what happened to us last year at H&R Block and Chevron Global Downstream, respectively.
We aren't unique in seeing our roles evolve and take on a broader, more business-oriented and strategic focus. We believe that this is the future state of the CIO role, which in time will become the mandate for most CIOs at most businesses.
Strategic CIOs look at the company from the outside in and ask: How is the company perceived by customers?
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