Q: I recently took a senior IT director position at a division of a $10 billion company in another state. I sold my house and bought another one in the new location. After three months, the job has changed significantly, and it is not what I was promised. Most of my employees are being moved to corporate, and I will play a very different role. I am tied to the executive team of the division and have fit in well, but I am sure I will miss having responsibility in the day-to-day operations. Should I look for a different position? If so, would a prospective employer view my short stay as negative?

A: You have landed in the eye of the storm between centralization and decentralization of the IT function in a multidivisional corporation. The good news is that what you have described as the new IT structure at your company sounds like the very smart middle ground of a "federal system" of IT, where the operational aspects are centralized as a shared services function (think of it as outsourcing your data center to corporate) and the functional aspects are decentralized to lie within the domain of the business unit. If running a data center, help desk and telecommunications is what really gets you excited every morning, then you should look for a small- to medium-size corporate IT director position or a CTO role in a larger corporation with responsibility for those functions.

On the other hand, without the distraction of operations responsibility, you now have a great opportunity to focus on the strategic business-driven side of IT. So if you enjoy creating IT value with top- and bottom-line impact -- through projects such as process reengineering, ERP, CRM and e-commerce -- then hang in there and have a great time doing what good CIOs get paid for.

CIO POSITION

Q: I'm vice president of technology and CIO for a health startup company, and I enjoy my job and work. I have the following questions: Should the CIO be involved in marketing strategies and plans, since marketing depends on software applications and systems? Should the CIO be a member of the board of directors or a partner in the company? Should the CIO be involved in business alliances and partnership talks with third-party vendors? Which one is better describing a CIO in a high-tech Internet-based company: a highly technical person with fair management skills or a less technical person with strong executive management skills?

A: Because the CIO should be an integral part of the corporate executive management team, it follows that the CIO should be as involved in marketing strategic planning as any other management team member. He must also be intimately involved in executing the marketing plan starting at the tactical planning level in considering, as you asserted, the necessary and enabling support provided by IT. The same goes for the CIO's involvement in creating strategic alliances and partnerships, especially as these have a significant impact on operational issues. But leave the negotiation part of the "talks" to the business development guys who are pros at that kind of stuff.

As for CIOs sitting on corporate boards: It's not at all common, but we are beginning to see a few CIOs on the boards of their established public companies for the first time, especially at technology-enabled companies and even more frequently on the corporate boards of technology suppliers. And most often we see CTOs sitting on the boards of privately held, startup and smaller technology and dotcom companies. If technology is to be a strategic rather than an operational factor, then I would like to see a board-level technology committee, with the same importance as the board's nominating, compensation and audit committees, having responsibility for ensuring appropriate corporate investment in and use of technology.

As to your last question, my answer is "none of the above." All my clients want me to find CIO/CTO candidates with strong technical and leadership expertise; anything else is a compromise. The combination of strong technology and weak leadership skills sounds like a staff job as chief architect or equivalent. A strong leader without a technological foundation should not be a CIO or CTO in my opinion.

RESPONSIBLE CIOS

Q: I am in the military and finishing up my master's degree in information systems technology. I also have a bachelor's degree in computer science. When it comes to a CIO's responsibilities, how much does a top-ranked CIO get involved in the areas of financial, technical and managerial responsibility to his department?

A: An excellent question. Let's look at each of these areas in turn. First, in financial matters, budgetary responsibility and control have become absolutely critical in light of the proliferation of new technologies and new ways to spend money in IT. And, in general, budgets become much more complex and demanding as the size and scope of an organization increases. In most of the largest IS departments run by the top CIOs, there is an IT controller responsibility and a permanent position on the CIO's staff. Additionally, the requirement to initiate cost-saving and revenue-generating systems projects, whether funded by IS or by the business sponsor, demands that good CIOs understand how to craft and present a financially sound proposal however it is measured

» posted by abennett

CIO

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