CIO reports to CEO. CIO reports to CFO. CIO reports to COO. What is the most natural organizational fit? Does it matter?
CIOs have come a long way. Slowly, but surely, you have made your way from the back office to rule the world of business. The function you lead is now recognized as critical to shareholder value. You, my friend, are โda man!โ (Or โwo manโ as the case may be)
Congratulations! Now back to reality.
How many of you have a seat at the CEOโs table? If we were to go by surveys then 46% of you report directly to the CEO. First, this is a tacit admission that IT is a critical item on the CEO agenda. Second, CIO role is seen as a โbusinessโ leader i.e. IT is not subordinate to finance or operations. Third, you are seen as worthy of the honor of being on the lunch table with the rest of the cool kids. (Tighten that bib or you will spill that soup on your shirt and your image as the awkward nerd who canโt be taken anywhere nice will be solidified.)
What about the rest of you who are still reporting to the CFO or COO or the CJO?
(For those of you not familiar with the title CJO, it stands for Chief Janitorial Officer – a really important position specially created to have CIOs report to.)
First, please accept my sincere apologies. Your life sucks and you know it. You report to someone who has the intellectual curiosity โ about IT – of George Bush; gets IT like Bush gets world peace; at IT meetings shows the enthusiasm of Bush reading a book โ any book. Your boss shucks and jives with the CEO; keeps you out of important meetings and uses you as a piรฑata for all things wrong with IT.
You are out of the mainstream of business but expected to deliver business results. You have a reputation as an โIT Geekโ who doesnโt โget itโ. Your important, nay critical, function is shoved under a narrow silo of another function, yet you are expected to satisfy the demands of the entire organization. Did I mention your life sucks?
All kidding, negativity, cynicismย and hyperbole aside, your reporting relationship is critical to your success. CIOs deliver business results. ย If you do not know the business, you will not deliver the results:
- You should view the organization from the CEOโs perspective. You have to be at her table interacting with her on a daily basis to get that view
- You should have a view to the entire organization with all its functions and processes. Shoving IT under operations or finance limits your view to the rest of the organization and its functions and processes. It limits a CIOโs perspective to what filters through this artificial โcrack in the wallโ. It also limits the rest of the organizationโs view and access to the IT organization. The latter causes both inefficiency and ineffectiveness
- IT should be recognized as critical to business results. How does one accomplish that with the โhead of ITโ not reporting to the CEO?
- You should be recognized as a business leader to get the respect of the organization. Reporting to anyone other than the CEO diminishes the role of IT and limits your effectiveness.
ย CEOโs recognize the importance of IT to their agenda. It is time they gave the CIO a seat at their table.
