CIOs' Stock May Rise All the Way to the Top

IT Week on June 08, 2006

Attendees and speakers at The Economist's recent annual CIO and IT Directors' Summit agreed that the growing appreciation of technology as a competitive differentiator means CIOs can play a more important role at many companies, and even be in line for the CEO position, a formerly uncommon career path. The CEO of Lastminute.com says the day is coming when businesses will consider promoting the CIO rather than automatically tapping the CFO when looking to fill the chief executive post. But CIOs will have to focus on delivering strategic value rather than simply cutting costs and ensuring system stability, says a Dell exec. They must work on understanding corporate goals and developing financial acumen. An Intel exec urges CIOs to put more emphasis on metrics such as aggregate and average ROI. "The business runs off metrics, so IT should as well," he says.