Next Generation CIO

Four radical changes in the future role of CIOs

The role of the CIO will be rewritten. Quite simply because the duties of this role are changing. Social phenomena, such as social networking, the use of apps and the related demand for ever-increasing mobility make these changes necessary, as do continuing technological developments and the expansion of business models. The only constant is change.

Leaps in technology have always had a drastic effect on the role of the CIO. During the mainframe era, from the end of the 1970s to the beginning of the 1990s, the CIO was purely and simply a data centre manager, but with the advent of client/server technology this changed abruptly. The focus was on the introduction of integrated ERP systems. However, much has happened since then. The Chief Information Manager has had his day. Current and future innovations require a Chief Integration Manager, who deals with the interaction between highly flexible architectures, multiple platforms, network-oriented organisations and collaborative process structures.



The Chief Information Officer of the client/server era has had his day. The future will see more integrative tasks and more entrepreneurial responsibility for the CIO.

This statement is supported by numerous study results, primarily by a current survey of the Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences, which from March to June 2011 surveyed CIOs, primarily from manufacturing, service and trading companies with more than 1,000 employees and sales of over one billion euros, on upcoming changes to their role as CIO. The survey, as well as other studies by renowned analysts and consulting houses from the years 2007 to 2011, which were used in the form of secondary research, paint a clear picture leading ultimately to one and the same conclusion. The role of CIOs will change fundamentally. Four radical changes will be largely responsible for this:

1. From ERP to GRP – Multiple Enterprise Resource Planning becomes Global Resource Planning
2. From EVC (Enterprise Value Chain) to NVC (Network Value Chain) – the network becomes responsible for the value contribution of the IT
3. From project to portfolio – the evaluation and management of complex, global IT portfolios will supersede the consideration of individual projects
4. From secondary to primary – value contribution shifts IT from support function to core function

Download: Overview study "Next Generation CIO"


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