With the US Thanksgiving holiday I almost totally missed the top 10 list from the CIO Magazine Top 10 business predictions for 2011 by Michael Fridenberg that posted on November 24.  His top 10, like many others, references items like Social Media dominating conversations (more on that later this week), Cloud Computing's continuing adoption, continuing convergence of data and Mobile (hasn't that accelerated this year), the battle for control of UI (more on that in the next few days) but most importantly his 2 predictions relating to the CIO really hit a chord with me. 

The first was his prediction that the CIO and CMO will change from a confrontational to collaborative relationship and the second that the CIO role will migrate beyond operational focus to spending more time "transforming business process and setting strategy".  Michael, you and I are in total agreement here on one level and potentially in conflict on another. Let me explain. 

First, IT, let alone the CIO, can no longer afford to be confrontational with anyone in the business. Why? Simply put, the replacement of IT is getting easier by the day.  In fact I was at a conference in the Netherlands last week and one of the speakers shared in his speech that the first words out of the CEO's mouth were 'why shouldn't I simply outsource IT?'  Now that said, the CMO and the CIO conflict in many organizations has increased as the demand from the CMO grows as does the CMO organization on IT - faster, more detail, more granularity, new media for delivery and so on which can often be in direct conflict in maintaining a steady course. This should be a wake up call for CIOs! A steady course is no longer the primary requirement. Instead, nimble, flexible, dynamic musts be words enshrined in your mission statement. 

CIOs who have done well often partner with the CMO to ensure that their leading edge requirements assist in the driving of investment dollars. Additionally, they often have budgets to help assist.  A financial organization in Asia Pacific realized that partnering should assist in website refreshes, moving responsibility for updating content to the business and allowing them to dynamically transition the customer facing experience all whilst leveraging good change management practices.  Initially the business was given a simple screen to complete which was basically the change to be made and the date and time and then change came back approved allowing IT to track the changes, just in case a backout was required.  Now, IT are going to automate this system so the business can make the changes and the they will be automatically tracked and logged in the change management system automatically. Now, both IT and the business are content.

Secondly the role of the CIO is fundamentally transitioning - there is no doubt! The modern CIO must acknowledge that they are the engine driving the business.  As the engine, the CIO is going to have to able to provide the horsepower required, when required and not simply deliver infrastructure tom meet the maximum conceivable consumption level.  The CIO of a large North American financial organization I spoke to last week at an Analyst event told me that with head count freezes and growing business, demands that he spend the time to rapidly reposition his workforce from infrastructure gurus to business aligned analysts who can match business requirements to capability sourcing. Whether delivered internally, outsourced or from the cloud is pivotal.  Now this is where I agree with Michael; the CIO must automate internal consistent repeatable processes removing human intervention and must do so rapidly to allow for human capital capability to be available to work with the business.  Further, IT must be involved with the business strategy development process to understand the requirements to allow IT to source the solution in a timely and cost effective manner (note I didn't mention cheapest solution).  Now here is where we may disagree, if IT is setting the business strategy we are potentially in trouble - the expertise of IT is in sourcing capability and that's where it should remain.

Is your CIO on his or her way to extinction?