Career

  • 6 min read

How to Become a CIO

Sreenidhe S.P

19th May, 2022

SHARE ON:

In a world where IT has become the backbone of the business, CIOs and their teams are the new heroes driving transformation and innovation.

This article delves into the requirements for becoming a CIO — qualities that are the most desired and help with career progression.

By connecting IT solutions with strategic company goals, a CIO helps develop a creative, agile organization built on IT procedures and policies rather than any specific tool or solution.

Current technical advancements have become critical tools for corporate innovation and digital expansion. They're also altering IT departments and redefining the CIO's role.

IT innovation is no longer just about integrating the latest technology. It's also about understanding how new technologies can be implemented in the business to promote long-term success in a sustainable way.

A CIO must be able to look at technology from both a business and technical perspective. The CIO should be able to demonstrate their ability to drive organizational transformation, build a creative culture, and develop a strategy to align IT with business.

The role and responsibilities of CIOs vary by the organization they work in. However, they are primarily responsible for overseeing the management of the company's overall IT assets. They lead the selection, implementation, management, and IT governance, which includes everything from organizational policy and procedures to architecture, development practices, and security.

This article aims to cover the intricacies of what it takes to be a CIO for IT admins and managers working as IT asset managers, software asset managers, and SaaS operations managers.

Career Boosters for CIO

The rise of the CIO position can be connected to a shift in IT's role in businesses, from a supporting role (formerly automating manual activities) to a role as an overall business driver (strategic change and innovation).

This transformation required the CIO to focus on much more than merely delivering and managing IT, as their predecessors did. Using the most recent technological developments required business-driven strategies for the new function.

A main need of the role, in addition to operational responsibilities, is to initiate executive-level discussions across the firm on how to utilize IT for competitive advantage. 

Let's examine the key career boosters of the CIO.

1. Develop Business Skills Throughout Your Career

The most important skill set for CIOs is a solid grasp of business and how, as a technology professional, you can give solutions to help the organization flourish.

Today's CIOs have emerged from the back office to become dependable strategic business partners, working alongside their C-suite peers. CEOs rely on the CIO to drive innovation and revenue-generating ideas throughout the organization.

Effective CIOs must be able to see the organization as its whole, including the business consequences of IT, decisions, return on investment, dependencies, and challenges. 

Understanding the entire spectrum of the organization's needs, the ideal CIO is able to discover, implement, and modify the appropriate technology to meet these demands and boost company-wide performance.

CIO aspirants should possess a zeal to think more in terms of business and finance. A formal education like an MBA can be of great help in developing business skills and securing a CIO position with a good package. 

How you go about developing your business skills is upto you, but you must develop them. 

2. Create and Maintain a Solid Network

Networks are essential for finding the next job, project, and mentors and becoming aware of new technological challenges. It is essential to build a habit of forming internal as well as external networks.

Internal Networks. Internal networks are vital for job advancement and business expertise. 

Internal networks can give you a whole lot of perspective on how your company leaders think. 

Participate in company-wide activities and socialize with coworkers who are not in the IT department. Learn from them the challenges they face and think about improving the ICT of your organization. 

Pertaining to their concerns, what steps will you take to improve the functioning of those departments. Are there any new technologies you think you can implement? The more you desire to learn, the more you will automatically seek out.

Also, don't miss out on the chance to meet and interact with the most powerful people in your organization. Pay attention to your senior leaders and learn from them. Grasping how they think and come up with solutions is an important part of learning.

Stepping outside of your comfort zone can be challenging, but it is something that is desired in a CIO and can be learned with practice.

External networks. External networks are equally important. They are essential for identifying new ideas and opportunities. 

CIOs are thought leaders in aligning IT with business. Attending business and technology events will help you develop a perspective that is needed in CIOs. By attending these events, you'll not only learn about the latest tech trends, but you'll also be able to connect with people outside of your company.

3. Learn to be an Effective Communicator 

Communication is one of the most critical talents for CIOs. It serves as a liaison between the technical team and the business operations. 

The CIO must be able to communicate effectively with direct reports, employees from non-tech departments, vendors, members of the board of directors, and colleagues in the C-suite as the head of the IT department and, in fact, all corporate operations that include IT in some way. 

The CIO must be able to adapt their language to the knowledge of the individual with whom they are conversing.

If non-technical people (non-IT CXOs, VPs, Directors, and department heads) are unable to understand your vision, they will not be on the same page as you, limiting your capacity to accomplish the desired outcome in terms of improving business operations. In such a case, you will fail to be an effective CIO.

Hence, developing communication skills is very important to being a CIO.

Volunteering for presentations and public speaking opportunities is an excellent approach to honing your communication skills. You can also find mentors or coaches to assist you in becoming a better communicator.

4. Keep Yourself Updated With Latest Technological Developments

CIOs experiment with new IT competencies and emerging technologies while using stakeholder relationships and understanding of business needs. This helps them add considerable value to their organizations. 

To keep up with the latest technological trends, CIO aspirants must develop a habit of keeping acquainted with how technology is reshaping the world.

Subscribe to blogs, newsletters, and knowledge resources to help you improve your knowledge. It will not only assist you in expanding your knowledge base, but it will also introduce you to the brains of leaders, how they think, and solve the challenges they face.

5. Focus on Developing Leadership Skills

To aspire and grow in any job role, people leadership is critical. 

You can't succeed unless you have a fantastic team, and you can't obtain one unless you know how to lead and drive them. 

The best leaders understand that success is gained via teamwork; therefore, putting forth the effort to build a strong, capable team is a crucial element of the CIO function.

To align the IT aims and goals with those of the business. CIO leadership entails overseeing the vision, operational model, people and engagement strategy, and culture of the department. Fusing business and technology strategies, cultivating people, and establishing the IT operating model.

When acting as an IT leader, the CIO encourages and supports high performers; provides opportunities for active participation in a variety of areas so that both IT and business stakeholders can achieve career, business, and IT objectives; and fosters an IT culture in which talent understands business drivers, customer expectations, and the external market.

Investing time and energy into professional development is equally important. Business leaders are actively seeking guidance from industry leaders and mentors.

6. Learn What it Takes to be a Strategic Business Driver

Everything ultimately boils down to becoming a strategic driver of the organization rather than a support function. 

Strategic planning, i.e., creating strategies outside your team or department and proactively providing proposals to drive results, are the top qualities CIOs require in their profession. 

You must understand the business and how information technology can be leveraged to promote business success rather than simply facilitating the current business activity. Therefore, an understanding of the company's primary challenges and goals is really important. 

At the end of the day, it's all about assisting the company in making or saving money. 

What can you do to make the company run more smoothly, quickly, and efficiently? 

How do you break down silos so that the IT team and the finance team are on the same page? Connected to sales and are operationally aligned.

A CIO is not simply the company's chief technologist but also a businessperson with a technological background. 

A CIO is the organization's chief innovation driver, having that mindset to perform in that role.

7. Prioritize Strategic Development

Due to the technological innovations being introduced on a daily basis, the strategic role of a CIO is to understand the value of such innovations—deciding which technology to embrace and when to invest. 

Make a habit of thinking bigger than your daily tasks— what can you do today that will impact your team or your company tomorrow.

Keep your eyes on the prize—what is your next challenge, and what opportunities you are getting in your current organization that is helping with your professional development.

Book a Demo Now

About the author

Sreenidhe S.P

Sreenidhe is a SaaS management expert and has a keen interest in ITAM and SAM practices. She is adept when it comes to SaaS Vendor Management and SaaS Spend management. Her knowledge of SaaS and SaaS management is self-thought and is based on a lot of reading. Before joining Zluri, Sreenidhe was working as a full-time journalist. She is also equally passionate about fashion and aspires to own a boutique someday.