Profile of CIO (Chief Information Officer)

This article discusses the job role of a Chief Information Officer (CIO), required subjects to study in school to become a CIO, differences between responsibilities of CIO and CFO, and CIO's allocated time to various activities.

Running head: PROFILE OF CIO
Profile of CIO (Chief Information Officer)
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors note

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Discussion Questions
Question 1: Chief Information Officer’s job role
Answer: No, I don’t think I would enjoy the job role of a Chief Information Officer (CIO) and
whether I would be successful or not as a Chief Information Officer are described in the
following paragraph.
Chief Information Officer’s role as per the description given by various Chief
Information Officers shows that they have to do multiple tasks in an organization. However, the
multiple tasks overshadow the real tasks of Chief Information Officer. Chief Information Officer
is responsible for managing customer relationship, strategic communication, resources,
governance and project portfolio (Harding and Fan 2017). The actual job of Chief Information
Officer is to manage the uses of Information system in an organization and to identify the new
technologies. The profile as described by the different Chief Information Officers in their
interview shows that they had to manage all the work of an organization as a manager. The
management of multiple tasks in an organization is not the primary concern related to Chief
Information Officer’s job role (March and Jan 2016). This is because every job role requires to
handle the additional tasks for an organization. However, Chief Information Officer’s profile is
only limited to managing and not analyzing.
This is the major reason due to which I think I would not enjoy Chief Information
Officer’s job. I would like Chief Information Officer’s job if it focuses more on exploring and
evaluating new technologies. However, Chief Information Officer’s role in recent years has
emerged mostly as a manager. The other job roles such as Chief Digital Officer and Chief
Analytics Officers has taken over the different tasks of Chief Information Officer’s job role (Van
Ness 2017). I feel in this way because I want to focus more on introducing and evaluating new

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technologies and system in an organization rather than only focusing on management of tasks.
Thus it will not give me satisfaction in doing my job as a Chief Information Officer. Hence, if
there will be no satisfaction then I will not be able to succeed as Chief Information Officer in an
organization.
Question 2: Required subject to study in school to become Chief Information Officer
Answer: A degree including engineering and management both helps to get a deep
understanding of Information Technology and technology management. The subject to study in
school if someone’s career goal and objective is a Chief Information Officer’s job role, are
Information Technology ethics, compliance, project management, governance and risk
management (Keuper and Lueg 2015). The additional learning must include knowledge of new
and upcoming technologies, communication skills and analytics. The role of Chief Information
Officer is not limited to only having knowledge of technology but also how to manage this
technology to meet the requirements of business goals and objectives (Arnitz, Hütter and Riedl
2017). This shows that they should not only focus on learning the technologies but also have
knowledge of business analytics and good communication skills. The subjects taught in school
are focused majorly on theoretical learning however, the practical learning can are developed
through this theoretical learning (Paul, Bhuimali and Aithal 2018). Hence, the subjects are
necessary to become a Chief Information Officer in future but with focused planning and
development of skills. The role of Chief Information Officer requires deep understanding of
information related to business as these are required to meet the goals and objective of the
business.
The above given subjects that should be studied in school who want to make their career
in Chief Information Officer gets sharpen with experience. An individual does not directly get

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into the role of Chief Information Officer. An individual first get into the entry level role such as
software engineer, system administration and others. The next roles such project manager and
team leader leads to the job role of Chief Information Officer. Thus, Chief Information Officer is
a long way from entry level to executive level but not without any skills developed in this
journey. The experience and leadership skills are required skills that drive the job role of Chief
Information Officer. The theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge is required but
incomplete with experience in handling a team or large projects.
Critical Thinking Questions
Question 1: Differences between responsibilities of Chief Information Officer and Chief
Financial Officer
Answer: The Chief Information Officer (CFO) is responsible for managing the budgets and
revenues and taxes in an organization. They are required to not manage the taxes but also to
analyze this data in order to identify and understand the business profit and loss. This analysis
helps to improve companies in present and future scenario (Dlamini 2015). The Chief
Information Officer’s responsibilities in the information technology area parallel to the job
functions of Chief Financial Officer in various ways as follows. The Chief Information Officer
are concerned with identifying new technologies and understanding them to analyze their
potential to improve the business performance. They are more focused on executing decisions,
recruiting employees and managing team under its department (Davis and McDonagh 2015). The
mapping of strategy for Information Technology ethics and policies in organization is the
primary responsibility of Chief Information Officer.
Chief Information Officer more importantly act as leader for the organization. Unlike
Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Officer do not concern about the costs and budgets of

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Information Technology in organization (Tsukayama 2015). They are more focused towards how
the technology will shape the organization’s future and how it will help organization in the long
run. Chief Information Officer focuses on which technologies are required to improve the
business of an organization. They are not concerned how much it will cost or how much profit it
will gain (High 2016). However, they must ascertain the potential benefits and drawbacks of
information technologies. Therefore, it can be concluded that Chief Information Officer and
Chief Financial Officer are conceptually different as there working perceptions are different.
Chief Financial Officer are responsible for managing the organizational finances with
deep understanding of information technologies also. Chief Financial Officer are not only
responsible for managing finances but also responsible for advising the top management in the
organization such as Chief Executive Officer. Chief Information Officer are responsible for
managing the implementation of Information Technology that will help the company to improve
its performance in competitive market (Webb 2018). These two job roles work on the same level
in an organization but they are different in which they perceive their respective jobs.
Question 2: Chief Information Officer’s job role allocated time to various activities
Answer: Chief Information Officer’s allocated time to the following given major categories of
functional activity are as follows.
Meeting with top management and people in other departments- The time allocated to this
activity by Chief Information Officer is maximum as this task is given first priority. The time
allocated is 8-9 hours per week.
Meeting with others in the Information System Department- The time allocated to this
activity by Chief Information Officer comes after the meetings done by meeting with top
management. The time allocated is 10-11 hours per week.

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Meetings with people outside the organization- The time allocated to this activity by Chief
Information Officer is maximum as it requires to interact with people. This is done to increase
and improve customer relationship for organizational business performance. The time allocated
is 12-13 hours per week.
Keeping current: reading, web research, seminars- The time allocated to this activity by
Chief Information Officer is shared to other departments in this activity as they are important for
managing activities of organization. The time allocated is 3-4 hours per week.
Individual work (budgeting, writing memos/reports, planning and HR work)- The time
allocated to this activity by Chief Information Officer is shared among budgeting, writing
memos, planning and HR work. The time allocated is 3-4 hours per week.
Other technical tasks- The time allocated to this activity by Chief Information Officer is done
with major focus as it helps to evaluate and implement technical systems. The time allocated is
2-3 hours per week. The technical tasks done by Chief Information Officer are office automation
like desktop architecture, implementation and support. The other technical tasks are coordination
of security and compliance (Davis, B. and McDonagh 2015). The example of technical tasks is
analysis security risks in Information Technology and determining Information Technology
standards and regulations.
Other nontechnical tasks- The time allocated to this activity by Chief Information Officer is
done with to evaluate the other functions of the organization excluding technical tasks. The time
allocated is 2-3 hours per week. The non-technical tasks done by Chief Information Officer are
decision making and building business strategy (Tsukayama 2015). The example of non-
technical tasks is improving customer service quality and maximizing staff productivity.

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The allocated time to the above activities shows that the work of Chief Information
Officer is hectic and they have to do lot of tasks at a given time which sometimes frustrates
them.
Total hours of work in a week done by Chief Information Officer
The total hours of work in a week done by Chief Information Officer is 40 hours in a
week at an average. This is only the time as per professional responsibilities and it does not
include any over time done by Chief Information Officer.
The total hours in a week devoted by Chief Information Officer as per their job
responsibilities. The job responsibilities along with additional responsibilities are as follows.
Strategy and Business Planning- This responsibility includes aligning of Information Technology
goals and objectives to organizations business strategies and planning (Ragowsky et al. 2014).
This also includes coordination of Information Technology across the organization.
Control of performances and technologies- This responsibility includes alignment of
Information Technology group with performance objectives of organization. The other inclusion
are controlling of budget related to technology and performance objectives of organization.
Information Technology Services- This responsibility includes acquiring of software/hardware
and managing and controlling of Information Technology providers (Skurka and Skurka 2017).
The other inclusions are establishing partnerships with strategic Information Technology
providers.
Risk management- This responsibility includes alignment of Information technology risk
management with organization wise risk management.

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Business processes- This responsibility includes optimization and designing of organization
processes. The standards, regulations and technologies of Information technology are defined
and adjusted in this responsibility.
Information Technology Initiatives- This responsibility includes planning and managing
strategic Information Technology activities and initiatives along with application portfolio and
projects (Peltier 2016). The other inclusion are business process executive in governance of
Information Technology.
Organizational Infrastructure and Applications- This responsibility includes definition for
standards and Information Technology architecture. The other inclusion are coordination of
Information Technology processes and procedures across the organization.

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References
Arnitz, T., Hütter, A. and Riedl, R., 2017. Mutual Trust between the Chief Information Officer
and Chief Executive Officer: Insights from an Exploratory Interview Study. Journal of
Information Technology Theory and Application (JITTA), 18(3), p.4.
Davis, B. and McDonagh, J., 2015. The Evolving Role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO).
In Technology, Innovation, and Enterprise Transformation (pp. 207-232). IGI Global.
Dlamini, R.S., 2015. The role of the strategic and adaptive Chief Information Officer in higher
education. Education and Information Technologies, 20(1), pp.113-140.
Harding, D.J. and Fan, I.S., 2017. Environmental modelling of the Chief Information Officer.
High, P., 2016. Forbes Welcome. [online] Forbes.com. Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterhigh/2016/01/25/ges-cio-will-help-drive-15-billion-in-
technology-based-revenue-by-2020/#6eb39926320e [Accessed 30 Apr. 2018].
Keuper, F. and Lueg, K.E., 2015. Finance bundling and finance transformation. Springer
Gabler.
March, B. and Jan, B., 2016. Executive Matthew Armstrong Position Chief Finance &
Information Officer Review Period 2015-2016. policy, 31, p.2015.
Paul, P., Bhuimali, A. and Aithal, P.S., 2018. Chief Information Officer and Their Changing
Role as Information Cum Techno-Management Professionals: Brief Overview.
Peltier, T.R., 2016. Information Security Policies, Procedures, and Standards: guidelines for
effective information security management. CRC Press.
Ragowsky, A., Licker, P., Miller, J., Gefen, D. and Stern, M., 2014. Do Not Call Me Chief
Information Officer, But Chief Integration Officer. A Summary of the 2011 Detroit CIO
Roundtable. CAIS, 34, p.69.

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Skurka, M.A. and Skurka, M.F. eds., 2017. Health information management: principles and
organization for health information services. John Wiley & Sons.
Tsukayama, H., 2015. The rise of the chief information officer. [online] Washington Post.
Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2015/09/22/the-rise-of-
the-chief-information-officer/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bc90af84d3cf [Accessed 30 Apr.
2018].
Van Ness, S., 2017. The Role of Gender in Hiring Officials' Perceptions of Chief Information
Officer Candidates (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).
Webb, G., 2018. Forbes Welcome. [online] Forbes.com. Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/01/09/the-evolving-role-of-the-cio-in-
2018/#6b43b3e81c8e [Accessed 30 Apr. 2018].