Among the executive leadership positions found at any company, the Chief Information Officer is usually among the newest. While corporations of all sizes have traditionally had management and financial executives, the CIO is a recent invention designed to guide the company safely through the world of electronic data, the implementation of new technologies, and the management of new sources of information, marketing research, and analysis. The duties of this key business executive can be broken down into a few major components, each of which are essential to guarding company secrets, enhancing company outreach, and embracing innovation consistently.
IT Management Structure: The Buck Stops with the Chief Information Officer
The CIO of a company is generally the highest-ranking person within the broader information technology department. Essentially, the CIO is the manager of all the company’s IT managers. As such, he or she typically has a great deal of veto power when it comes to embracing new technologies, signing off on new forms of security or encryption or even embracing different ways of storing and backing up key company data.
Generally, the CIO will meet with IT department managers or representatives on a regular basis to discuss the company’s direction and any possible concerns. They’ll also be responsible for handling any serious, breaking IT emergencies, such as an attempted or successful hacking of the company’s servers, the management of a new virus or malware application, and a host of other concerns.
Information Coordination: The CIO Must Manage Emerging Technologies
In addition to being the highest-ranking IT expert within a given company, the CIO typically has to spend a great deal of time analyzing the company’s current data approaches and planning a strategy for sustainable, highly secure growth. These tasks are especially important in an era characterized by a transition to distributed cloud storage and the growth of so-called “big data” that analyzes company practices and customers in-depth.
The CIO will do their best to determine how the company should store their data and which new approaches should be used. They’ll often be the deciding vote when it comes to choosing an external hosting company, committing to different operating systems or server architectures, or committing to a big upgrade across the board of all company workstations.
Marketing and More: Managing the Crossroads of Outreach and High-Tech
Finally, the Chief Information Officer of a company must be able to successfully bridge the divide between a company’s technological perspectives and its hard-fought marketing approaches. This collaboration is especially important during a period of major change in how marketing is performed, with a greater emphasis on big data, social outreach, high-value content, and search engine optimization.
Those in CIO roles are generally adept at guiding both the IT and marketing departments toward common ground. They’ll create a strategy for sharing and managing company marketing data, while educating marketing professionals in the importance of using, sharing, and securing data during campaign creation. In this capacity, they’ll often be working not only with marketing professionals, but also with the company’s CMO, or Chief Marketing Officer.
A New and Growing Position in the Business World
With the rise of cloud-based office technologies and social media marketing, the Chief Information Officer position is one that is growing in scope, demand, and importance. Those with an eye for detail, an affinity for high-tech management, and an understanding of how information and marketing intersect, will find unmatched success in this emerging role.
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