Out With the Old, In With the New “Expanded” CIO/CTO Roles

Ask any CIO/CTO, and they’ll probably tell you they were fighting for a “seat at the table” not long ago. However, after Covid-19 hit, it forced many businesses to adjust their operations. For example, remote working increased, and hybrid work technology became more important than ever. Why did CIO/CTOs come into the spotlight? Simple, without technology, it can be challenging for many businesses to achieve their goals. What are the expected CIO/CTO role revolutions in 2022 and beyond? Read this quick guide to learn more.

Constant change requirement

If you’re an entrepreneur or business leader, you probably understand business opportunities and market conditions are dynamic. It means CIO/CTOs need to focus on the colleague and client experience, besides a proper digital vision and a holistic technology approach.

A successful CIO/CTO will be an expert who can inspire trust and confidence and create an environment for success by encouraging and empowering others. It’s no doubt that businesses want to create awe-inspiring experiences for modern clients.

Today, clients want to partner with enterprises that understand their needs and provide personalized solutions. Companies need to improve their services for a better society and communities.

Related: The New Role of CIOs and CTOs

Ensure appropriate customer experience in digital transformation

Modern businesses that don’t focus on digital transformation could be missing a lot. CIO/CTOs will need to rethink business models and consider technologies that focus on customer experience. Based on the latest developments in many industries, the next digital transformation seems to be client experience.

Sure, digital transformation emphasizes clients’ needs, but customer experience advances this. For example, it takes a holistic view of a client’s journey with an enterprise. Typically, CIOs have been focusing on internal processes, technology and systems, and CTOs focus on the external, client-facing technology.

However, in 2022 and beyond, they need to consider an outside-in view. This way, they can discover areas that need improvement to enhance customer loyalty and ensure revenue growth.

Create data capabilities for the future

In today’s digital world, data is critical for an organization’s decision-making and business strategy. This is especially true with AI and machine learning penetrating different company operations. The implication is simple for CIO/CTOs.

They need to collaborate with business peers and create effective data capabilities. It will help them select the appropriate issues and choose valuable outcomes. According to the KeyBank CIO, Amy Brady, “Clients are a company’s great asset, but data is one of the most important assets.”

Focus on transformational leadership

As businesses try to recover post-pandemic, the CIO/CTO roles will go beyond IT management to technology leveraging. For example, in the healthcare industry, many activities previously performed in-person, on the phone or on paper get done digitally today.

New technologies allow a business to deliver personalized experiences to their clients. This is critical for enhancing service delivery and expanding an enterprise. Experts believe flexible data architectures and modular platforms are no longer optional for organizations. Cloud infrastructure adoption has expanded and accelerated as businesses react to the pandemic challenges.

Estee Lauder’s Chief Analytics Officer, Sol Rashidi, advises business leaders to, “Embrace data and analytics more to discover golden nuggets they didn’t know before.”

Related: Your Chief Information Officer Must Be Aware of These Employee Trends

Fighting burnout

The space for most IT leaders in 2022 will continue to advance. The technology aspect in most business projects means increased IT intensity in most organizations. CIO/CTOs will need to understand how to help teams with resource allocation and prioritization. 

One of the effective exercises companies can adopt is the introduction of technology resources into identifying a problem earlier and discussing possible solutions. Working with a collaborative team can be a great way to spot issues and design solutions. This is critical in dealing with burnout.

Business owners looking to stay ahead of the pack post-pandemic should rethink the CIO/CTO roles. It turns out the CIO/CTO roles will continue increasing in 2022 and beyond. They’ll help reshape businesses’ future by tackling critical technological and other matters for organizations.