The Future CIO: Emerging Skills Needed for the Evolving Role

As technology leaders, we already know that the role of the CIO continues to rapidly evolve faster than ever before.  With technology taking on greater strategic importance for business success, CIOs must continuously expand their skills.

“The CIO role has pivoted from driving cost efficiency to becoming the chief digital officer responsible for driving modernisation and revenue growth.” 

             – Martha Heller | The CIO Paradox

Keeping your skills up to date and improving them is critical.   There are many ways of doing this and one of the best is joining a professional network like The CIO Circle.  This will not only help you become aware of – and stay ahead of – key trends shaping the future CIO’s required expertise but has many other benefits too.

1. Business Strategy Acumen

With technology now an integral part of business operations and competitive advantage, CIOs must enhance their strategic planning abilities to contribute to setting organisational direction. This includes mastering financial management, understanding the external competitive landscape, and collaborating cross-functionally.

2. Data Analytics Leadership

As data grows exponentially, CIOs must lead their teams in extracting impactful insights through analytics to inform strategic decisions across the enterprise. Advanced analytics skills allow CIOs to identify efficiency opportunities, revenue growth channels, and emerging risk areas.

3. Change Management Master

CIOs must guide their organisations through digitally driven business transformations and cultural change by honing their change management and communication abilities. This involves stakeholder expectation setting, training, inspirational messaging, and process redesign.

4. Cybersecurity Fluency

With security threats growing in scale and sophistication, CIOs need both deep technical knowledge and the ability to translate cyber risks in business terms to educate stakeholders. Cybersecurity now sits at the core of enterprise risk management for the CIO.

67% of CEOs say a strong understanding of disruptive technologies is the most important CIO quality. (PwC)