Are CIOs' days numbered?

It seems that every day we hear about a new chief AI officer, chief data officer or chief digital officer joining a business. So, with all these new chiefs, what has become of the humble CIO?

There has long been a tension between CTOs and CIOs, with the latter often being deemed the backroom operator, but that has diminished over time as the nature of the two roles has become more clearly defined. In most organizations, these roles happily co-exist, usually with the CIO holding the overall technology remit, with the CTO slotting into a specific niche.

The reason for this is that the core currency of technology always has been -- and likely always will be – information. How we find, analyze, distribute and use the information may have changed, but it is still the foundation upon which technology is built in most organizations. Even as the boundaries of technology extend outward into robots, the internet of things and human-embedded devices, the underlying driver is information.

Should the CIO be disturbed about these other emerging roles?

Well, that rather depends on how the CIO functions. If the CIO is the true bridge between technology and all other business functions, then they should actually embrace this slew of new people coming because, ultimately, they will enhance the nature and use of information. They will bring specialist knowledge, innovative skills and new tools to the party, but the ultimate party game will still be information.

The problem, when there is one, is the wider perception of the business. AI, data and digital are quite simply sexier words than information, and they grab the attention of the board and investors, which is why these roles often come with the C-prefix. Announcing a new chief digital officer somehow conveys 'we have changed, we are digital' in a way that a new CIO doesn't.

The smart organizations with the great CIOs will simply recruit the same expertise but build them into centers of excellence within the CIO structure. In fact, the very smart organizations have been doing this for years without the need for the big announcement. The CIO continues to steer the technology ship, working with the board on the navigation and the experts on the engine room of delivery.

However, some organizations trying to make a marketing splash will appoint these roles outside of the CIO organization -- sometimes in parallel to the CIO -- and this is where the situation becomes more disturbing. Imagine appointing a chief accounts receivable officer in parallel with the CFO. Yes, it's a specialist role where domain knowledge is important, but it fundamentally affects the dynamic of the finance organization. It would never happen.

So why do we see it happening with chief digital officers, chief AI officers and the like? Partly, this is because AI has become the new technology frontier. Organizations are so desperate to prove to their customers and investors that they are moving on this that the appointment of a specific role becomes part of what they see as this critical message.

But the flip side of this coin is that those organizations suddenly appointing these Jedi roles are actually viewed as missing the point. Technology -- like any true C-level role -- is about integrating the specialism within the general, ensuring that the core business objectives are being met. The true CIO is the master of this, seamlessly knitting business and technology together because of their broad remit across all things tech.

Putting additional C-level roles into the mix has the potential for utter confusion, with different tech viewpoints pulling the board in multiple specialist directions, which is a recipe for failure. Technology is ever-changing and increasingly specialized, with a need for deep domain skills in different areas. But for this to function, it needs to roll up into a single function -- and that should still be the CIO.

A great CIO will take the various areas of AI, data and digital and build a strategy that leverages these in the best interests of the overall business. They will take the disruptive ideas to the board. They will challenge conventional business thinking with technology. But they will do it by combining the specialisms and their inherent understanding of the business. The best CIOs will conjure the perfect business-centric recipe from the array of specialist ingredients, but where organizations suddenly skew toward leading with AI, they are risking the overall technology recipe.

The CIO remains the overall owner of the technology strategy within an organization with their deep knowledge of the business and their ability to connect business imperatives to technology options. These other roles -- irrespective of the title -- should sit within that organization and provide the knowledge, ideas and domain knowledge for the CIO to put together with business needs to create the best strategy.