Chief Process and Innovation Officer (CPIO)

Chief Process and Innovation Officer (CPIO), also called Chief Process Officer (CPO), is a corporate C-level position that calls for a leader who is able to identify which parts of a company's business processes could be improved and recommend specific ways to make them work better. Industry watchers like author Peter Hinssen and Michael Hammer propose that as IT moves towards a more service-oriented architecture and cloud computing, the traditional role of CIO as technology expert will evolve into that of a more process-oriented business supervisory role and the CIO will become the CPIO.

Core competencies for a CPIO include:

Professional - The CPIO knows how the organization works, is aware of innovations in Information Technology and is familiar with relevant IT service providers and vendors.

Social - The CPIO demonstrates leadership skills, including the ability to listen to employees, collaborate and network with other C-level managers and negotiate with vendors. 

Managerial - The CPIO is able to run a department, oversee staff development, balance a budget and manage IT as part of a business function. 

Transformational - The CPIO is comfortable with managing change -- both low-tech and high-tech change and changes in business goals. 

Business - The CPIO is familiar with his market and actively monitors the competition.

Innovation - The CPIO is able to demonstrate which innovations will be worthwhile, determine how technology can further improve the business process and successfully market his ideas for change. 

Learn More

Peter Hinssen writes about the rise of the CPIO in his book IT/Fusion.

John Soat takes a look at the evolving role of the CIO in "Tomorrow's CIO: Process Before Technology."

John McCormick interviews Michael Hammer in  "CIO as Chief Process Officer, Not Strategic Leader."