Half of CIOs don't expect to be in the same role in their next job

The majority of CIOs don’t expect to continue the job in their next role according to research from Gartner.

Gartner’s CIO Agenda survey for 2012, of over 2,300 CIOs across the world, found 55 per cent of respondents didn’t think they would be in a CIO role in the next career move. Speaking with CIO UK, Gartner CIO research group fellow Dave Aron said 20 per cent expected to move into a more business-focused role, 18 per cent expected to retire and 17 per cent expected to move into a consultancy role.

The survey broke respondents down over self-assessed performance metrics and found that of the 14 per cent who considered themselves to be at the top of their game, just under two thirds of them thought they would move on away from the CIO role in their next job change.

The metrics suggest that the CIO role is undergoing a substantial redefinition within business, as technology becomes more pervasive and accessible to non-technology business departments.

Other findings in the survey seem to bear this trend out. On one side, CIOs are expected to contribute to improving products and customer loyalty. On the other they are being undermined by business-line colleagues taking control of their own IT requirements.

“The most important goals are customer experience, but the worrying thing is that CIOs aren’t geared up to deliver on it. They are stuck managing legacy investment,” said Aron.

There may be an increasing a level of disaffection for the role, as control over cutting-edge technological developments appears to be taken out of CIOs’ hands.

When asked to prioritise various technologies the CIOs surveyed some of those at the top of the wider agenda, like security and social media, low down on their lists.

“Considering the amount of chatter about them, that says to us that it’s happening elsewhere,” said Aron. “Our results say technology is back on the agenda this year, but it doesn’t mean that the CIO will be managing that agenda. It looks as if some IT projects will be headed up by other senior executives in the company.”

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