EY-CIOs-Born-to-be-digital

Career lessons from digital-ready CIOsFor other IT leaders seeking to achieve similar outcomes in theircareers, three key points stand out in the approach and careerchoices of digital-ready CIOs:Digital-ready CIOs are far more opento taking advice and trying out newideas.“CIOs have to be open to new practices. To some extent, the CIOhas to showcase new technologies, so it’s a permanent challengefor CIOs to keep themselves occupied on new things,” says SanofiCIO Bruno Ménard. Mail.Ru CIO Alexander Gornyi also keeps anopen mind about new things to learn: “I love what I am doing, and Iam good at it; however, I continually strive for improvement. Ibelieve a willingness to learn is an absolute must,” he says.Furthermore, among digital-ready CIOs, nearly one in two (46%)remark that they could use some advice on their career progression,compared with 36% of IT-intensive industry CIOs. They also show agreater appetite for input from other sources, whether from theirpeers, external consultants, the print media, online webcasts orothers.They are strongly interestedin building their career uponmanagement skills.Forty-nine percent of digital-ready CIOs hold a degree in businessand 24% even an MBA, compared with 14% of IT-intensive industryCIOs. Similarly, a higher proportion of them (35%) hold a degree inscience or engineering. And almost half of them (49%) believe thata business degree or MBA is strongly required for the CIO role,compared with 37% of IT-intensive industry CIOs.Chart 12Discipline of educationBusinessITScienceOther5%5%Digital-ready CIO31%44%38%41%35%49%IT-intensive industry CIO(Percentage of respondents who obtained a level of education in this discipline)Digital-ready CIOs are willing to leavetheir home turf.They show a greater enthusiasm to spend time elsewhere in theorganization to get a deep understanding of the business. Nearlyhalf (48%) believe that experience in another function is vital,compared with 33% of IT-intensive industry CIOs. Similarly, agreater proportion believes that it is necessary to have spent timein other companies, and that it’s important to have been oninternational assignments. The CIO of a major Chinesetelecommunications firm explains how, having initially graduated inengineering, her career path involved her becoming the head of anon-IT department, as well as the CEO of a subsidiary firm, beforemoving into her current role. This is explicitly supported by herfirm: “Our company has a personnel arrangement mechanism thatallows a CIO to switch roles with other executives,” she notes.Chart 13Requirements for becoming a CIOMotivation and hard workInvolvement in supporting majorbusiness projectsDegree and training in ITDegree and training in businessadministration and managementExperience in anotherbusiness functionInternational assignmentsCareer moves in differentcompaniesDigital-ready CIO47%49%37%48%33%38%28%37%25%67%67%56%86%94%IT-intensive industry CIO(Percentage of respondents who have chosen 8, 9 or 10 on a scale from 1 = not required at allto 10 = absolutely required)Not only a CIO’s responsibilityAll of this highlights a further important point in CIOs’ career paths,but one that is less often considered. It is just as much the firm’sresponsibility to find and develop tomorrow’s digital CIOs, as it isthe responsibility of those working in IT to embrace and pursue thispath. “Firms know that many CIOs are not typically the mostflamboyant, outgoing, risk-taking types. So companies may need torethink their hiring processes to seek out a different caliber ofcandidate,” argues EY’s Tom Velema. “If their business focuses onCIOs who keep the lights on, they shouldn’t be surprised thatthey’ve not found their change leaders.”32 | Born to be digital