The new CIO agenda

Longform
(Image: Stockfresh)

8 December 2015

“On the other hand, as organisations and their use of ICT mature, there is a growing emphasis on digital transformation and of course there are businesses that are natively digital. That is certainly where the CTO adds value as very much a person who understands how architecture and software development and engineering operations all work. The CTO is the bridge between management and technology and the people doing the work. But the job does involve getting dragged into day-to-day issues, which is I think what has contributed to the rise of this new role, the Chief Digital Officer.

Richard Corbridge, HSE_web

We are starting to work on the delivery of technology more as a standardised service and putting more focus on the information. In health in particular, there is quite simply a real need to make more of the information that exists, Richard Corbridge, HSE

“The CDO looks across a wide band of development and new applications without having to worry about legacy systems or infrastructure — or indeed careful planning of capital investment. With the focus on new and potentially disruptive technology, technical expertise in depth is clearly required, plus perhaps a degree of creativity. Which does pose potential problems, because you still need to interpret business strategy and certainly have to have a fair proportion of the CIO skills while ongoing service delivery is always important.”

CISO
Goulding acknowledges the importance of the new role of Chief Information Security Officer. “We have a CISO, separate from ICT, because you really can’t mark your own homework. In today’s world it is prudent to separate the roles. The person has to have a deep understanding of technology, because the span is so wide, but the core is about risk management and risk mitigation. The mind-set required is very different from the development and creativity focus of the CTO. One thinks ‘How quickly can we get this done?’ and the other says ‘How quickly can we get this done safely?’

Having been both a CIO and a CTO, Goulding says he now recognises why CIOs have a relatively short shelf life. “You come in and inherit a certain set of legacy IT and infrastructure, you work out how to transform it to the next level and you carry through a programme. But then a natural phase is over and perhaps you become more concerned with the costs and efficiency and security, and tend to err on the side of caution. That is why four or five years is about the normal span of a CIO job.”

Immediate pressures
Another perspective on the role of the CIO comes from Richard Corbridge, just about to complete his first year as CIO of the HSE. “The immediate pressures on the CIO are coming from board level and are about ownership of information, in health and I think in the public sector generally, both in Ireland and the UK. The I for information in the title is becoming more relevant and the CIO is both responsible and the throat to choke in the organisation. In the HSE, we are starting to work on the delivery of technology more as a standardised service and putting more focus on the information. In health in particular, there is quite simply a real need to make more of the information that exists.”

The starting point, he says, is data ownership and data security: “We have to get that right from the beginning, and conform to legislation and policy and in this sector we are still finding our feet in that regard. It is a problem that has impeded or postponed ICT project implementation in healthcare all over the world. In Ireland, as the CIO in the HSE, I am trying to lead in trying to use technology to integrate the healthcare service, which is in dire need of investment and change and reform.

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