What Does a Chief Information Officer Do? How to Hire a CIO?

Hiring a CIO has become necessary for future business growth and winning the trust of your clients and investors. Companies hiring a CIO for the first time or those considering hiring a CIO might have numerous questions that need to be answered. Here is a blog that helps you find the right answers.

We all know that now every field and every aspect has gone digital. Almost every startup and organization needs to constantly invest in digitalization. This is the reason why CIO is emerging as a much-needed position in any company. It is crucial to recruit the right CIO who can help with the goals and targets according to its requirements.

Seven Key Roles Played By A CIO

1. Identify And Define a Framework To Improve The Digital Maturity Of The Company

The CIO of the company ensures to define the digital maturity in different categories with the help of a framework and with the right scope. They identify all the opportunities and weaknesses on the path of digital capabilities within the framework to prioritize the improvement.

The best thing to know about the role of the CIO is that they also demonstrate the business case to prioritize the improvement to colleagues or clients. They make sure to set the objective target to enhance the maturity to review against in the future.

Mainly, the CIO of any company or organization is responsible for identifying and defining the framework to enhance the company’s digital maturity.

2. Identify And Implement Technology and Systems That Increase Value of Solutions And Services

There is no doubt that a great business or digital business strategy will fail if the CIO neglects to implement technology and systems that can help increase the value of the business solution and services. Nowadays, every organization increasingly needs digital transformation with the help of new technology to run the day-to-day operations. The company’s CIO will work closely with the business leader to create digital-enabled business capabilities that can generate revenue, enhance profit margins, and include advanced solutions.

3. Ensure Technology Investments Best Fit Business Goals And Optimize Operational Efficiency

There is a huge need for connected infrastructure and workplace systems that can be accessed from multiple devices and platforms. Companies need to spend a huge amount of money developing integrated and connected workplace systems. Implementing the right operational efficiency strategy is crucial to maintaining a competitive advantage. It is the CIO who guides, leads, and supervises all decision-making about such technology investments and operations transformation.

4. Frame Change Management Strategies And Employee Training Needs

The CIO of the company is responsible for improving change management strategies. He or she also aligns employee training, engagement, and upskilling with the right goals and performance improvements. A CIO also leads other change management activities to bridge gaps between a company’s current and expected digital maturity needs.

5. Supervise Company-wide IT activities

One of the main responsibilities of the CIO is the development and overseeing of the IT activities. He or she needs to ensure that the activities are leading to the right outcomes in terms of information management, secured data access and exchange, and smooth functioning of day-to-day operations.

6. Ensure IT Investments Do Not Negatively Impact Profitability

A company’s technology investments need to be justified in terms of profitability, viability, and business continuity. This responsibility also rests on the CIO. He or she needs to figure out the most results-oriented investment that will never negatively affect the profits.

As per top C-Suite executive search consultants, one of the main criteria for judging whether a CIO has performed well or not is by measuring how technology infrastructure investments and information management practices have profited the company.

7. Contribute To Ensuring Secured Data And Information Management

According to top C-suite executive search consultants, secured data and information management functions fall under the leadership of both the CIO and the CISO.

The CIO is concerned with the strategy, implementation, and execution of the right technologies and systems for secured information management. The CISO takes responsibility for designing the framework, identifying the loopholes, and improving the entire information security infrastructure from a business perspective, client perspective, and compliance perspective.

The Best Way To Hire An Outstanding CIO

1. Consult And Get Clarity On CIO Hiring Guidelines, Goals, and Targets That Best Match Your Company Needs

Before you start with CIO recruitment, find out if the hiring guidelines, goals, and targets are in line with the performance standards, expectations, and other outcomes from the c-suite recruitment.

After you hire a CIO, if you find that the brilliant candidate you have hired is not understanding your business needs or work out solutions that have a strong, positive impact on your business, it is a waste of all the money and time you spent on CIO recruitment. Such scenarios can be prevented if the planning stage of this c-suite recruitment is handled correctly.

2. Create A Top-Level CIO Recruitment Committee

If you think your company is in a position to hire a CIO, then develop a top-level CIO recruitment committee. This committee will be responsible for approving the CIO profile, position-based duties, responsibilities, expectations, KPIs, and metrics to measure progress and success.

The top-level c-suite recruitment committee will also handle all decision-making related to CIO talent search, interviews, and selection.

3. Prepare A Complete 360-Degree Profile To Ensure Duties, Span of Control, Performance Expectations, Personality Traits- Everything is Covered

Make sure to come up with a complete 360-degree profile to ensure their duties, span of the control, and expectations level of performance. Cover all the major traits, including the personality traits, to bring a better recruitment process.

4. Hire A C-Suite Headhunter – Benefit From Wide, Diverse, Superior Talent Pool Access

A c-suite headhunter is a professional or agency with extensive experience in top-level recruitment. The headhunter also called a c-suite executive search consultant, will be someone with wide experience in interacting with the top professionals occupying C-suite roles in your industry.

C-suite executive search experts will have access to a diverse and huge talent database that will make finding the best-match CIO candidates easier, fast, and more efficient.

5. Conduct Compensation Benchmarking Before Fixing a Salary Range

Get the c-suite executive search firm to offer compensation benchmarking services. This is a paid service that helps companies frame the right compensation structure for the CIO position based on a combination of skill sets, experience, academic qualifications, and industry knowledge.

To hire a CIO, you need to have a clear understanding based on accurate insights into CIO salary structures, benefits, and other compensation matters.

6. Use Optimized, Objective, Data-Driven Recruitment Processes

A good c-suite executive search will execute a data-driven recruitment process that will lead to framing of search, screening, candidate analysis, and selection criteria that is perfectly aligned with your position-based goals, business goals, and various requirements. A data-driven approach and method also give your company deeper insights into every aspect of the search and recruitment activities.

7. Do Not Miss Culture-Fit And Behavioral Assessments

Will you hire a CIO only based on academic qualifications and track record? You might find that the outstanding professional has very less motivation to adapt to your company culture and initiate good leadership. That is why assessing culture fit is also a highly important hiring activity.

The behavior of the CIO should be impressive and good enough to handle the team wisely. You can conduct behavioral assessments using external specialists to avoid any risks of hiring someone who does not have the ability to fit in with your organizational culture.

Conclusion

To hire a CIO, your company needs to be ready for transformational changes. With every company having its own unique business challenges, client demands, and solutions or service models, it becomes important to find out if the CIO you have selected is right for your company. C-suite executive search firms play an important role in helping companies find the best-match candidates.

Alliance International

Alliance International has 12+ years of experience in c- suite recruitment. We have extensive experience in meeting the various demands of companies with regards to c-suite recruitment. From market mapping and compensation benchmarking to assisting with the implementation of data-driven, objective CIO talents search and recruitment processes, our services are comprehensive.

Contact us to find out more about our c-suite executive search services.