CIOIN

Gartner’s CIO Agenda 2012 surveyed over 2,300 CIOs across the world, and found that 55 percent of respondents didn’t think they would be in a CIO role in their next career move. Gartner CIO research group fellow Dave Aron said 20 percent expected to move into a more business-focused role, 18 percent expected to retire and 17 percent expected to be consultants.

The survey broke respondents down over self-assessed performance metrics and found that of the 14 percent 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.

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

“Our results say technology is back on the agenda this year, but it doesn’t mean that the CIO will be managing it. It looks as if some IT projects will be headed by other senior executives,” said Aron.