Chief information officer

Chief information officers define and implement the ICT strategy and governance. They determine necessary resources for the ICT strategy implementation, anticipate ICT market evolutions and company business needs. They contribute to the development of the organisation’s strategic plan and ensure that the ICT infrastructure supports the organisation’s overall operations and priorities.

The following job titles also refer to chief information officer:

chief information officers
CIO
IT director

Bachelor’s degree is generally required to work as chief information officer. However, this requirement may differ in some countries.

ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:

• the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
• the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
• the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.

Chief information officer is a Skill level 4 occupation.

These occupations, although different, require a lot of knowledge and skills similar to chief information officer.

chief technology officer
enterprise architect
chief ICT security officer
3D modeller
ICT system architect

These occupations require some skills and knowledge of chief information officer. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of chief information officer with a significant experience and/or extensive training.

This knowledge should be acquired through learning to fulfill the role of chief information officer.

Information structure: The type of infrastructure which defines the format of data: semi-structured, unstructured and structured.
Systems development life-cycle: The sequence of steps, such as planning, creating, testing and deploying and the models for the development and life-cycle management of a system.
Information architecture: The methods through which information is generated, structured, stored, maintained, linked, exchanged and used.
Software architecture models: The set of structures and models needed to understand or describe the software system, including the software elements, the relations between them and the properties of both elements and relations.
Decision support systems: The ICT systems that can be used to support business or organisational decision making.
Software design methodologies: The methodologies such as Scrum, V-model and Waterfall to design software systems and applications.
Market analysis: The field of market analysis and research and its particular research methods.
Ict project management methodologies: The methodologies or models for planning, managing and overseeing of ICT resources in order to meet specific goals, such methodologies are Waterfall, Incremental, V-Model, Scrum or Agile and using project management ICT tools.

These skills are necessary for the role of chief information officer.

Carry out strategic research: Research long term possibilities for improvements and plan steps to achieve them.
Define technology strategy: Create an overall plan of objectives, practices, principles and tactics related to the use of technologies within an organisation and describe the means to reach the objectives.
Optimise choice of ict solution: Select the appropriate solutions in the field of ICT while taking into account potential risks, benefits and overall impact.
Use different communication channels: Make use of various types of communication channels such as verbal, handwritten, digital and telephonic communication with the purpose of constructing and sharing ideas or information.
Implement ict risk management: Develop and implement procedures for identifying, assessing, treating and mitigating ICT risks, such as hacks or data leaks, according to the company’s risk strategy, procedures and policies. Analyse and manage security risks and incidents. Recommend measures to improve digital security strategy.
Monitor technology trends: Survey and investigate recent trends and developments in technology. Observe and anticipate their evolution, according to current or future market and business conditions.
Forecast future ict network needs: Identify current data traffic and estimate how growth will affect the ICT network.
Maintain plan for continuity of operations: Update methodology which contains steps to ensure that facilities of an organisation are able to continue operating, in case of broad range of unforeseen events.
Manage software releases: Examine and approve suggested software development releases. Manage further release process.
Coordinate technological activities: Give instructions to colleagues and other cooperating parties in order to reach the desired outcome of a technological project or achieve set goals within an organisation dealing with technology.
Ensure adherence to organisational ict standards: Guarantee that the state of events is in accordance with the ICT rules and procedures described by an organisation for their products, services and solutions.
Review development process of an organisation: Judge, review and decide on directions of innovation and development processes in an organisation in order to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Utilise decision support system: Use the available ICT systems that can be used to support business or organisational decision making.
Implement corporate governance: Apply a set of principles and mechanisms by which an organisation is managed and directed, set procedures of information, control flow and decision making, distribute rights and responsibilities among departments and individuals, set corporate objectives and monitor and evaluate actions and results.

This knowledge is sometimes, but not always, required for the role of chief information officer. However, mastering this knowledge allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Haskell: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Haskell.
Incremental development: The incremental development model is a methodology to design software systems and applications.
Erlang: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Erlang.
Sas language: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in SAS language.
Agile project management: The agile project management approach is a methodology for planning, managing and overseeing of ICT resources in order to meet specific goals and using project management ICT tools.
Ruby (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Ruby.
Common lisp: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Common Lisp.
Lisp: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Lisp.
Visual studio .net: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Visual Basic.
Java (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Java.
Computer programming: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms (e.g. object oriented programming, functional programming) and of programming languages.
Prolog (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Prolog.
Openedge advanced business language: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in OpenEdge Advanced Business Language.
Iterative development: The iterative development model is a methodology to design software systems and applications.
Javascript: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in JavaScript.
Perl: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Perl.
Smalltalk (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Smalltalk.
Php: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in PHP.
Assembly (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Assembly.
Spiral development: The spiral development model is a methodology to design software systems and applications.
C#: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in C#.
Internet governance: The principles, regulations, norms and programs that shape the evolution and use of internet, such as internet domain names management, registries and registrars, according to ICANN/IANA regulations and recommendations, IP addresses and names, name servers, DNS, TLDs and aspects of IDNs and DNSSEC.
R: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in R.
Groovy: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Groovy.
Asp.net: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in ASP.NET.
Apl: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in APL.
Waterfall development: The waterfall development model is a methodology to design software systems and applications.
Engineering processes: The systematic approach to the development and maintenance of engineering systems.
Microsoft visual c++: The computer program Visual C++ is a suite of software development tools for writing programs, such as compiler, debugger, code editor, code highlights, packaged in a unified user interface. It is developed by the software company Microsoft.
Typescript: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in TypeScript.
World wide web consortium standards: The standards, technical specifications and guidelines developed by the international organisation World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which allow the design and development of web applications.
Rapid application development: The rapid application development model is a methodology to design software systems and applications.
Coffeescript: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in CoffeeScript.
Objective-c: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Objective-C.
Ml (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in ML.
Ajax: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in AJAX.
C++: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in C++.
Sap r3: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in SAP R3.
Swift (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Swift.
Matlab: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in MATLAB.
Ict architectural frameworks: The set of requirements that describe an information system’s architecture.
Python (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Python.
Scratch (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Scratch.
Process-based management: The process-based management approach is a methodology for planning, managing and overseeing of ICT resources in order to meet specific goals and using project management ICT tools.
Lean project management: The lean project management approach is a methodology for planning, managing and overseeing of ICT resources in order to meet specific goals and using project management ICT tools.
Agile development: The agile development model is a methodology to design software systems and applications.
Vbscript: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in VBScript.
Cobol: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in COBOL.
Pascal (computer programming): The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Pascal.
Abap: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in ABAP.
Prototyping development: The prototyping development model is a methodology to design software systems and applications.
Devops: The DevOps development approach is a methodology to design software systems and applications focused on the collaboration and between software programmers and other ICT professionals and automation.
Scala: The techniques and principles of software development, such as analysis, algorithms, coding, testing and compiling of programming paradigms in Scala.

These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of chief information officer. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Administer ict system: Handle components of ICT system by maintaining configuration, managing users, monitoring resource use, performing backups and installing hardware or software to comply with the set requirements.
Manage budgets: Plan, monitor and report on the budget.
Manage staff: Manage employees and subordinates, working in a team or individually, to maximise their performance and contribution. Schedule their work and activities, give instructions, motivate and direct the workers to meet the company objectives. Monitor and measure how an employee undertakes their responsibilities and how well these activities are executed. Identify areas for improvement and make suggestions to achieve this. Lead a group of people to help them achieve goals and maintain an effective working relationship among staff.
Ensure information privacy: Design and implement business processes and technical solutions to guarantee data and information confidentiality in compliance with legal requirements, also considering public expectations and political issues of privacy.
Manage ict system deployment: Deliver, install and test a computer or ICT system. Set up and prepare the system for use.
Oversee development of software: Organise, plan and supervise the development of the applications and frameworks in order to create a software product, from the earliest planning stages to the final product test.
Lead technology development of an organisation: Develop activities surrounding innovation and research in the field of technology within an organisation based on its strategic direction and growth goals. Provide guidance to colleagues how to best implement them.
Carry out statistical forecasts: Undertake a systematic statistical examination of data representing past observed behaviour of the system to be forecast, including observations of useful predictors outside the system.
Monitor ict research: Survey and investigate recent trends and developments in ICT research. Observe and anticipate mastery evolution.
Establish an ict customer support process: Create a series of customer ICT service activities before, during and after a request. Ensure an adequate response or action, enhance the level of customer satisfaction and accumulate ICT product or service feedback.

1330 – Information and communications technology service managers

 

 

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References

1. Chief information officer – ESCO