Features

The CIO as a Service

Is it time to put the c-ya into CIO by outsourcing the role to specialist organisations?

07 June 2017

Anything can be ingested by the As-a- Service beast – swallowed, repackaged, repurposed and regurgitated to fit the lean corporate model and the incessant demands of budget and economy. Even the CIO. A snap Google search reveals an increasing volume of CIO-as-a-Service (CIOa-a-S) organisations offering the skills of the CIO on demand. Need someone to sort out your IT without having to tussle for skills and competence in a starved market? Need a dab hand at technology without worrying about the price tag? These are the promises whispered in the ear of organisations eyeing CIO-as-a-Service, but is this ‘as-a-Service’ a trend, or just an idea that will fizzle out as fast as it arrived?

“It’s probably hype being driven by organisations trying to sell this as a service,” says Jon Tullett, research manager, IDC South Africa. “That said, if you separate the CIO function into two parts – IT manager and strategic board member – then it changes things to a certain extent. Outsourcing the IT element is already an established business model that works, but the actual CIO role? It’s far too strategic to outsource. Anyone who sees IT as a strategic asset and outsources the entirety of the CIO role is making a mistake.”

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