NEWSLETTERS
 

CIO.com updates, insights and advice on technology, management and your career.

 CIO BlackBerry News and Tips
 CIO Research and Analysis
 CIO Microsoft
 CIO Insider
 
 
 
SUBSCRIBE TO CIO
 
Are you involved in setting the direction for your company's IT budget or strategy?

Apply today for a FREE subscription to CIO Magazine!

 


Fri, Mar 21, 2008 14:14 EDT

Do Consultants Have What It Takes to Be CIO?

Topic: IT Organization Management

Blog: Movers and Shakers

Current Rating: 5 Comments: 6

Companies are increasingly hiring consultants into CIO positions. The Hartford Financial Services Group hired a 25-year veteran of Accenture as its CIO last October. Paper and packaging distributor Unisource Worldwide also hired an Accenture consultant as its CIO in August 2007. Other companies that hired consultants as their CIOs in the past year include:

This is a dramatic change from a decade ago. In 1998, when I first started working for CIO magazine, companies were reluctant to hire career consultants into the CIO role for a variety of reasons—the main one being that public companies didn't think consultants possessed the political finesse to effect change inside organizations.

At the time, companies were racing to deploy ERP systems both to automate business processes related to finance, manufacturing and HR and to help with Y2K compliance. As we all know, those implementations were no picnic, fraught as they were with change management challenges. Since rallying support for ERP among key business executives and getting end-users acclimated to the new software and process changes were key to successful deployments, companies wanted to hire CIOs who had hands-on experience implementing ERP systems. Even though companies hired legions of consultants to help with ERP implementations, they believed there was a fundamental difference between deploying these systems and effecting change as a consultant and outsider vs. effecting change from the inside. They thought consultants had it easier because they didn't have to worry about burning bridges and because they were contracted for a short period of time, not the long haul duration of the implementation. Consequently, employers didn't think consultants had the hands-on, real-world, insider experience of building internal political alliances and rallying end-user support that was critical for success.

I wonder why companies have changed their attitude toward consultants. Some, such as The Hartford, Michael Baker and Mace, hired consultants who had been working for the company, so these consultants weren't coming in off the street, so to speak. They had the opportunity to prove themselves on projects. I understand companies using consulting engagements to "test" job candidates. It makes sense to me, and presumably makes hiring a lot easier for them.

But still, if effecting change as an external consultant is truly different from effecting change as an internal CIO, why would companies be confident that these consultants they're hiring can do the CIO job? I don't think the answer is 'because those consultants have proven themselves' because I'm not convinced these consultants have proven themselves as CIO. (Of course, the companies that hired them might think otherwise.)

Don't get me wrong: I'm not trying to pass judgment on consultants, and in particular on the consultants who've been hired into the CIO positions I've mentioned above. I'm not saying I think they're bad, incompetent or incapable of being CIO. I'm simply trying to point out a change in attitude that has affected competition for CIO jobs, and I'm trying to understand what prompted that change.

Why are so many more companies open to hiring consultants into the CIO role? Has the nature of IT projects changed such that the skills and experiences that were required for CIOs in 1998 are no longer in demand? Is it a need to pick a CIO from a broader pool of applicants? Do consultants, especially career consultants, have what it takes to be CIO? Let me know what you think.


You do not have flash or javascript support.
Average (2 votes)
5
 
 
Fri, Mar 21, 2008 18:40 EDT
Anonymous user
Posted by: Anonymous
Rating: 80

Well, as a career consultant, let's see: I've worked with over 100 different organizations across all levels of technology- from basic implementation to being the chief architect for a 1 billion dollar enterprise. I've had to establish my capability and ability in short time frames, put out fires, work with all levels of an organization to precipitate change and then repeat these steps over and over.

Because I've worked with so many organizations I've seen it all- what works, what doesn't, why things fail, why they succeed and what really makes an appropriate application of technology to a business problem.

I've worked with every major technology vendor and dozens of products and integrated them time and again. I understand how to pragmatically reduce IT complexity and cost, and have built teams from scratch, mentored, and built business.

Yeah, consultants couldn't possibly make effective CIO's....no vision, no ability to manage change, no ability to lead diverse teams, control budget, build business, establish effective relationships at the C-level, etc.

I think more businesses should look to career consultants who can actually bring a wider variety of experience to the table....

 
Sat, Mar 22, 2008 7:41 EDT
Anonymous user
Posted by: Mike A
Rating: 40

In my humble opinion, there is nothing that precludes a consultant from becoming a successful CIO. As the first commenter said, the broad experience in a variety of industries, plus the people skills that they are required to have, may make them more qualified.

To be clear, I am not and have been a consultant, but I am a working CIO. It has been my experience that there are skills that a consultant does not have automatically, but can learn. Those skills have to do with longer term management with one company as opposed to moving to different engagements. The art of budgeting, which they often aren't required to know. And dealing with a different form of company politics which again, they may not been exposed to.

The point is that I don't know if you are seeing a trend or not, but a consultant is no more or less qualified to get into the CIO ranks. The key metric to success will be to measure how long they stay. Then you will know if the move was a good one, or not.

Take care!!

Mike

 
Sat, Mar 22, 2008 14:07 EDT
Posted by: ElectraGlide
Rating: 80

Again, my 30 year mish-mash career has seen no real change of attitudes per se. Some corporate cultures I have found are set against "expensive unnecessary" consultants and run to a calculator to take that hourly rate x 2080 to compare to a salaried person in house. The numbers are of course, misleading. Then, I have been offered and accepted (OK'd in engagement agreement) some great positions as VP or CIO. It's just that the companies didn't remain around long enough (another story).

I guess, after rambling a little, I never have seen a real pattern in this area. One radical belief I allow myself is that CIO's from unrelated industries can make fine CIO's for a client in search of the best talent. The real big, dark and upsetting secret is that most industry segments have very similar problems once you get past the "industry segment jargon". Once, I proposed how a "Bill of Material Procesor" program's (Manufacturing) mainline logic could be directly applied to a complex issue in solving a problem in a Health Plan Membership.

The bottleneck, (after the HR department) in the CIO selection issue, is Executive Management won't shake the perception "we really are different" or "our CIO candidate must have direct industry specific experience..." blah blah.

A successful, seasoned manager, with a broad accumulation of business accumen who is willing to learn the "secrets" new to the industry segment (not that difficult by the way...perhaps an attribute of the Consultant?) can and often does make an excellent CIO.

A final thought. Any time you've been around Information Technology long enough to think you see a trend, hang on for the shift back, past center to the "other side"...apply, lather, rinse, repeat.

Cole Porter said it: "Everything old is new again...

 
Mon, Mar 24, 2008 9:51 EDT
Posted by: Ilya Bogorad
Rating:

Very well put. Whenever I hear the words "industry experience", I cringe... they typically come from those who have been in the same line of work for many years, not very intelligent and don't have much knoledge of the outside world.

People with consulting backgrounds tend to have broader interests and experience... and of course, not every consultant is cut for the job, nor would they necessarily take it.

Ilya Bogorad
Principal
Bizvortex Consulting Group Inc
p. (905) 278 4753
e. ibogorad@bizvortex.com
w. www.bizvortex.com

 
Mon, Mar 24, 2008 18:47 EDT
Anonymous user
Posted by: Jed Simms
Rating: 90

As one who has been both a consultant and CIO I'd say that the main difference between the two roles is that as CIO you have to live with the consequences; as a consultant you can walk away leaving mayhem behind you but claim a successful job.

Typical of this is consultants recommending changing the business to fit the software (so they have it easy installing the software) and leaving the business trying to be competitive wtih alien processes. CIOs should avoid this (altho they often don't)

And another problem with consultants is that they can be "Always certain, seldom right". CIOs need more finesse.

Post new comment

* Subject:
* Username:
* E-mail:
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Homepage:
* Body:
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img> <blockquote> <strike> <p> <br>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
More information about formatting options

* Denotes required field.

About this Blog

The lowdown on new appointments, retirements, job changes and other career moves among IT executives.

Start a Conversation
Click to post

Got something to say? We want to hear it! Click the Post button to get started. GO»

EXPERT ADVICE
See our roster of experts.

Advice & Opinion from more than 113 of IT's most insightful thinkers.

  PARTNERS       WEBCASTS    
 

Windows 7 Webcast Series

There's a lot of buzz about Windows 7 out there. Each month in our webcast series, listen to analysts and customers discuss how Windows 7 and the Windows Optimized Desktop is impacting large companies around the world. Learn how they evaluated Windows 7, including the cost of deployment, deployment strategies, and tangible benefits.

Sponsored by Microsoft  Listen to on-demand Recordings »

 

Service Level Management Best Practices Life Cycle Overview - Improve Service Levels

Best practices for Service Level Management (SLM) is a process for consistently meeting customer requirements and delivering on IT's promises. See the steps required to ensure high-quality SLM.

Sponsored by Compuware  Read this White Paper »

 

Keeping Your Members Safe from Online Scams and Predators

In order to keep fraudsters out, romance sites must deploy effective solutions that look at information independent of what is supplied by users. A device fingerprinting solution such as iovation ReputationManager™ provides unique insight into the computers being used to create multiple accounts and exposes hidden device-account relationships that identity-based fraud solutions often miss.

Sponsored by iovation  Read this White Paper »

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notifications by topic when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library.

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notification when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library. Don't just be up-to-date—be up to the minute with our new Resource Alerts.

Defend Against Blended Threats: What You Need to Know

Blended Web and email threats are becoming increasingly complex and represent a huge...  View Now »

 

Prescriptive Actions to Reduce Risk

In this Webcast, learn best practices for effective systems management in a heterogeneous environment and keep client systems cost under control.   View Now »

 

Webcast- Vantage 11: Redefining Application Performance Management

Compuware's latest release, Vantage 11, is a major advance in end-to-end application performance management--bringing together proactive issue identification, quantification of business impact and problem resolution into a single solution. Tune in to learn how Vantage 11's top-down approach helps you make better decisions and dramatically lower operations costs.  View Now »

Resource Alerts

Get instant email notification when white papers, webcasts, and case studies are added to our library. Don't just be up-to-date—be up to the minute with our new Resource Alerts.

 
NEWSLETTER

Sign-up for the Blogs & Discussion Newsletter

 
FEATURED SPONSORS
 
 
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

Return on Information: Google Enterprise Search pays you back. Get the facts.

VMware. The source for Business Infrastructure Virtualization.

ShoreTel tells businesses to untangle from competitors' complexity and turn to its brilliantly simple UC solution

See how AT&T can help protect your network.

Streamline IT Costs. Boost Performance with WAN Optimization.

Build your 1st app FREE with Force.com

TDWI checklist helps define data readiness for analytics. Download report.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

The rules of infrastructure management just changed.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Interactive Q&A helps you discover key ways to maximize IT assets.

Ready to virtualize tier one applications? Check your virtualization maturity.

Think you can't afford a Cisco Switch? Cisco Catalyst Switches are now more affordable.

Five minute business analytics assessment. Immediate results.

The Case for Investing in Business Analytics Technology. Read white paper.

Upgrading to VMware vSphere with vWire

Top 10 Lessons Learned for Corporate 3G Mobile Broadband Deployments

CRM Built for IT: The Executive Guide to Selecting CRM that Meets IT Needs

Return on Information: Google Enterprise Search pays you back

ROI of Application Delivery Controllers

Making Consumer Two-Factor Authentication Simple and Cost-Effective

Mining the Cloud to Ease the Enterprise Compliance Burden

Solve Five Key IT Security Challenges with Cloud-Based Authentication

White Paper: Right-Sizing Your Power Infrastructure

AT&T Synaptic Storage as a Service. Expand on demand

Trend Micro ranked #1 against real-world malware. Read more.

Webinar: Jump-start your in-house e-discovery with Ringtail QuickCull from FTI Technology

Top Five CIO Challenges

Read the RSA report: Security for Business Innovation

64-page prescriptive guide to security, compliance, and IT operations.

Increase UPS efficiency without sacrificing protection.

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

Reduce risk, gain agility. See how Progress can help your business.

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

World-class trading technology solutions from NYSE Technologies.

If You're Paying for Telecom, You're Paying Too Much. Contact Asentinel Today.

Trade-In your old printer and save up to $1,000 plus free recycling!

infoBOOM! - The Mid-Sized Company CIO's Exclusive Community

Live Webinar: Applying Business Analytics. Click here to learn more

Removing Barriers To Better Server Virtualization Efficiency

4G Revisited. The Continued Evolution of Wireless Mobility.

What's Next for Enterprise Resource Planning?

Maximizing website Return on Information with high-quality search

Gartner Magic Quadrant, Application Delivery Controllers 2009

Authentication as a Service by Forrester Research

Cloud-Based Authentication for Next-Generation Extranets

Cut Costs & Green Your IT Operations with PC Power Management

White Paper: 4 Customer Service Myths