IT's no smooth ride for CIOs in 2005

Gartner's 2004 review of the year foresees trouble ahead for chief

information officers (CIOs), who will need to improve their business skills to

become part of the board, manage increasingly difficult IT architectures and be

much more forward thinking in their plans.

The report cautions that CIOs must decide what kind of careers they want,

opting for roles as long-term industry specialists or short-term change

managers.

The report recommends CIOs to decide now on which career path to take, and to

start investing in the skills to make the move before the market makes the

decision for them.

The report cautions that the long-term trend to outsourcing will continue,

but there will also be a move to insource some systems. Companies which do not

plan outsourcing well are going to suffer systems failure and have no choice but

to insource. "Despite the fact that IT is already a difficult enough place to

work, it's going to get more complex," said John Mahoney, chief of research for

IT management and services at Gartner.

Gartner recommends that IT leaders have to shift away from technical skills

towards relationships, flexibility and business processes and a bottom line

which speaks of unique style of IT leadership.

It is recommended that CIOs take on non-IT business projects to prove their

credentials to the board, and hone their PR skills to promote themselves and

their departments.

The fundamental problem is that chief executives perceive IT as a barrier,

not an enabler, to growth, Gartner's research indicates.

The software industry is contributing to the complexity which CIOs are facing

as it is increasingly trying to lock customers into specific software systems.

Overall, the picture for the next year is uncertain, both for CIOs and for

business generally, according to Gartner.

"This is a more uncertain year for economic planning," said Mark Raskino,

research director for business process at Gartner.

"Chief executives are going for growth and IT has to support that, but plans

are subject to change because it's an unpredictable year.

"The probability for a worst-case scenario has gone up owing to things like

confidence in the American economy."

One thing is certain: there will be fewer jobs to go round. Gartner estimates

that by 2008 IT departments will employ half as many staff as they did in 2000.

Of the half that leave, 50 per cent will be re-employed in IT service

industries, and only half of those jobs will be in a different geographical

location.