The Skills Needed to be a Top CIO

3 minutes read
on 22 October, 2017

The Skills Needed to be a Top CIO


With the world quickly turning into a digital vortex of information, being in the IT department is more vital than ever when it comes to a company’s success. The IT world is in constant motion, everyday someone in the industry comes up with a new way or idea to change the way things are done, and that’s where a great CIO comes in.

CIOs need to be able to stay on top of the new trends, as well as evaluate them to see if they would be beneficial for the company. The more skills and experience you obtain, the more successful you will be.

If your life long career dream is to land a position as a Chief Information Officer, keep reading for some must have skills for any CIO.

Willing to Learn and Adapt

In order to be successful in the IT industry, you must be willing to learn. With the new processes and programs that are created on a daily basis it is important to be familiar with each of them. Be aware of trends before they hit the market. Build connections and aim to grow your range of knowledge about the industry. Research the growing trends and apply them to your company’s goals, whether it’s about enterprise applications or what to look for when hiring new staff members. If you ignore them your company will suffer and will easily fall far behind its competitors, and therefore threatening your position as a CIO.

Capable of Building Long Lasting Connections and Relationships

The most efficient way to make sure you’re on top of the growing trends is to build strong connections with the people in your industry. Going to conferences, meeting fellow IT industry workers and keeping in touch with them helps you be one step ahead of your competitors. It can also help you in different aspects of your company such as IT staffing and obtaining recommendations for new hires from your connections that have worked with them.

Your ability to work with others is key as well. As the CIO you’ll be working with many groups within your company on tasks and projects and working well with them is the difference between success and failure. With new trends emerging, the CIO needs to be able to clearly communicate the benefits of them to the CEOs and other high tier members in the company. If the communication is weak, the company can suffer from a lack of industry awareness.

Can Build and Maintain a Solid Team

It’s difficult for a CIO to succeed without a solid team to back them up. Building a team that consists of hard working and knowledgeable individuals provides the company with its best chance to flourish. The team members can help the CIO discover new trends and assist the CIO in presenting the ideas to the CEO. When something in the IT department goes wrong, the CIO is usually the one that takes the heat for it, so he or she needs to have a responsible and experienced team that catches potential problems before they occur.

 

To become a successful CIO that helps the company thrive, you need to have more than just the few skills mentioned above. You need to be able to solve problems, be a good leader, be innovative, possess great organizational skills and always be curious about the ongoing changes in the industry.

At InfoVision we take pride in our IT staffing services that provide our clients with some of the best talent there is to offer in order to help them succeed. We understand the challenges of the IT industry and strive to make sure that our partners are ahead of their competitors.