Development of CIO Competencies

Nowadays, when organizations almost completely rely on ICT (Information and communications technology), the CIO (Chief Information Officer) needs to accept the required changes in his role and the skills which are necessary for efficiency and success. The old CIO, a technologist, who lives in his own world, must now become a new CIO who can act as the management’s partner in making business decisions. In the context of his daily tasks and contacts, priority should be given to business language and less to technical language. The volume and value of ICT projects have increased dramatically, but there is a risk that poor communication could push the benefits of such investments into the background and that such projects could be doomed to fail. For this reason, the communication skills of CIOs are becoming more and more significant. Appropriate education of IT employees at higher education institutions is a serious challenge. We need to become aware of the fact that we live in a globalized world where effective communication is crucial for success. The aim of this paper is to open a new path in the collaboration between the CIO community and universities to better understand the necessary set of skills a CIO must possess as well as the importance of his role in the new ICT world. Therefore, appropriate courses should be incorporated into the curricula of technical universities that most IT managers attend, which will consequently provide CIOs with a better education in communication skills.