IBM Launches Center for CIO Leadership

To address the increasing role that Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are playing in developing and executing business strategies, IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today the creation of the Center for CIO Leadership. The Center will bring together executive leaders, academics and other experts from around the world to build practical research and executive development initiatives focused on advancing the CIO profession.

The Center for CIO Leadership will serve as a global community for CIOs through which they can collaborate and learn in order to uncover opportunities where Information Technology will drive business value. The Center -- led by Executive Director, Harvey Koeppel -- will be governed by an advisory council comprised of leading CIOs as well as professors from some of the world's most prestigious universities, including Harvard Business School, MIT and INSEAD.

In addition to creating unique research aimed at the concerns of today's CIOs, the Center will also provide new leadership development and other educational programs. Content for these online and classroom-based education programs will be based on CIO feedback, ongoing research, and outreach to executives with whom CIOs interact, such as CEOs, line-of-business leaders, boards of directors, and government leaders.

"The new Center for CIO Leadership will enable CIOs to share and learn in a community environment in a way that will enhance the profession," said Linda Sanford, senior vice president, IBM enterprise on demand transformation. "Our survey research indicates that CIOs and their teams are looking to break out and create new value and long term growth for their companies, and the education, learning and collaboration provided by the Center for CIO Leadership will help accomplish this."

As part of the opening of the Center, IBM launched the global 2007 CIO Leadership Survey. The Survey, conducted in collaboration with Harvard Business School and MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), included more than 175 CIOs from leading companies around the world.

"Practical research that addresses the needs of today's CIOs is a key pillar of the Center's mission. Understanding from CIOs themselves where they think the gaps are provides an excellent starting point to effect change," said Harvey Koeppel, the Center's executive director.

The Survey reveals that CIOs are increasingly becoming trusted members of the executive business team. Eighty percent of CIOs responded that they are a valued member of the senior leadership team, with 69 percent indicating significant involvement in strategic decision-making. Further, organizations whose CIOs have high levels of strategic involvement demonstrate higher levels of business model and product and service innovation, as well as shared, centralized IT services.

However, critical gaps remain. CIOs believe there are significant opportunities to further apply IT for competitive advantage in the areas of external partnering and reaching new markets. In addition, CIOs are also frustrated at their own skills in managing their career development, with only 37 percent considering themselves highly or exceptionally skilled in this regard. They also see a need to develop change management skills and political savvy in order to be more successful. Furthermore, they feel that the value of their work is not fully recognized from a business perspective. Only 35 percent of respondents felt that the value of IT was adequately measured within the enterprise.