ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 7, 1996 TAG: 9607050133
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAMILLE WRIGHT MILLER SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
"The CIO is the technical expert," Walton said. Even in organizations where most workers are busy with other types of work, "they're depending on you to support the business."
Chief information officer is a recently created title in American business. It reflects the expanded use of computers, and, as companies move further into the information age, many expect to see an increase in the numbers of information specialists in medium-size and larger companies.
Not only have CIOs joined chief executive officers and chief financial officers on the letterhead, they also are joining them at policy-setting meetings. "Every industry has moved in this direction," Walton said. "There will be more CIOs but the actual role may continue to grow" as the job's definition evolves.
However, the career path for most of them is not yet as clearly mapped as for other top executives. As technology changes almost daily, it's unlikely that anyone could recommend the precise education and experience that would lead in a career as the manager in charge of an organization's information and computer systems.
Walton, for example, followed his undergraduate education in social sciences with service in the Army medical corps. His role there was in supplies and services, now called materials management.
After his discharge, he began working as an assistant controller in a for-profit hospital in Cherry Hill, N.J. It was there, in the mid-70s, that he encountered his first computer - which "sparked the interest" in exploring the potential of computers. His initial interest in becoming a physician shifted to the emerging technologies of information systems. When he joined Carilion in June 1993, he was the company's first CIO.
Kamran M. Khan followed a straighter path. Khan, director of computer services and information technologies at Hollins College, holds an undergraduate degree in business. It was in an undergraduate math class that a professor's emphasis on "computers, the wave of the future," prompted him to enroll in computer classes.
Once Khan became convinced that computers would play a part in the emerging service economy, he focused his graduate work on information systems. He later completed a master of liberal studies degree, concentrating in education and technology, while working as director of computers in institutional advancement at Dartmouth College. That degree was, he says, in response to his belief that "bits, bytes, and hardware isn't what life is all about."
Neither Walton or Khan fully planned for careers in managing complex computer systems and support staffs to keep those systems running. Back in the 1970s, no one knew how much the technology would grow; they simply shared a fascination for the machine and its potential.
For Walton and Kahn, the emergence of the position and title of CIO suggests society and business are further into the information age than seemed possible just a decade ago.
The title signals an organization's involvement and commitment to expanded use of technology and information.
The job of the CIO "is to provide information to decision makers to increase customer value," said Fred P. McNeese, spokesman in New York for IBM.
The most knowledgeable technology expert is "no longer just the guy who programs the machines," said George Piegari, professor of mathematics and computer science at Virginia Military Institute. "Upper management wants the guy at the table. They've pulled him up."
That's because the "computer is no longer simply technological support. And companies are no longer dependent only on people; they need the technology to support the information. Computers link the information and support the company."
McNeese sees "the role of the CIO as extremely critical at this stage. Any industry trying to sell additional value to customers finds that additional value comes from additional information. The CIO has a vital role in meeting those communication needs."
Those who have taken courses in computer programming may be surprised to learn that much information technology is considered service oriented. Larry A. Lynch, chairman of the business administration and economics department at Roanoke College in Salem, said most corporations ``have a service component. The CIO is in response to the importance of information and the speed of its dissemination. Information is moving in milliseconds rather than days. It's moving faster, there's more of it, and we need people to manage it." |n n| Although big companies got there first, smaller organizations are following. So, while AT&T already has 27 CIOs, the emergence of corporate information specialists in the Roanoke area is just becoming noticeable.
"It takes time for businesses to evolve," said Barton J. Wilner, owner and general manager of Entre Computers, a retailer in Roanoke County. "If a company has to manage information - which is what computers do - as machines become more embedded in our lives, they've increased in importance."
And someone not only has to manage the staff that keeps technology systems running, but evaluate and chart the future of those information systems.
The creation of CIO positions could be a simple matter of title inflation, but in many organizations it probably isn't. It appears to be a shift in organization philosophy and in the way business is conducted, Walton says.
In many companies, it is the CIO who determines what form information will take, who has access to it and how that information is created. Security of the information also is critical. The Internet and linked computers, along with the presence of computer hackers, make it more difficult to keep internal information guarded.
When change in any process or procedure is suggested, the CIO is likely to be present at the meetings. As one local insurance executive said about his organization's computer director, "If it's a meeting of any substance, it doesn't happen without her." Since the organization is technology-dependent, it's her department that determines which changes are feasible and affordable.
The position of CIO also seems a natural progression for those who have witnessed our evolution from key-punch cards and operators to companywide computer networks.
Wilner recalls that "in the '50s, IBM was the premier supplier. Companies had the IBM room and the computer operator. The 1960s saw data processing departments with DP directors. Then management information services and systems evolved. Now, there are IT or information technology departments."
But the story of the earliest days of computers to the emergence of CIOs is likely to be a tiny note in the emerging history of information technology.
Walton notes that "the agrarian period lasted thousands of years, the industrial age hundreds. The information age has barely begun. We're in the very early stages." It helps to consider that ``97 percent of the world has access to telephones, and there will be the same penetration with technology" ultimately.
Khan said information officers at middle and larger colleges and universities now report directly to the president or board of trustees. ``As information becomes more integral, touches peoples' lives more and more, the reliance on information is taking over. Titles and reorganizing of positions is following,'' he said.
Khan reports to the vice president of academic affairs at Hollins but sits on the president's council, the policy-setting body for the Roanoke County college. |n n| Walton said he's "responsible for senior leadership in businesses or corporations in developing technology, planning, strategic development, enabling the business to use all information related technology, and is responsible for the staff working in systems."
Like other senior management executives, the greater part of the CIO's days are spent in meetings. Khan noted that a typical day includes meetings with employees to review their projects and information needs, meetings with vendors to discuss hardware and software purchases, and with senior executives to update them on the technology and assess their ongoing needs.
In addition, there is the need to manage technology circles, which both Walton and Khan are actively involved in doing. The circle begins with planning, continues with designing computer and information systems to meet needs, reviewing and comparing needs to available technology, field reviewing systems and purchasing the most compatible system.
Once purchased, systems have to be "implemented," which includes training personnel in its use. Post-implementation and maintenance follows.
But, as Walton pointed out, "there are lots of circles going on simultaneously. If the overall pace of change is 80 percent, some parts of the organization will be changing at 10 percent and some at 120 percent." And the systems have to remain integrated while those variable speed changes are occurring. Khan sees it as "keeping people able to work while you make the changes."
For those "computer jocks" who envision a career based on their love of tinkering with hardware and writing programs, the role of CIO won't fill the bill. Among other things, the hands-on application stops with promotion to management.
For the CIO busy managing staff, budgets and ideas, and initiating change, it becomes impossible to stay technologically current.
Walton said he is "technically obsolete - and that's a good sign of where all such senior officers are."
He said technical obsolescence is a "common issue. After three years, one loses technical competence.''
Being on the cutting edge is not key to senior positions, Walton said. "Being aware and able to communicate about it is different than doing. Can you talk with programmers and understand the important issues? The key is to ask good questions.''
A CIO "can't just be a good technician or good programmer any more, said Debra Hedrick, Carilion's director of human resources, planning and staffing. "They have to have the capability to be able to use communication and interpersonal skills to work with other departments, to interface with others."
Khan said the CIO "really has to have a broader vision. You can't have a business person or a completely technical person. You have to be concerned with a person who can see where technology is going. You have to make the hard decisions, and you need a broad background to do that. Those combinations lead to someone who can communicate well with all constituents, both on the budget and the humanistic side."
As Walton said, "there isn't anything so special about managing technology, it's managing people. Those people issues, whatever the field, those issues are consistent."
The best managers, Piegari suggested, "have good communication skills, like people and are bright. They naturally have good interactions with people. You don't want someone who is smart and arrogant."
Communication in technologies nears the art of interpreting. Piegari said the best in technology are "translators of vision and techno-speak, or jargon. They have a gift for knowing which components make it difficult to comprehend, and they translate them to understandable concepts."
Walton, too, refers to communicating about computers as interpreting, and adds: "We adjust the comments to the audience. It's amplification or simplification of the issues."
Such interpreting skills are critical to the job. A CIO "who doesn't understand the nature of the business or customer service can do damage," said Ed Lovinguth, president of Roanoke-based Dominion Computers. "You need to hire a computer person who appreciates the business."
Lovinguth stressed the value of experience in choosing an information officer. "The younger they are, the less they understand." Piegari added that "learning about a company requires on-the-job training. New graduates have to learn the product, how the company operates, the strategy for inventory. Computer science majors know technology - they have to learn the business. It's a minimum of four years or so before a really bright person learns the questions to ask."
Lovinguth said hiring a CIO can be tough for Roanoke-area organizations. "Larger markets, such as Atlanta, can attract people from other areas. Many of the experts have been sucked out of Roanoke. They like the money. A Roanoke CEO won't get the pool of applicants, because of money. However, we live and work in Roanoke for different reasons, primarily the quality of life."
Walton disagrees with those who think CIO positions are the new training ground for future CEOs.
"That assumes CIOs want to be CEOs. The CEO leads the business; the CIO leads the technology to support the business. If you like what you're doing with technology, you'd have to give it up and do something different."
LENGTH: Long : 220 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. As Greg Walton sees it, there isn't anything specialby CNBabout managing technology, the real task is managing people. 2.
Kamran M. Khan, director of computer services and information
technologies at Hollins Collge, says that as information becomes
more integral and touches peoples' lives, the reliance on
information will take over. color.