I no longer need a datacenter full of hardware. I can purchase software as a service for my business, using just my credit card, without the need for IT’s approval. Why do we need an IT department, much less a CIO? For decades, the CIO and the IT organization have been viewed as the outcasts by the other business leaders.
What IT does is not understood by their peers and superiors, which often materializes as a lack of trust. CEOs understand finance, sales and HR, but they rarely understand what IT actually does. How many times has a CIO heard from the CEO “I don’t know what you do, but you sure spend a lot of money!’?