The role of the CIO: has it really changed?

May you live in interesting times. Who said that? Apparently the jury is still out as to whether it is an old Chinese curse or something more modern. Regardless of its origins it can have no better application than to the role of the CIO in the information age.

Often the target of the communications we are crafting for clients, we’ve come to know this chap quite well. The job has certainly changed in recent times, moving away from managing technology to managing service delivery – quite a different beast, requiring a different skill set and outlook, to tame.

In his article this morning, Mark Kobayashi-Hillary at Silicon.com predicts the decline of the role. He goes on to predict the rise of another, however; one where IT leadership is integrated with business leadership. Surely this is the role of the CIO, to manage the strategic information resources in the same way that the CFO manages the finances.

What are your thoughts on this?