How to become an Enterprise Information Officer

Business and technology are indistinguishably linked – and growing in complexity, as well. Chief Information Officers (CIO), also known as Enterprise Information Officers, are C-level executives within a cooperation that is responsible for overseeing an organization’s technology-related strategies and policies. The CIO is a technologically adept individual who has a thorough and continually evolving understanding of information and communications systems. They serve as the organization’s top technology infrastructure manager. A Chief Information Officer is an extremely skilled and seasoned professional who is responsible for the technological health of an organization and ensures that IT adds maximum value to the company facilitating its success.

The CIO puts forward the technology goals of the organization, plans and supervises important IT projects – such as budgeting, employee and equipment procurement – to achieve those goals. It is the CIO's task to make the smart and responsible decisions regarding the selection and purchasing of IT equipment.

• Examine the company technology used in the design, development, and administration for accuracy and effectiveness
• Deciding how to install the equipment, when to upgrade and improve the system, and how to integrate all of this into the rest of the company's operations
• Collaborate with the CEO and project managers to assess resource use and allocation
• Building and maintaining an effective and motivated team
• Review and accept proposals and contracts from vendors
• Keeping up with web threats, viruses and hacker activity for organizational security
• Compile a cost-benefit analysis of every change in the IT workflow
• Develop and enforce the organization’s  information technology strategy
• Monitor, optimize and enforce short-term and long-term computer and information systems budgets
• Negotiate favourable contracts with IT service vendors to cut costs and boost productivity
• Purchase, deploy, and evaluate the risks of investing in new technologies and computer systems
• Collaborate with other officers and department heads to shape interdepartmental IT policy.

It requires time, dedication, persistence, and hard work to help you progress to the role of Enterprise Information Officer. CIOs needs to be flexible as it may be a requirement to be on call 24/7/365 for any IT-related concerns that impact the ability of the company to perform daily business operations. CIOs must also be able to communicate clearly and concisely through the written word. You also need to be innovative, creative, and have effective problem solving skills. Along with these skills, if you possess leadership qualities, managerial skills, and ability to work under pressure then this is the career for you.

In order to excel in the field, a Chief Information Officer must have a set of hard skills and soft skills along with a relevant educational background and attributes that complement the job role. A competent CIO must have knowledge of the business from top to bottom to ultimately support its goals and vision. Aspirants must be able to deal with individuals of varied temperament in a diplomatic manner. Besides, other chief information officer skills are financial and business acumen, strategic mindset, accountability and risk management skills. Aspirants must also have commercial awareness of the industry that they work in, have core knowledge of IT as well as keep abreast with the evolving technologies to do justice to the role of a Chief Information Officer.  

In order to enrol into a Bachelor’s program at an esteemed university, aspirants are expected to clear the JEE main and subsequently, the JEE Advance exam which makes the aspirant eligible to apply anywhere in India. It is a very challenging exam to crack that requires hard work as well as rigorous and consistent preparation. Some states have their own entrance exams that are admissible in their respective universities. Many educational institutes conduct their own entrance tests.  

Depending on the educational background, and with substantial experience, aspirants may apply for the following Chief Information Officer related profiles :

• Chief Technical Manager
• chief Technology officer
• Computer systems engineer
• Security Analyst
• IT security manager