CIOs face credibility challenges

Patty Azzarello writes in CIOUpdate that the CIO position is often a thankless one, and there are several credibility challenges that CIOs must address--challenges that other C-level execs don't have to tackle. As the former CEO of Euclid, a Silicon Valley software company, and former vice president and general manager of HP OpenView, a $1 billion division of HP, she's got some hard-hitting advice for CIOs.

First off, while few outside of IT understand what CIOs do, your peers won't make the effort to bridge the gap. She advises CIOs to bridge the gap themselves. Secondly, she notes that there is quite a lot of misinformation out there about IT performance. The solution is to communicate service objectives and performance in a way that the business can relate to, (by letting them help define it). Third, there's the issue of spending and the idea that CIOs do too much of it. In executive meetings, the budget for IT often shows up as a single line item and is often very high. In some instances, it's even higher than the company's profit. "It sticks out," she says. The solution: map your budget to key business initiatives, rather than listing a bunch of technology costs.

To read all of her advice:
- see her column in CIOUpdate