Many companies are moving to smaller, leaner, CIO-less IT models. What will this mean for how IT professionals are managed and mentored?


You’ve heard me talk about the era of “doing more with less” being alive and well. And you’ve probably heard me mention how I’m not surprised that it is.

This trend took hold during the depths of the Great Recession. And an alarming development emerged: In their downsizing, many corporations (temporarily, it would seem) eliminated the CIO position. There were many reasons for doing so, but the primary thinking was that these companies could either shuffle the function under the CFO or COO, or leave it to a strong deputy CIO who could help govern an IT organization that was largely becoming more decentralized into different business units.

Plenty of those companies have since reinstated the position, and for good reason. It’s hard to imagine, in this tech-centric age, a corporation without a truly defined IT leader.

But still, it’s happening.

I won’t get into the many reasons why companies are shooting themselves in the foot by dropping their CIOs; Bart Perkins lays them out nicely in this recent Computerworld article.

One point he makes in that piece, though, is that a new, streamlined IT organization will maintain control over corporate functions like legal, finance and HR. CIOs and their organizations are already spending a huge amount of their budgets on HR—hiring, onboarding, training, etc.

So, if IT shops start to become leaner and dispersed (and I’m not necessarily saying they will en masse), what does that mean for IT leaders and their day-to-day priorities? With less pressure to keep the lights on, how will you priorities change?

Again, I don’t believe that every company will head in this direction, but I won’t be surprised if many do. That could lead to a re-energized emphasis on skills training and mentoring/development. That wouldn’t be the worst thing for our workforce.

What do you think, IT pros?

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