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Why you should (eventually) fire your CIO as featured in CIO Journal

Why you should (eventually) fire your CIO as featured in CIO Journal

An article by Dean Fischer, CEO of West Monroe Partners and Eric Dean, VP of Arthur J Gallagher was featured in CIO Journal, a subsection within the Wall Street Journal's technology section. The article acknowledges that the majority of companies rely heavily on their CIOs to oversee and manage all IT-related decisions, leaving other members of the C-suite excused. Dean and Eric highlight that in today’s digital world, the C-suite’s resulting lack of technological experience is holding businesses back. Major themes of the article include:

  • C-suite has not yet developed tech maturity as a result of the presence of the CIO
  • Executives deflect technology responsibilities to the CIO because the "technology executive" title provides them an excuse to do so
  • Businesses should start taking steps toward a greater degree of IT competence in the rest of the C-suite

Fischer and Dean agree that if the CIO role endures, we can expect it to involve more facilitation and coordination and less implementation.

Dean Fischer is the CEO and co-founder of management and technology consulting firm West Monroe. Eric Dean is currently the corporate vice president of Arthur J Gallagher & Co, and has served as CIO to a number of organizations including United Airlines. Check out the full article by subscribing to CIO Journal.


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