NEW YORK, March. 7, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Few CIOs are being bypassed in the development of their company's e-business strategy, if current CIO job descriptions are any indicator, according to New York IT search firm John J. Davis & Associates.
"We haven't had a single CIO search in many months where setting e-business strategy wasn't central to their mission, a distinct change from a year or two ago," said firm President John Davis.
Davis noted that when his firm surveyed 300 CIOs in early 2000, nearly one in five were being bypassed for certain e-commerce applications: "That's because many line managers and their outsourcing providers had rushed to get on the Web ... and in the process CIOs were sometimes relegated to a tangential role," said Davis.
While some CIO job specifications at the time reflected their secondary role, noted Davis, they no longer do: "Companies now realize that e-business initiatives need to be consolidated within the IT organization if there's really going to be an effective, integrated e-business strategy. The CIO's central role in e-business also reflects concern over systems reliability and quality. There were problems with some early e-commerce applications, and now senior management sees the reason behind the methods and standards typical of the IT organization.
"Job specs have always mirrored trends in IT management," explained Davis, whose firm has specialized in senior-level IT search since 1977. "In the 70s, they were about getting applications done in a timely manner, in the 80s about supporting business goals, and in the 90s about vision. The trend in the job specs in 2001 is that CIOs has to do all these things plus e-business strategy."
Established in 1977 and based in New York City, John J. Davis & Associates, Inc. is an executive search firm with an exclusive focus on IT management. The firm's practice is nationwide.
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CONTACT: John J. Davis & Associates, Inc., New York
John Davis, President
212/286-9489
or
Phil Ryan
212/206-0033