chapter five:organizational structure the support strategic initiatives

IT roles and responsibilities


   Information technology is a relatively new functional area,having been around formally in most organizations only for about 40 years.Job titles,roles,and responsibilities often differ dramatically from organization to organization.

   Most organizations maintain positions such as chief executive officer(CEO),chief financial officer(CFO),and chief operations officer (COO) at the strategic level.Recently there are more IT related strategic positions such as chief information officer(CIO),chief technology officer(CTO),chief security officer(CSO),chief privacy officer(CPO),and chief knowledge officer(CKO).

So let's I explain little information about all the positions:

CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER(CIO)

It responsible for:

  1) Overseeing all uses of information technology 
  2) Ensuring the strategic alignment of IT with business goals and objective

Broad functions of a CIO include:

   1) MANAGER
       -ensure the delivery of all IT projects,on time and within budget

    2)LEADER
       -ensure the strategic vision of IT is in line with strategic vision of the organization

    3)COMMUNICATOR
       -advocate and communicate the IT strategy by building and maintaining strong executive           
         relationships.

        Although CIO is considered a position within IT,CIO must be concerned with more than just IT. CIO with the broad business view that customer satisfaction is more crucial and critical than specific aspects of IT should applauded. 


CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER(CTO)

It responsible for:

  1) ensuring the throughput,speed,accuracy,availability,and reliability of an organizations 
      information technology.

        CTO are similar to CIO,except that CIO take on the additional responsibility for effectiveness of ensuring that IT is aligned with the organization strategic initiatives.
         
        CTO have direct responsibility for ensuring the efficiency of IT systems throughout the organization.Most CTO possess well rounded knowledge of all aspects of IT including hardware,software and telecommunications.


CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER(CSO)

It responsible for:

   1)ensuring the security of IT systems 
   2)developing strategies 
   3)IT safeguards against attacks from hackers and viruses

   The role of a CSO has been elevated in recents years because of the number of attacks from hackers and viruses.Most CSO possess detailed knowledge of networks and telecommunications because hackers and viruses usually find their way to into IT systems through networked computers.


CHIEF PRIVACY OFFICER(CPO)

It responsible for:

   1)ensuring the ethical and legal use of information within an organization.

   CPO are the newest senior executive position in IT.Many CPO are lawyers by training,enabling them to understand the often complex legal issues surrounding the use of information.


CHIEF KNOWLEDGE OFFICER(CKO)

It responsible for

  1) collecting,maintaining and distributing the organization knowledge

    The CKO designs programs and systems that make it easy for people to reuse knowldege.These systems create repositories of organizational documents,methodologies,tools and practices and they establish methods for filtering the information.