IT needs better business relationship, CIO survey says

CIO.com has several interesting stories on the IT agency and how and why it's changing from the CIO's perspective.

According to the "State of the CIO 2006" survey results there are some changes afoot, in particular more emphasis on the need for IT to better integrate with and support the businesses they serve. That also means putting more of an emphasis on hiring people with business savvy in addition to filling the traditional application development, network management and help desk functions.

Among the stories is a piece on how CIO perspectives have changed between 2002 and 2006, which I also found interesting. But the story on personnel needs grabbed my attention.

On hiring:

Now CIOs are staffing up again. According to "The State of the CIO 2006" survey, 55 percent of IT executives expect to increase their IT staffs in the coming year, by an average of 11 percent.

On what CIOs need:

Technical prowess, so all-important in the past, is no longer sufficient for the IT professional. In fact, it's taking a backseat to business understanding, as CIOs are staffing up to hire those with project management and business-process management skills—which, along with application development, are the top three skills desired most from new hires, according to our survey.

The three skills most in demand are, according to the survey results, the "project manager," the "relationship manager" and the "business analyst." Experienced candidates in these areas are "inordinately hard to find," according to the article.

The project manager has always been important, but now there is more emphasis on developing the associated skills, not just acquiring them through near-death trial and error.

The relationship manager is the person who in the past "was focused on marketing the value of IT to the business." Now, however:

it means framing IT value in business terms and understanding business process management (one of the top three skills needed in IT, according to 'The State of the CIO 2006' survey). The liaison role of old had little clout and even less perceived value to the enterprise. But the new relationship manager role has crystallized as a critical link in the business's need to be heard and the IT organization's capacity to fulfill business demand...'

Lastly,

Though business analysts share soft skills with the more senior relationship managers, these professionals spend most of their time in the role of translator between business process owners and application developers. Business analysts focus on specific projects, while relationship managers take the enterprise perspective.

The articles listed in the first link above offer an intriguing look into the mindset of business CIOs today.