Chief information officer

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The chief information officer or CIO is a job title for the head of the information technology group within an organization. They often report to the chief executive officer or chief financial officer. In military organizations, they report to the commanding officer or commanding general of the organization.

The prominence of this position has risen greatly as information technology has become a more important part of business. The CIO may be a member of the "executive board" of the organization, but this is dependent on the type of organization.

No specific qualification is typical of CIOs in general; every CIO position has its own specific job description. In the past, many had degrees in computer science, software engineering, or information systems, but this is by no means universal. Many were technical staff. More recently CIOs' leadership capabilities, business acumen and strategic perspectives have taken precedence over technical skills. It is now quite common for CIOs to be appointed from the business side of the organization.

Due to the short tenure of many CIOs, CIO is sometimes facetiously ascribed the backronym of "career is over." One recent survey shows an average turnover rate of 5.7 years. [1]

The CIO role has in some cases been expanded to become the chief knowledge officer, CKO, who deals in knowledge, not just information. The CIO role is also sometimes used interchangably with the chief technology officer role, although they are slightly different. The CTO typically deals more with software development and scientific research than a CIO.