Bob Fecteau, chief information officer at Science Applications International Corp., has said companies should standardize practices in order to allow CIOs to perform enterprise resource management initiatives.
Fecteau wrote in an article published Dec. 15 on The Enterprisers Project website that a CIO’s basic responsibility is to oversee the deployment of information technology platforms in an effort to improve the business.
“At its core, the CIO’s job responsibility is to know and understand what it costs to support the company with relevant technology, and to use that technology to help shape and rationalize the IT portfolio to the maximum effectiveness for the business no matter where the spend occurs,” he said.
Fecteau said he believes that companies’ tendency to create new chief officer roles whose responsibilities overlap with that of CIOs creates confusion.
He also called on CIOs to show their management and leadership skills as CEOs work to invest in them in order “to fully enfranchise them with the right authority, access and support for them to be effective.”