CIOs are easy come, easy go

Dawid Janse Van Rensburg, Cargo Carriers, says IT projects are notorious for being challenging, and therefore require excessive management.

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In an article published in CIO Insight in January, entitled 'Why CIO Tenures Aren't Longer', writer Larry Bonfante points out that, "having a short tenure is now less due to CIOs jumping ship for the next big job opportunity and more about a level of dissatisfaction with the way IT organisations are perceived by their internal stakeholders".

He breaks this down into three key points:

* That there is a general perception of IT as a business 'disabler', where everything seems to take forever and things don't seem to get done at a high level of satisfaction.
* That CIOs are not perceived as business executives but as technologists. They don't speak in business terms but in technology jargon that only a fellow IT exec can understand.
* That many CIOs do not take the time to develop their relationships with key stakeholders such as their board members or C-suite peers, and they haven't made the effort to be seen as team builders.

Brainstorm approached three South African (or ex-South African) CIOs to find out their views on limited CIO tenures.

Dawid Janse van Rensburg, IT director at Cargo Carriers, agrees that CIO tenures in South Africa are shorter than their other C-suite counterparts, but says that in general, he believes they're longer here than in some other countries.

"It's my opinion that CIO tenures are the same, if not longer in South Africa," he says. "My response is not based on factual evidence, but is an impression based upon the tenures of colleagues in South Africa. I also believe CIOs in smaller companies last longer than in bigger corporations. The fact is, however, that very few CIOs have a tenure of more than eight or ten years."

The enabling role of IT for companies in achieving their strategic goals is substantial and must therefore be delivered upon.

He believes there are both benefits and drawbacks to this shorter lifespan. "On the one hand, CIOs who don't deliver on their mandate should not be employed for life.

"On the other hand, CIOs need to win the trust and support of other executives, which often takes more than a short tenure and is therefore bad for the organisation."

Whether a CIO spends five years or more - or less - in an environment is not as important as what they achieve in that time.

Marlon Moodley, Harmony Gold

He says this trust can be very difficult to gain, given that CIOs are often working very hard to deliver on IT strategy, especially projects and then often operational tasks like keeping the infrastructure and applications running.

"IT projects are notorious for being challenging, and therefore require excessive management time," he says. "These challenging projects are often the primary reason for CIOs not having a stable and confident platform to win the trust and support of fellow executives."

Marlon Moodley, Group CIO at Harmony Gold, says looking at tenure isn't the only way to assess the success of a CIO within an organisation. "CIO tenure is context-specific. If a CIO or a CXO has value to add to an organisation, then the length of the tenure is irrelevant. Whether a CIO spends five years or more - or less - in an environment is not as important as what they achieve in that time."

He says that the CIO Insight article is correct in that it positions the CIO as a business-oriented professional who understands the nature and capability of technology rather than being a technologist who tries to 'sell' IT to the business.

He does think, however, that there's another problem that sometimes holds back effective communication around the value of an IT project.

"CIOs have an enormous role to play in demonstrating the business value of technology and rendering a vision of the future that the business buys into. Most CIOs try to sell technology and with the 'help' of consultants try to package it as business value. This often fails and results in CIOs being seen as passengers rather than value-adding CXOs. Therein lies the issue of tenure."

As a South African CIO who now works in Dubai, Gert Coetzee, director of IT at Al Baker Trading, says he can vouch for the fact that there's no sense of being part of a team in the South African-based C-suits for the average CIO. "This is not the case at all in the UAE, where business acceptance of the role of IT seems to be a given."

I would like to add that to the members of the 'Holy Grail' or C-suite, self-esteem and not losing face in terms of absolute IT non-awareness, especially in the South African business context, are also to blame.

Gert Coetzee, Al Baker Trading

He says that while he agrees with the three points listed, he has a theory of his own about the brevity of CIO tenures in South Africa. "I would like to add that to the members of the 'Holy Grail' or C-suite, self-esteem and not losing face in terms of absolute IT non-awareness, especially in the South African business context, are also to blame."

First published in the March 2014 issue of ITWeb Brainstorm magazine.