The best IT organizations are run by administrators who have immediate
access to top executives and have input on the running of the business.
And whether or not the CIO reports directly to the CEO matters much less
so.
”It’s not so much about reporting structure,” says Beth Hayes, an IT
practice leader with the Atlanta-based Hackett Group. ”Is that senior
IT executive participating in top management? That’s what’s important.”
This is all according to a new study by The Hackett Group, a business
advisory firm that benchmarked 200 companies over the last two years.
report also finds that ‘world-class’ IT organizations spend 18
percent less than median companies and run with 36 percent less staff.
The Hackett Group categorizes an IT organization as ‘world class’ based
on several criteria, including productivity, cycle times, cost per end
user, organization and the effectiveness of partnering. An organization
must score in the top 25 percent to be deemed world class.
The Hackett report shows that CIOs at world-class companies are more
likely to report to the CEO or other senior executive and less likely to
report to the CFO. But analysts say more importantly, the study shows
that heads of the best IT organizations have a ”seat at the table”
with senior management. The report points out that 100 percent of
world-class companies have made their senior IT executive a member of
the senior management committee, compared to 69 percent of median
companies.
Hackett’s Hayes says it’s clear that there is no evidence that it’s more
important for the CIO to report directly to the CEO, than it is for the
CIO to be sitting at the management table, engaged in discussion and
decision making.
Five years ago, Hayes adds, most CIOs reported to the CFO or another
officer — other than the CEO. But today that situation has flipped, and
Hackett’s study shows that 87 percent of CIOs report to the top
executive.
”We’ve seen this fluctuation in the reporting structure, and we’re
finding that it is much less relevant who the CIO reports to,” says
Hayes. ”It’s more about whether the CIO has a voice and sits at the
table with other senior management who are governing that organization.
”If that senior IT executive is helping to directly run and govern the
business, then that is a strong driver for world-class performance,”
she adds.
The Hackett Group conducts a CIO dinner series and Hayes says talk
inevitably turns to reporting structure. Most CIOs are eager to report
to the company’s top officer.
”If I was CIO, clearly I’d want to be reporting to the CEO,” admits
Hayes. ”That may not be a battle to be won. The bigger battle to be
pursued is to be a member of the management committee.”
Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
December 04, 2020
Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 18, 2020
Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
November 10, 2020
FEATURE | By Samuel Greengard,
November 05, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 02, 2020
How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 29, 2020
Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 23, 2020
The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
October 16, 2020
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
October 07, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
October 05, 2020
CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
September 25, 2020
Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 25, 2020
Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2020
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
September 22, 2020
NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
September 18, 2020
Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 14, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 13, 2020
IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 11, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
September 09, 2020
Anticipating The Coming Wave Of AI Enhanced PCs
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 05, 2020
The Critical Nature Of IBM’s NLP (Natural Language Processing) Effort
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
August 14, 2020
Datamation is the leading industry resource for B2B data professionals and technology buyers. Datamation's focus is on providing insight into the latest trends and innovation in AI, data security, big data, and more, along with in-depth product recommendations and comparisons. More than 1.7M users gain insight and guidance from Datamation every year.
Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on Datamation and our other data and technology-focused platforms.
Advertise with Us
Property of TechnologyAdvice.
© 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved
Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this
site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives
compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products
appear on this site including, for example, the order in which
they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies
or all types of products available in the marketplace.