Much has been made of how the role of the CIO is changing from a cost center manager to a driver of technological change that can help the business succeed or hit it out of the park.

The continued decentralization of IT, which some estimates now put at more than more than half of technology spending controlled outside of the IT group, requires CIOs to be creative in both showing IT’s value, but also working outside traditional IT walls. Collaboration is the angle CIOs are working more than control because if they aren’t able to deliver results, it’s too easy and tempting for the rest of the business to take their requirements elsewhere.

More CIOs than ever before are reporting directly to the CEO. And the CEOs are asking what IT can do to help the business.

“High profile game changers, like Uber, have shown how technology can change an entire industry.” said Jonathan Mitchell, former CIO at Rolls Royce in a ZDNet article. “CEOs are starting to worry that their business will be disrupted next. They want CIOs to help shape their business models, not just implement systems.”

The fact that more CIOs are reporting high job satisfaction doesn’t mean that life is easy. One of the top challenges they report is the IT skills gap. Data analytics and Security are the key areas today’s CIOs are trying to fill or augment with better automation.

What Uplogix is doing for today’s CIO

At Uplogix, we frequently interact with CIOs looking to not only make their existing staff more efficient, but also more effective. Our functionality for automating routine network management tasks frees up IT staff for the innovative projects that CIOs are looking to deliver to the rest of the C-suite. And our security capabilities ensure that the entire operation is better locked down by preventing unauthorized user access plus better prepared for recovery from a breech or disaster when it comes to restoring network infrastructure.