Strategic management of IS/IT functions: the role of the CIO in Norwegian organisations

Chief information officers (CIOs) have the difficult job of running a funct ion that uses a lot of resources but offers little measurable evidence of i ts value. Line managers are increasingly assuming responsibility for planni ng, building, and running information systems that affect their operations. To respond to business and technological changes, CIOs now must build rela tionships with line managers and assume new and more strategic roles. The s trategic role of the CIO is becoming ever more complex, requiring an expans ion of the organisational and structural possibilities for filling that rol e. This research examines CIO role in Norwegian organisations. In this pape r, results from a survey of Norwegian CIOs are presented. Norwegian CIOs ha ve on average worked in the current organisation for eight years, have work ed in information technology (IT) for 12 years, report mostly to the financ ial director, have 11 people reporting to them. A large percentage has at l east a master's degree. Also, formal IS planning tended to be adopted by or ganisations with higher annual revenue, larger number of total employees, a nd broader span of control (i.e., the number of people reporting to the CIO ). Higher CIO reporting level was also associated with greater extent of in formation systems plan implementation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All r ights reserved.