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The CIO Agenda

Explore our collection of insights on the evolving role of the CIO.

Featured Insights

Article

The CIO agenda for the next 12 months: Six make-or-break priorities

– With the post-pandemic economy taking shape, CIOs can evolve IT’s mission to shape the business.
Article

What CIOs need from their CEOs and boards to make IT digital ready
– McKinsey research shows that CIOs need five things from their CEOs and boards to transform IT, but CIOs have an important role... themselves in making that happen.
Survey

Seven lessons on how technology transformations can deliver value
– Our annual IT strategy survey shows how technology investments are proving their worth, especially at companies making more tech-based... changes and bridging more of the technology-business divide.
Article

The next chapter: Driving technology leadership in the public sector
– Leadership transitions are an opportune time for public-sector CIOs to accelerate technology modernization using our three-vector... strategy.
Article

How CIOs and CTOs can accelerate digital transformations through cloud platforms
– To capture the real value from cloud, companies need to focus their investments and build a cloud-ready operating model.
Article

CIOs are redefining what a successful relationship with their IT providers looks like
– As CIOs lead their IT organizations through transformations, long-established relationships with IT providers are set to change.
Blog Post

The power of platforms to reshape the business
– At McKinsey’s 16th annual Technology IT Conference, leading CIOs shared glimpses of how they are reshaping their... business and core technology through platform transformations.
Article

The CIO challenge: Modern business needs a new kind of tech leader
– As technology becomes increasingly important, an organization’s success depends on whether the CIO can move from being a... functional to a strategic business leader.
Article

A new mandate for the oil and gas chief information officer
– In an increasingly data-dependent sector, oil and gas companies need to scale up their use of technology across the enterprise... rapidly. Success will involve reframing the CIO’s role in driving not only digital transformation but also business outcomes.

At top-quartile organizations, 57 percent of respondents say their senior tech leaders are very involved in strategic planning—versus 17 percent in the bottom quartile.

Managing through the pandemic

Video

How CIOs are rethinking their organizations in light of COVID-19
– Brant Carson, partner in McKinsey’s Sydney office, shares how CIOs are pivoting in the short and medium term to prepare... for their organization’s longer-term responses to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Article

A practical way for CIOs to manage IT costs through the COVID-19 crisis
– A skillful CIO can not only cut current IT costs but also help position the company for recovery and future growth.
Article

How CIOs can work with outsourcing providers to navigate the coronavirus crisis
– From employee safety to work-at-home data security, business continuity, and financial resilience, companies need to follow a... clear plan for working collaboratively with their outsourcing providers.
Article

After the first wave: How CIOs can weather the coronavirus crisis
– Chief information officers must act swiftly to manage IT through the pandemic in a pragmatic way.
Article

The CIO’s moment: Leadership through the first wave of the coronavirus crisis
– It’s already clear that CIOs during the coronavirus outbreak are playing a central role in navigating the crisis, even as companies... grapple with the implications.

One of the key shifts was focusing on the kind of value we were trying to drive. Changing the model to focus on the employee experience, as opposed to focusing on whether projects were delivered on time and on budget, was a fundamental change.

Tom Weck CIO of Corporate Technology, Johnson & Johnson

CIO perspectives

Interview

The cloud as a strategic ecosystem for innovation and growth
– In this interview, Deutsche Börse’s chief information officer and chief operating officer explains how the company’s... ongoing cloud journey is defining its digital transformation.
Interview

The business value of innovation in the cloud
– In this interview, TrueBlue’s chief technology and information officer explains why migrating to the cloud was always about... far more than just technology.
Interview

The benefits of being a cloud trailblazer
– To meet an SEC demand for greater transparency, FINRA chose the road less traveled—public cloud—and reached its goals... and more at substantially lower cost.
Interview

A new IT operating model to better serve employees
– In this interview, Johnson & Johnson’s CIO of Corporate Technology explains how IT transformed the employee experience—and... itself— with a digital-product mindset.
Interview

Lessons from a high-ROI cloud transformation journey
– Some roadblocks on the cloud journey aren’t apparent until it’s under way. CUNA Mutual’s CIO and its vice president... of tech products discuss their route to full cloud success.
Interview

Can a Japanese pharmaceutical become a social innovator?
– Santen CIO Minori Hara explains how IT is enabling the ophthalmological company to deliver a holistic sense of well-being around... eye health.
Interview

CIO perspectives: Leading the tech function through COVID-19
– Rhonda Gass of Stanley Black & Decker and Klara Jelinkova of Rice University discuss technology’s burgeoning role, how... they’re supporting their people, and the importance of self-care.
Interview

The benefits of a CISO background to a business-unit CIO
– A deep understanding of cybersecurity is a competitive advantage.
Interview

Enterprise-wide security is both a technology and business issue
– CISOs have important skills that can position them for the CIO role.
Interview

Robust cybersecurity requires much more than great technology
– Security is increasingly an interdisciplinary capability.
Blog Post

Becoming one of Georgia’s first agile banks
– In an interview with McKinsey, Bank of Georgia deputy CEO and CIO Vakhtang Bobokhidze talks about... the challenges and rewards of fast-tracking an agile implementation.

Any services we offered on cloud had to be compliant from a security, privacy, and regulatory perspective from day one. So no more one-off exceptions or manual workarounds. Not only that, any applications built on top of these services also had to be compliant from day one.

Martin Christopher senior vice president and CIO, CUNA Mutual Group