Giving The Cio'S An Expanded Role In The Corporation

As the world modernizes, businesses become more and more dependant on how they manage their information to maximize their profits. To not maximize the use of their available information would cause them to lose money on a daily basis. They become more dependant on digital information. To become more competitive in the market place, they have to merge information technology goals with business goals. To do this, the companies have promoted their top "techies" to create their Chief Information Officers which assume the change from IT to risk management roles. They not only help the company with technical solutions, they usually inherit the responsibility to help the company solve any business problems regardless of the type of company. This can become a burden if an adequate portion of the company's budget is not allocated for their Information Systems.

Every company needs information systems, even if there only product is non-information technology related. As an example, you have a cookie company that only sells two types of cookies; chocolate chip and sugar. For that cookie company to be competitive in the 21st century and maximize their profits, they would have to incorporate IT as part of their company. Without it, they could not produce enough cookies to grow in the market place. Their manufacturing process would need to be computerized to ensure that all the cookies were made with the same amount of ingredients and followed the same recipe. These computerized processes would elevate quality control increasing the chance that every cookie was identical. These processes would also keep track of the quantity of ingredients notifying logistics workers when supplies are low so that more could be ordered and purchased. The computerized processes might even allow for the printing of the product packaging locally, saving an outsourcing cost. The processes would also track the distribution process, indicating how many and where packages need to be delivered. The employee's payroll information would also have to be computerized. These computerized processes would give an accurate total of the company's profits by importing data from the other company's systems on how much money was being spent on supplies, wages and the manufacturing overhead. It would allow them to track there companies profits daily with accurate three-dimensional charts. To keep tabs on this, the Company would need to appoint a Chief Information Officer. The Chief Information Officer would not only oversee the technical support of the company, but would be the liaison between the upper-level management and how the company was running. The Chief Information Officer would also have to demand the resources from the Upper management to create/keep the computerized processes going. Without the funding for the manpower and the systems to be purchased and