The CEO of Technology

Chapter 6The “Eyes and Ears” of the Enterprise

As Trusted Senior Advisors, CIOs Serve Critical Roles

I had an excellent conversation with my good friend Patty Hatter, one of the most experienced and articulate technology executives I've known. Patty is senior vice president, Operations, and CIO at McAfee, which is now part of Intel Security.

We talked about the increasingly elevated role of the CIO as a trusted executive who captures critical insights and relays them meaningfully to the CEO and board senior management.

“Technology markets are continually evolving, and we often see the newest trends at their early stages,” Patty says. “As CIOs, we tend to find out sooner what the other technology companies are offering, and that's incredibly valuable insight we can relay to senior management.”

I genuinely appreciate how Patty frames the value of the CIO in terms of information flow. It makes complete sense that a company's IT leaders will be the first to learn of new technologies because they're constantly hearing pitches and presentations from technology vendors.

“We see what's out there, we find out what it can do, we learn about how it's priced, and we hear what other customers are saying about it,” she says. “Lots of that information is highly valuable, and we try to learn from it.”

In today's hyper-fast markets, it's difficult to stay current on the newest technology. Smart companies leverage the knowledge and expertise of their IT leaders to stay ahead of the competition. ...