About CIO and COO

The chief information officer or CIO is a job title for the head of the information technology group within an organization. The CIO typically reports to the COO or to CEO.

The prominence of this position has risen greatly as information technology has become a more important part of business. No specific qualification is typical of CIOs in general; every CIO position has its own specific job description. In the past, many had degrees in computer science, software engineering, or information systems, but this is by no means universal. Many were technical staff. More recently CIOs’ leadership capabilities, business acumen and strategic perspectives have taken precedence over technical skills. It is now quite common for CIOs to be appointed from the business side of the organization.

One recent survey shows an average turnover rate of 5.7 years.

The CIO role has in some cases been expanded to become the chief knowledge officer. The CIO role is also sometimes used interchangeably with the chief technology officer role, although they are slightly different. CTO’s are responsible for technological research and development as part of products and services whereas a CIO deals primarily with information technology as infrastructure.

A Chief Operating Officer (COO) is a corporate officer responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of the corporation. The COO is one of the highest ranking members of an organization, monitoring the daily operations of the company and reporting to the Board of Directors. The COO is usually an executive or senior vice president.

The chief operating officer is responsible for operations management (OM). The focus of the COO is on strategic, tactical, and short-term OM, which means he or she is responsible for the design, operation, and improvement of the systems that create and deliver the firm’s products/services. Managers need to understand the real work behind the company’s core operations, and the buck stops with the COO, whose primary concern is operations improvement. The duties of the COO may reside in certain organizations with a Vice President of Operations.