For years technology leaders, regardless of title have worked to establish organizational influence, evolving from a back office role, moving beyond the tech, and operating as a business leader first. The success of these trail-blazing executives have clearly established the CIO role as one of influence, service, and transformation.

Yet there are undercurrents that continue to devalue the role of the Chief Information Officer and instead complicate the landscape with a myriad of titles creating a fragmented organizational structure for technology leadership.

A recent article for Chief Executive magazine, stresses the importance of CEOs supporting the CIO in their respective organizations and strengthens the case for empowering the top technology executive with the authority and influence needed for the role.

Some key considerations from the CEO magazine piece includes:

• Even as companies expect more from their CIOs and their teams, they have done little to help individuals in these critical roles surface as leaders capable of driving and sustaining real change.
• Many CIOs remain layered despite the growing importance of their role and report to someone who reports to the CEO.
• The CIO and CEO must work hand-in-hand to ensure technology is a core component of the company’s value proposition and enterprise strategy.
• A tendency to break the digital transformation mandate across multiple leaders can result in a proliferation of Chiefs—Chief Digital Officer, Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Chief Transformation Officer—each with their own agendas, business requirements and talent strategies. At a moment when competitive advantage is created by the ability to break down barriers and blend skillsets, there are too many organizations creating even more silos

Forward-thinking CEOs know that simply hiring a new CIO does not guarantee success, rather it is imperative to continually foster a strong CEO-CIO partnership and in doing so work together to break down technology silos in the organization.