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A New Star at C Level
Mark Polansky
05/03/2004
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We found that the number one concern that keeps a
CIO up at night is not technological challenges, but corporate governance and
regulatory compliance. The CEO and CFO sign off on financial statements, but at
the end of the day, it is the CIO, the executive responsible for producing the
data, who is accountable if the company should ever be found in noncompliance,
not only with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, but also with the U.S. Patriot Act and the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, as well as a host of
regulatory issues having to do with privacy and intellectual property
protection.
At the same time, other business leaders are thirsty for business
intelligence, which is just the kind of service that a CIO is best qualified to
oversee. The traditional IT department furnishes decision makers with historical
data. In the consumer products sector, for example, that meant tracking past
consumer buying data, whereas today CIOs can serve up invaluable business
intelligence such as forecasting changes in consumer habits and retail
operations. The 21st Century CIO can provide senior management with useful
information on what their industry at large and what their competitors are
doing, using available software products to thoroughly research markets and
create actionable business insights. Powerful analytic tools can sift through
mountains of data to spot emerging trends and patterns.
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