The retail sector will be one of the beachheads for chief information officers (CIOs) to overtake financial directors, according to executive recruitment company Boyden Executive Search.
Boyden, which surveyed 240 senior IT executives belonging to interest group Impact Programme, claims that today's IT heads have many of the skills needed to keep a retailer in shape financially.
'A key belier is that there's a big change starting to happen in the boardroom,' said Boyden director Cathy Holley. 'In 10 years, the CIO may have replaced the financial director in the golden triangle - CEO, financial director, and sales and marketing director - with the FD reporting to the CIO.'
According to Holley, CIOs are better placed to manage internal change and mergers, because IT is closely involved in the process.
The survey found that CEOs will increasingly seek out a CIO as the individual most likely to have direct experience of negotiating contracts and keeping costs to a minimum.
Boyden's claims are backed by a report by HP. However, other evidence shows the CIO role is not sacrosanct: it has disappeared at Allders and Somerfield.
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