Goodbye to the CIO? Or, Goodbye to the IT Budget?
Last week I responded to an online CIO article titled,” J.C Penny Slashes CIO Role” http://bit.ly/GVXoHE. The article comments on the appointment of Kristen Blum as Chief Technology Officer and the elimination of the CIO position that was held by Ed Robben, who recently left the company. After reading the article, I left the following comment:
“The provocative title of your post got my attention, but it is far from accurate. The new CTO is the new CIO - plain and simple. The elimination of the title amounts to little more than a shell-game. I am sure it is symbolic of the new JCP, but it is shamefully meaningless if not outright misleading. There is no doubt his game-changing simplified retail business model will reduce the need for the IT systems required to support the countless ramifications of the conventional business model based on ever-changing product pricing. But the future of JCP will be far from bright if the CEO believes he can turn JCP around without leveraging IT for strategic advantage. If IT does not play a role in driving business innovation, he is merely delaying JCP’s inevitable demise.