The Evolving Role of CIOs in the Digital & Sustainable Age

The role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) has evolved alongside development across multiple economic cycles.

Once primarily responsible for maintaining computer systems and resolving technical issues, CIOs now hold positions on corporate boards with direct influence on business strategy, sustainability initiatives and revenue growth – reflecting the accelerating pace of digital transformation across industries globally.

According to PwC's Pulse Survey on business reinvention, executives have prioritised investments in emerging technologies, including Gen AI for the 2025 financial year.

Michael Ringman, CIO at Telus Digital, explains that this shift positions technology leaders at the centre of organisational strategy.

“The modern CIO is entering an era that demands strategic oversight and decisive action to shape the future of tech leadership in organisations,” he says.

Telus Digital CIO outlines historical progression of technology leadership

The evolution of the CIO position reflects broader technological and economic developments over four decades.

During the 1980s, when enterprise computing began its expansion, CIOs focused on maintaining operational integrity of back-end systems.

“The rise of the internet and email in the 1990s fueled the uptake of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems like SAP and Oracle,” Michael says, “and CIOs shifted to an integrator role, sourcing and implementing enterprise-wide systems, optimising workflows and enabling global connectivity.”

Then, CIOs became integration specialists, implementing enterprise-wide systems and optimising workflows across global operations.

Meanwhile, the “dot-com era led to the rise of cybersecurity and the explosion of e-commerce,” Michael continues.

Additionally, the global financial crisis from 2007 to 2009 further expanded these responsibilities to include digital strategy development while maintaining operational efficiency during budget constraints.

Next, the period from 2010 through the early 2020s witnessed the adoption of cloud computing platforms, big data analytics, AI and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies – “partly accelerated by the pandemic,” Michael says – placing CIOs in charge of hybrid IT environments that combine on-premises and cloud-based infrastructure.

“All this positioned the CIO at the forefront of business transformations that rely heavily on technology to remain competitive”, he says.

PwC survey reveals Telus Digital approach to technology sustainability

CIOs now operate at the intersection of technology and environmental sustainability. 

According to PwC's October 2024 Pulse survey, 33% of Fortune 1000 CIOs fully integrate AI power consumption and IT carbon footprint considerations into their sustainability strategies, while 42% are transitioning data centres to renewable energy sources.

“I've seen this shift firsthand in my role,” Michael says.

“At Telus Digital, we're developing a climate strategy and road map, working with our parent company Telus to combine short- and long-term commitments in support of our 2030 goal of becoming net-carbon neutral.”

Yet, “sustainability is bigger than environmental impacts,” he says.

“CIOs also help develop AI ethics and governance frameworks to ensure responsible AI, bias mitigation and compliance with global regulations.

“They also focus on the people building the technology. Attracting and retaining talent with the skills needed to build diverse, cross-functional teams is critical to maintaining an effective talent pool.”

Technology leaders now work with human resources departments to build diverse technical teams and collaborate with learning and development specialists to create upskilling programmes that address evolving capability requirements.

Strategic partnerships become fundamental to CIO technology implementation strategy

The complexity of current technology ecosystems requires CIOs to develop effective partnership strategies.

According to Foundry's 2024 State of the CIO survey, nearly half (48%) of IT leaders expect their CIOs to identify business opportunities proactively and make technology provider recommendations.

Now, CIOs evaluate organisations for open application programming interfaces (APIs) – sets of protocols that allow different software applications to communicate with each other – and determine when to build capabilities internally versus partnering with external providers.

They also assess potential acquisition targets and advise on partnership strategies that maintain flexibility as business requirements evolve.

Cybersecurity protection becomes priority for CIOs across industries

In response to increasing cyber threats, CIOs have also assumed responsibility for implementing corporate security frameworks.

The State of the CIO survey found that 48% of IT leaders identified increased cybersecurity protections as their top business initiative for the current year.

“CIOs are working alongside the C-suite to guide the adoption of emerging technologies and secure cloud solutions like contact centers as a service to help insulate against threats,” Michael says.

This means that the ongoing evolution of AI technologies, particularly developments in artificial general intelligence (AGI) – systems with human-like capacity to understand, learn and apply knowledge across domains – “will push the CIO role to evolve further as they navigate where human teams, their AI copilots and digital workforces interact and intersect,” he continues.

In the future, Michael suggests CIOs will play a crucial part in evaluating returns on AI investments and determining which solutions deliver sustainable value – including assessing compatibility with existing systems and developing strategies that incorporate multiple cloud environments.

“Through all its iterations, the CIO's fundamental mission remains: guide the organisation toward resilience and adaptability while executing on business strategy.

“In our tech-reliant world, that's never been more critical,” he concludes.

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