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Short answer:  No.

Longer Answer:

The job doesn’t go away, in fact, we are at the beginning of a transformation of the CIO which the role will align more closely with the Line of Business executives and teams (even more than they already have).

The (SaaS) CIO role will be one of anticipation, facilitation and involvement (even lead) LOBs and not operate as merely the data connector or protector.  Ultimately, SaaS applications help company’s make important data visible in a timely manner.  All of us connected to the IT industry need to see the opportunity that SaaS give us to understand the data and operate in a more timely manner.  See my blog from yesterday:  Weapons of SaaS Destruction and Neutralize the VARs’ Neutron Bomb.

Very Long Answer:

Yesterday I addressed the notion that Richard Levy (Sandhill.com) raised in his article Weapons of SaaS Destruction.  Specifically, Richard dispelled 3 myths that on-premise supporters use to discourage SaaS adoption.  Consequently, many of the on-premise supporters believe SaaS is an IT Job Killer and by implication, the traditional IT-based VAR is a dinosaur.  That is where I come in because I’m an indirect/VAR/partner guy.  I hopefully dispelled this notion as well and am hopeful I provided a concrete example of how a VAR can leverage SaaS to their advantage.  http://blog.cw2clients.com/

Similarly does SaaS spell the end of the CIO?  Is SaaS a CIO Job Killer?

Ask my colleagues and friends, they know me as the all-around-nice guy, (thanks everyone) but when something strikes me so obvious…I have to take off the nice guy image and say, ‘HELL NO’, particularly when (I think) the answer is so obvious.

The rapid and broad adoption of SaaS applications in the marketplace is disruptive (in the sense SaaS apps provide nearly immediate value at low risk for customers — this is the way life should be, non?)

But the emergence of SaaS doesn’t mean that on-premise is going way; au contraire, SaaS amounts for less than 10% of IT spend. Yes the future means there will be more SaaS applications but it doesn’t mean on-premise goes away and “oops, sorry Ms/Mr. CIO there goes your job”.

Instead what we see emerging is a type of company that has hybrid systems:  systems that are ‘intra’ and ’interconnected’:  on-premise-to-SaaS and SaaS-to-SaaS.  One might argue that SaaS introduces more complexity; I think not.  SaaS and on-premise living side-by-side is probably made easier by SaaS.  But the interplay of how (and why) SaaS and on-premise systems work together is a critical CIO leadership role.

SaaS is not a CIO Killer.

This CIO role is not going away.   The role just embraces a new voice, a new dialogue and perhaps a new persona to lead.  What excites me that most is that SaaS means the CIO role will change or transform to another level not that it will NOT go away.

The CIO in a SaaS world means the CIO must work even more closely with the Lines of Business (LOBs). The emphasis will be on a proactive role.  These new SaaS/on-premise CIOs will understand the dynamics of what the businesses must face, even more acutely than they have had to in the past.

Take for example, Social Networking.

Here the CIO has an option to lead, guide and implement company Social Networking policy (as well as the traditional roles of secure and protect data).  SN tools are mandatory (ok at least getting there) for today’s HR (recruiting), Marketing and Sales functions, whether the company has SaaS or not.

So here is a viable opportunity for the CIO to work hand-in-hand (and lead) with the LOBs to create and implement a Social Networking policy.  There may not be a roadmap to create one.  When you think about it, who really has a ‘roadmap’?  Did anyone of us a roadmap we could pull from a powerpoint when we confronted the impact of last year’s financial crash on our respective businesses?   So just like everyone else, the CIO has an opportunity to create a new roadmap and invigorate the professional as SaaS adoption gathers more steam.

Is SaaS a CIO Killer?  No, the CIO role is just at the beginning of a whole new era.