The digital economy is increasingly defined by two constants: accelerating change and rising complexity. For the chief information officer (CIO), the executive responsible for the enterprise technology core, the journey from hands-on technologist to strategic business leader is becoming one of the most scrutinised career transitions in the modern organisation.
Beverley Knoesen
The digital economy is increasingly defined by two constants: accelerating change and rising complexity. For the Chief Information Officer (CIO), the executive responsible for the enterprise technology core, the journey from hands-on technologist to strategic business leader is becoming one of the most scrutinised career transitions in the modern organisation.
Across global enterprises, that transition is no longer being left to chance. Where the ascent to CIO was once an intuitive, unstructured and largely individual achievement, organisations are now formalising how future IT leaders are developed. As companies look ahead to the next phase of digital transformation, structured leadership pipelines are replacing the ad hoc career paths that defined the past.
This shift reflects a growing recognition that the demands placed on today’s CIO are fundamentally different from those faced even a decade ago.
From execution to governance
The traditional CIO career path was built on technical excellence. High-potential technologists began by mastering systems, delivering projects and solving complex operational problems. Their value was measured in uptime, stability and technical performance.
But as digital platforms have become core to business strategy, the CIO role has moved decisively into the realm of governance. Today’s CIO is expected to lead globally distributed teams, manage strategic risk, set long-term technology direction and translate digital capability into commercial value.
Organisations are increasingly discovering that this pivot cannot be left to experience alone. The move from execution to governance requires a different set of competencies, including financial acumen, stakeholder management and enterprise-wide decision-making. As a result, many executive teams and HR departments are now seeking structured ways to define and develop these capabilities rather than relying on informal mentoring or career luck.
Global forces reshaping ICT leadership
This move towards formalised development frameworks is being driven by powerful market forces reshaping the ICT landscape.
A borderless risk environment
Cybersecurity, data governance and supply chain resilience have become global issues with immediate local consequences. Frameworks such as GDPR in Europe and POPIA in South Africa impose strict obligations on organisations, while cyber threats now routinely cross borders and time zones.
In response, companies are standardising how ICT skills and responsibilities are defined across regions. A security architect in Johannesburg is increasingly expected to operate within the same competency framework as a peer in London or New York, ensuring that global organisations can manage risk consistently and effectively.
The accelerating impact of AI
Artificial intelligence is also forcing organisations to rethink how quickly new skills are developed. New roles such as MLOps engineers and AI ethics specialists are emerging, while traditional positions in data, infrastructure and applications are being rapidly reshaped.
The speed of this change has made informal skills development untenable. Many organisations now recognise that without a clear framework for identifying and building new capabilities, the gap between market demand and internal skills will continue to widen.
Rising user expectations
At the same time, both internal and external users expect faster, more reliable and more personalised digital services. Technology teams are no longer judged only on whether systems work, but on how well they enable business growth and customer experience. This is pushing ICT capability deeper into the executive suite and reinforcing the need for stronger, more strategically minded IT leadership.
Frameworks gaining traction
As a result of these trends, structured skills frameworks are gaining prominence as tools for managing ICT capability and leadership development. One of the best-known examples is the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), an internationally recognised model that maps ICT skills across seven levels of responsibility.
Frameworks like SFIA provide a common language for defining what different roles require, from technical specialists to enterprise-level leaders. They are increasingly being used to support global talent mobility, allowing organisations to benchmark roles and capabilities consistently across geographies.
They also help organisations stay ahead of emerging technologies. Because frameworks are regularly updated to include new disciplines such as data science and AI governance, they give executives a way to anticipate future skills rather than reacting after gaps have already appeared.
Formalising the CIO transition
One area where these frameworks are proving particularly valuable is in clarifying the transition from technical expert to strategic CIO.
For example, within SFIA, the skill of information security management evolves from a focus on execution at Level 5 to enterprise-wide governance at Level 7. At Level 5, practitioners are responsible for conducting risk assessments and managing incidents within defined systems. At Level 7, the focus shifts to setting security strategy and ensuring that the organisation’s entire risk posture aligns with business objectives.
This progression reflects a broader trend in ICT leadership: moving from accountability for projects to responsibility for organisational outcomes. By making that shift explicit, frameworks allow organisations to identify and develop future CIOs more deliberately rather than hoping that experience alone will bridge the gap.
A more engineered future
For CIOs and HR leaders, this represents a significant change in how technology leadership is built. Instead of relying on informal career progression, organisations are increasingly turning to globally recognised frameworks to create repeatable, scalable pathways into senior ICT roles.
As digital complexity continues to rise, the ability to engineer leadership capability is becoming a competitive advantage. The CIO of the future is not just emerging from the ranks of technologists, but being shaped through structured development aligned to the realities of a borderless, AI-driven and customer-centric digital economy.
