INSEAD and CIOnet Announce European CIO of the Year Award Winners and Results of European Business Survey

Survey on IT-enabled leadership reveals three types of CIOs and how each type provides distinct kinds of value to a variety of organizations

INSEAD, the leading international business school, in partnership with CIOnet, announced the winners of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Year Award which was presented at the CIO City Conference in Brussels on 25 March 2011. Pascale Avargues, Directrice Organisation et Informatique, Mairie de Bordeaux; Daniel Lebeau, VP Management and Information Systems, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals; and Marcello Cordioli, Chief Information Officer, Permasteelisa were recognised as the winning CIOs for their success in using Information Technology (IT) to help their organisations operate more efficiently and help extend their organization’s capacity to innovate with customers.

European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, introducing the European CIO of the Year Awards at the CIO City Conference, noted: ‘CIOs are shaping the wider business agenda as never before. This event is about recognising those outstanding achievements across Europe, and I am looking forward to discussing how CIOs can become critical partners in the delivering the Digital Agenda for Europe.’

The three winners were selected from a field of 15 diverse finalists identified by the country offices of CIOnet network. Each candidate was interviewed and surveyed on specific topics which allowed INSEAD and CIOnet to categorise each finalist into one of three types of leaders (Technology-driven; Business-process driven; and Client-driven). The final three CIOs (one representing each type) were selected on the basis of two key factors: the CIO who best represented a specific type of leader and who together, embodied the diversity of the 15 finalists.

In addition to the awards, INSEAD and CIOnet released the results of an in-depth study, IT-Enabled Leadership: The Expanding Strategic Roles of CIOs, This report presents results from an in-depth study which surveyed 130 CIOs from seven European countries and interviewed 14 of Europe’s most effective CIOs (as judged by their peers). The survey examined how much time CIOs spent in 2010 across the following four categories: managing IT services; working with non-IT colleagues; managing enterprise-wide business processes; and working with external customers and partners.

Selected by their peers as Europe’s most effective CIOs in 2010, the profiled CIOs in the report include (in alphabetical order): Claudia de Andrade, City of Amsterdam; Pascale Avargues, Mairie de Bordeaux; Egil Brækken, Hafslund; Paolo Capodanno, Elettronica Spa; Marcello Cordioli, Permasteelisa; Sabine Everaet, The Coca-Cola Company; Federico Flórez, Ferrovial; Stella Kuin, Kadaster; Daniel Lebeau, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals; Idoia Maguregui, Bankinter; Jan Erik Ressem, Lånekassen; Lineke Sneller, of Tele2; John Suffolk, UK Government; and Luigi Vassallo, Matrix Spa.

‘Contrary to traditional perceptions of what CIOs do, executives in this position spend a significant percentage of their time outside of managing ICT services,’ said Soumitra Dutta, The Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology and Academic Director of INSEAD eLab. ‘Any organisation that treats IT simply as a cost that needs to be controlled should take note of the findings in this report and realise they are losing out on significant opportunities.’

Based on CIO responses, three distinct types of CIOs emerged: Technology-driven CIOs (managing the IT organisation and its people); Business Process-driven CIOs (managing enterprise business processes); and Client-driven CIOs (focus on meeting customers with external customers, partners and colleagues).

One-third of CIOs surveyed anticipate their roles will change significantly over the next three years. Almost a quarter of the CIOs said they expect to spend more time defining and managing enterprise-wide businesss processes. Nearly 25 percent of CIOs believed their role would transform to become more focused on business processes.

‘The report provides insights into how IT-enabled leaders are creating strategic value from IT for a variety of organisations,’ Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director of INSEAD eLab, noted: ‘The report findings complement INSEAD eLab’s past research findings on skills and competitiveness and suggest that fostering IT-enabled leaders is an essential component in any effort to strengthen a region’s capacity to innovate and develop more broadly.’

The profiles of CIOs in the report illustrate how each type of leader provides distinct kinds of value to the organisation. Technology-driven leaders ensure the organisation is spending more on innovation and less on operations and maintenance; Business process-driven leaders help non-IT colleagues map, re-design and improve how things get done in the organisation; and Client-driven leaders help extend their organisation’s capacity to innovate with customers.

‘The findings in this report offer insights into how organisations are taking control of IT by fostering IT-enabled leaders,’ said Nils Olaya Fonstad, Associate Director of INSEAD eLab.

Hendrik Deckers of CIOnet added: ‘We would like to congratulate all of the finalists and commend the three CIO of the Year Award winners for their outstanding achievements. We are deeply committed to supporting research and initiatives that foster development and leadership opportunities for CIOs and we look forward to our ongoing partnership with INSEAD.’

For more information on the Awards and full report IT-Enabled Leadership: The Expanding Strategic Roles of CIOs, please visit: http://europeancio2011.com.

About CIOnet

CIOnet is Europe's leading and largest network for CIOs and IT Directors, operating in the UK, Spain, France, Italy, Norway, The Netherlands and Belgium. More than 2,500 IT leaders have joined CIOnet in the last six years to share knowledge and experience, to build new contacts and to learn from each other.

CIOnet offers it's members a very powerful, hybrid networking experience. The online social network is a private and invitation-only 'Facebook for CIOs', where IT executives build a professional profile, develop new connections and contribute in active discussion and information sharing forums.

Offline, CIOnet organizes more than 40 face-to-face networking events and seminars on an annual basis in major European cities such as London, Paris, Milan, Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid and Oslo, where members exchange real life experiences on IT Management topics and build strong relationships with their peers.

A series of European surveys and studies are executed each year - in collaboration with high profile business schools and industry organizations - on topics such as social media, cloud computing, value creation and other IT management challenges. In 2011, CIOnet launched CIO CITY (www.ciocity.com), its first international conference on the topic of IT Leadership.

More information about CIOnet can be found on www.cionet.com or blog.cionet.com.

About INSEAD, The Business School for the World

As one of the world’s leading and largest graduate business schools, INSEAD brings together people, cultures and ideas from around the world to change lives and to transform organisations. A global perspective and cultural diversity are reflected in all aspects of our research and teaching.

With campuses in Europe (France), Asia (Singapore) and Abu Dhabi, and a research centre in Israel, INSEAD’s business education and research spans three continents. Our 145 renowned Faculty members from 36 countries inspire more than 1,000 degree participants in our MBA, Executive MBA and PhD programmes. In addition, more than 9,500 executives participate in INSEAD’s executive education programmes.

In addition to INSEAD’s programmes on our three campuses, the INSEAD-Wharton Alliance delivers MBA and co-branded executive education programmes on Wharton's U.S. campuses in Philadelphia and San Francisco. In China, we award a joint Executive MBA with Tsinghua University, and in Brazil, our executive education association with Fundação Dom Cabral has existed for 21 years.

Last year, INSEAD celebrated 50 years as a pioneer of international business education based in Europe. This year we celebrate another milestone in our history - the 10th Anniversary of our Asia campus in Singapore.

Around the world and over the decades, INSEAD continues to believe in conducting cutting edge research and innovating across all our programmes in order to provide business leaders with the knowledge and sensitivity to operate anywhere. These core values have enabled us to become truly "The Business School for the World."

More information about INSEAD can be found at www.insead.edu

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CIOnet Press Contact

CIOnet Press Contact

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Email mic.adam@cionet.com