CIO-Circle: Network for IT-Managers

“The benefit for members of CIO Circle is that there is a substantive exchange of experience in a trusting and open atmosphere. This results in developing a network for CIOs.”
(The Initiative of the CIO Circle in June 2002)

Initial Situation

The importance of IT and the interdependence between business processes and IT lead many companies to the fact that the function of a strategically oriented IT manager is gaining importance. The complexity of the task requires a large supply of information that cannot be met with existing offers. An independent, Germany-wide and cross-sector network of IT managers did not exist until now mainly because consulting firms and IT service providers have put their own interests. Thus, no open trustworthy information exchange was possible. Therefore, 7 CIOs of German companies and Prof. Dr. Krcmar joined together to form an initiative circle for interested CIOs and IT executives to provide a forum to exchange experiences.

Project Aim

The aim is to build a network for equal-minded IT managers to exchange knowledge and know-how in lectures, workshops and informal discussions. So, the participants can benefit from the experience of their colleagues.

Participation in the CIO Circle

Requirement for participation is, next to the strategic focus and comprehensive IT responsibility, the willingness to share experiences in lectures, workshops and informal discussions. Participants of the initiative group views the application with the aim of ensuring a trusting and open atmosphere a homogeneous interests. Therefore, consultants and IT service providers are not included.

Realization 

The most important tools for achieving the objectives are:

  • Decentralized workshops on self-defined themes by the contributors
  • One face-to-face meeting per year
  • An online exchange platform, only accessible for contributors. This provides, among others, a decentralized organization of events, contact search on profiles of the participants and a discussion forum.

Value

In addition to the open exchange of experiences in workshops, the CIO Circle offers through the integration of research and practical benefits for the university education and the common knowledge transfer. Experiences from the CIO Circle will be used to adapt the training to the needs of the CIO job description and to develop simulations for practice-oriented education. Furthermore, there is the possibility to transfer knowledge from research into practice and to integrate practical requirements in future research.

Stakeholder

Scientific Partners

Technische Universität München, Chair for Information Systems (Prof. Dr. Krcmar)

Additional Information

www.cio-circle.org

Contact

Dr. Petra Wolf