A CIO can act as an enterprise integration point: connecting business and IT teams, aligning technology with business objectives, and coordinating partners around shared outcomes. That vantage point can also help the CIO shape strategy—but influence depends on business knowledge, executive sponsorship and shared leadership, not on a title or reporting line alone.
What “chief integration officer” means for a CIO
“Chief integration officer” is a useful way to describe an expanded CIO role, not a standard job title or a prescribed organization chart. The idea is that a CIO can see how technology, people, processes and business priorities intersect across the enterprise, then help connect them.
Khalid Kark, Deloitte’s global CIO research director and managing director of its CIO Program, describes the shift this way: “The CIO role has become much more strategic. It’s not about a functional responsibility anymore; it’s about orchestrating the technology capabilities to deliver what the business needs.” CIO
That work typically spans three integration domains:
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- Business and IT teams: bring the people who understand operational needs together with those who can design and deliver technology.
- Partner ecosystems: coordinate vendors and other partners in the company’s interests rather than letting disconnected initiatives pull in different directions.
- Business and IT objectives: make technology priorities serve identifiable business goals, and ensure IT understands which outcomes matter.
Some organizations put data, digital and technology leaders under the CIO to create a more cohesive technology strategy. That is one reported organizational pattern, not a prescription for every company. CIO responsibilities may also extend to monetizing data and technology, reimagining work through automation, and applying emerging technology to business problems.
How integration can create strategic influence
A CIO’s broad view can reveal connections that are hard to see from within one function. Steve Zerby, CIO of Owens Corning, describes leaders as “air traffic controllers” who can see technologies, processes, people and strategies moving in different directions. The analogy captures the potential value: spot useful connections, identify duplicated effort and notice when initiatives are on a collision course. Zerby says, “We’re really in the best positioned to connect those dots, draw those parallels, and see collisions that are about to happen.” CIO
Zerby’s account describes how one executive views the role at a centralized but global company; it is illustrative, not a controlled demonstration that a particular structure produces better results. The practical lesson is to use enterprise visibility to connect capabilities with needs—for example, sharing practices from a geography doing a process well with another area that could benefit.
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Survey findings associate CIO participation in strategy with stronger reported IT effectiveness, but they do not establish that participation itself caused the improvement. McKinsey’s 2015 article reported on an online survey fielded October 7–17, 2014, with 713 executives: 363 focused on technology and 350 C-level executives from other functions. Just over half said their CIO was on the most senior team, while one-third said the CIO was very or extremely involved in shaping enterprise strategy and agenda. Respondents reported higher IT effectiveness where CIOs were more involved. McKinsey
More recent evidence points in the same direction without proving cause and effect. McKinsey’s 2026 Global Tech Agenda reports on a survey fielded September 29 to November 10, 2025, with 632 C-level executives or IT professionals. Nearly two-thirds of respondents at top-performing companies said technology leaders were very involved in enterprise strategy, compared with 52% at other organizations. Across respondents overall, 29% said business and technology teams cocreated strategic plans throughout the year. These are reported comparisons, not evidence that greater involvement alone made a company a top performer. McKinsey
Choose how business and IT share digital leadership
There is no single model for who should lead digital delivery. Gartner’s October 17, 2023 release describes three approaches from its annual survey of CIOs and technology executives. The reported shares are proportions of those polled, not universal benchmarks. Gartner
| Approach | Who owns delivery | Business participation and governance | Share of Gartner respondents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | CIO retains digital delivery responsibility. | C-suite peers sponsor business initiatives; delivery remains primarily with IT. | 55% |
| Explorer | CIO begins involving business peers and staff in delivery. | Business participation grows, while co-ownership is still developing. | 33% |
| Franchiser | CIO and business leaders co-lead and co-deliver. | Multidisciplinary teams co-govern initiatives and organize work around where value is created. | 12% |
In Gartner’s comparison, 63% of enterprise-wide initiatives in the franchiser model met or exceeded outcome targets, versus 43% in the operator model. That survey comparison does not show that the model caused the difference. Gartner Distinguished VP Analyst Mandi Bishop said CIOs should “co-own efforts with business leaders to place the design, delivery and management of digital capabilities with teams closest to the point where value is created.” The suitable arrangement depends on factors including enterprise culture and CEO sponsorship; not every organization should adopt the same model.
Influence is not determined by the reporting line alone
A direct line to the CEO can improve access, but it is neither sufficient for influence nor a universal requirement. McKinsey reports that respondents whose CIO reported directly to the CEO were 2.5 times likelier to say the CIO was very involved in strategy than respondents with other reporting arrangements. That is a survey association; it does not show that changing the reporting line by itself creates influence or improves performance. McKinsey
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Deloitte’s June 2024 press release summarizes its February 2024 CIO Pulse Survey of 211 U.S.-based technology leaders. Sixty-three percent of respondents said they reported directly to CEOs. In the same survey, 46% named unified technology strategy and vision as a leading priority; respondents also identified transformation and innovation (59%), topline value (57%) and change-agent work (54%) as desired CIO traits. These figures describe that survey’s respondents, not all CIOs. Deloitte’s Anjali Shaikh said, “The role of the CIO has evolved significantly; merely being the technical expert within the organization is necessary but insufficient,” adding that CIOs may need to be business and people leaders. Deloitte
Historical reporting-line figures should not be mistaken for a current census. Deloitte’s analysis of more than 500 reporting relationships, drawing on data associated with its 2018 Global CIO Survey, found that 46% of global enterprise CIOs and 51% of U.S. CIOs reported to CEOs. Deloitte’s broader point is that a CIO outside that line can still become a strategic partner through other levers—especially business knowledge and an influential executive sponsor who treats technology as part of corporate strategy. Deloitte
When assessing whether a CIO can influence decisions, examine more than the org chart:
- Access: Does the CIO participate early enough in decisions to shape priorities, rather than only implement them?
- Sponsorship: Is there an executive with sufficient influence who understands technology’s strategic role and advocates for it?
- Business knowledge: Can the CIO connect technology choices to revenue, operations, customer outcomes or other business priorities?
- Scope: Does the role cover the capabilities and teams needed to coordinate strategy and delivery, or are key responsibilities elsewhere?
What CIOs need to make the role work
Integration and influence require more than technical expertise. The CIO must translate between business needs and technology capabilities, build relationships across functions, and create workable decision rights for shared initiatives. Deloitte’s 2024 survey findings reflect that broader expectation: respondents emphasized business and people leadership alongside technology strategy and delivery.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsInfluence also depends on the operating environment. McKinsey identifies unclear priorities, operating-model weaknesses, talent issues, inefficient governance and work intake, weak business–IT alignment, and unclear roles as challenges CIOs may need to address. These are practical barriers: a CIO cannot reliably align teams if they do not know which outcomes take precedence, who decides, or how work is selected. McKinsey
A useful starting point is to agree with business peers on the outcome being pursued, who owns delivery, who governs trade-offs, and how progress will be judged. The point is not to move every decision into the CIO’s office; it is to put decisions and delivery with the leaders and teams closest to the value, while keeping the work aligned across the enterprise.
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