Our Insights

The CIO Agenda

Explore our collection of insights on the evolving role of the CIO.

Featured Insights

A digitized executive chair exists in a futuristic digital space, where everything is interconnected and illuminated by tiny specks of light.
Article

A new dawn for the technology officer

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As companies strive to create value from AI, generative AI, and other rapidly evolving technologies, enterprise tech officers will make fundamental shifts in the way they operate.
Javier Polit is dressed in a black button-down shirt and sporting a Costco name badge. He is seated in an executive-style chair and leaning forward on a desk.
Interview
Shared accountability and adaptability: Keys to a successful CIO journey
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Costco’s chief information and digital officer details how technology leadership is expanding—as businesses increasingly...
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Article
Moving past gen AI’s honeymoon phase: Seven hard truths for CIOs to get from pilot to scale
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Getting to scale requires CIOs to focus on fewer things but do them better.
Close-up eye and a futuristic data screen panel on a dark blue background.
Article
False friends or good ends? The CIO’s four-point guide to navigating technology trends
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Not all tech trends are created equal. Keeping a clear eye on what matters can help steer to better decisions.
Business women with laptops sitting across the room from each other in 2 of 5 multi-colored circles
Survey
Five key questions to get a tech transformation right
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The most financially successful companies approach tech transformations differently from the rest, and their methods suggest...
Digital generated image of abstract blue wave swirl flowing turbulent against grey background.
Article
Technology’s generational moment with generative AI: A CIO and CTO guide
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CIOs and CTOs can take nine actions to reimagine business and technology with generative AI.
Rewired cover
Book - Featured Insights
Rewired
For the first time, Rewired translates the hard-won lessons McKinsey has learned helping companies deliver successful...
Cubed - stock photo
Article
The big product and platform shift: Five actions to get the transformation right
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To succeed, incumbent organizations need to take five actions as they scale their product and platform model transformations.
What CIOs need from their CEOs and boards to make IT digital ready
Article
What CIOs need from their CEOs and boards to make IT digital ready
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McKinsey research shows that CIOs need five things from their CEOs and boards to transform IT, but CIOs have an important role...
The CIO agenda for the next 12 months: Six make-or-break priorities
Article
The CIO agenda for the next 12 months: Six make-or-break priorities
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With the post-pandemic economy taking shape, CIOs can evolve IT’s mission to shape the business.
Seven lessons on how technology transformations can deliver value
Survey
Seven lessons on how technology transformations can deliver value
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Our annual IT strategy survey shows how technology investments are proving their worth, especially at companies making more tech-based...
The next chapter: Driving technology leadership in the public sector
Article
The next chapter: Driving technology leadership in the public sector
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Leadership transitions are an opportune time for public-sector CIOs to accelerate technology modernization using our three-vector...
How CIOs and CTOs can accelerate digital transformations through cloud platforms
Article
How CIOs and CTOs can accelerate digital transformations through cloud platforms
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To capture the real value from cloud, companies need to focus their investments and build a cloud-ready operating model.
CIOs are redefining what a successful relationship with IT providers looks like
Article
CIOs are redefining what a successful relationship with their IT providers looks like
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As CIOs lead their IT organizations through transformations, long-established relationships with IT providers are set to change....
The power of platforms to reshape the business
Blog Post
The power of platforms to reshape the business
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At McKinsey’s 16th annual Technology IT Conference, leading CIOs shared glimpses of how they are reshaping...
The CIO challenge Modern business needs a new kind of tech leader
Article
The CIO challenge: Modern business needs a new kind of tech leader
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As technology becomes increasingly important, an organization’s success depends on whether the CIO can move from being...
A new mandate for the oil and gas chief information officer
Article
A new mandate for the oil and gas chief information officer
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In an increasingly data-dependent sector, oil and gas companies need to scale up their use of technology across the enterprise...

At top-quartile organizations, 57 percent of respondents say their senior tech leaders are very involved in strategic planning—versus 17 percent in the bottom quartile.

Managing through the pandemic

How CIOs are rethinking their organizations in light of COVID-19
Video
How CIOs are rethinking their organizations in light of COVID-19
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Brant Carson, partner in McKinsey’s Sydney office, shares how CIOs are pivoting in the short and medium term to prepare...
A practical way for CIOs to manage IT costs through the COVID-19 crisis
Article
A practical way for CIOs to manage IT costs through the COVID-19 crisis
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A skillful CIO can not only cut current IT costs but also help position the company for recovery and future growth.
How CIOs can work with outsourcing providers to navigate the coronavirus
Article
How CIOs can work with outsourcing providers to navigate the coronavirus crisis
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From employee safety to work-at-home data security, business continuity, and financial resilience, companies need to follow a...
After the first wave: How CIOs can weather the coronavirus crisis
Article
After the first wave: How CIOs can weather the coronavirus crisis
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Chief information officers must act swiftly to manage IT through the pandemic in a pragmatic way.
The CIO’s moment: Leadership through the first wave of the coronavirus crisis
Article
The CIO’s moment: Leadership through the first wave of the coronavirus crisis
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It’s already clear that CIOs during the coronavirus outbreak are playing a central role in navigating the crisis, even as companies...

One of the key shifts was focusing on the kind of value we were trying to drive. Changing the model to focus on the employee experience, as opposed to focusing on whether projects were delivered on time and on budget, was a fundamental change.

Tom Weck
CIO of Corporate Technology, Johnson & Johnson

CIO perspectives

photo of Christoph Böhm
Interview
The cloud as a strategic ecosystem for innovation and growth
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In this interview, Deutsche Börse’s chief information officer and chief operating officer explains how the company’s...
Portrait of Jeff Dirks, TrueBlue's chief technology and information officer
Interview
The business value of innovation in the cloud
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In this interview, TrueBlue’s chief technology and information officer explains why migrating to the cloud was always about...
The benefits of being a cloud trailblazer
Interview
The benefits of being a cloud trailblazer
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To meet an SEC demand for greater transparency, FINRA chose the road less traveled—public cloud—and reached its goals...
A new IT operating model to better serve employees
Interview
A new IT operating model to better serve employees
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In this interview, Johnson & Johnson’s CIO of Corporate Technology explains how IT transformed the employee experience—and...
Lessons from a high-ROI cloud transformation journey
Interview
Lessons from a high-ROI cloud transformation journey
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Some roadblocks on the cloud journey aren’t apparent until it’s under way. CUNA Mutual’s CIO and its vice president...
Can a Japanese pharmaceutical become a social innovator?
Interview
Can a Japanese pharmaceutical become a social innovator?
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Santen CIO Minori Hara explains how IT is enabling the ophthalmological company to deliver a holistic sense of well-being around...
CIO perspectives Leading the tech function through COVID-19
Interview
CIO perspectives: Leading the tech function through COVID-19
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Rhonda Gass of Stanley Black & Decker and Klara Jelinkova of Rice University discuss technology’s burgeoning role,...
The benefits of a CISO background to a business-unit CIO
Interview
The benefits of a CISO background to a business-unit CIO
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A deep understanding of cybersecurity is a competitive advantage.
Enterprise-wide security is both a technology and business issue
Interview
Enterprise-wide security is both a technology and business issue
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CISOs have important skills that can position them for the CIO role.
Robust cybersecurity requires much more than great technology
Interview
Robust cybersecurity requires much more than great technology
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Security is increasingly an interdisciplinary capability.
Blog Post
Becoming one of Georgia’s first agile banks
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In an interview with McKinsey, Bank of Georgia deputy CEO and CIO Vakhtang Bobokhidze talks about...

Any services we offered on cloud had to be compliant from a security, privacy, and regulatory perspective from day one. So no more one-off exceptions or manual workarounds. Not only that, any applications built on top of these services also had to be compliant from day one.

Martin Christopher
senior vice president and CIO, CUNA Mutual Group