Information Week has been running a series of articles on the changing, and perhaps disappearing, role of the CIO.

The most recent edition published a list of "Top 12 Reasons the CIO Role is Disappearing", and one item in particular caught my eye:

Reason #9: Never ending need to improve the customer experience.

Now, I can't say I follow the reasoning why this trend would contribute to a reduced need for a CIO. I do know that more line-of-business marketing and support managers are now more empowered than ever to procure, configure, and manage their on-demand CRM and CEM solutions with less dependence on IT.

I also know that there are "old ways" and "new ways" of doing things, and perhaps this trend could be attributed to CIO's hanging onto "old ways" and not embracing the "new ways".

What do you see in the "new way" column that indicates that the CIO's job is now any easier? I see nothing. If anything, the job is much more complicated and difficult than before.

Customer Experience Management (CEM) fundamentally is a Marketing activity, but CEM that provides a competitive advantage requires significant IT guidance and coordination. It's just that the day to day operations of specialized services are becoming increasingly easier to outsource.