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Chapter 2 Global E-business and Collaboration 99

THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEPARTMENT

The information systems department consists of specialists, such as program-
mers, systems analysts, project leaders, and information systems managers.
Programmers are highly trained technical specialists who write the software
instructions for computers. Systems analysts constitute the principal liaisons
between the information systems groups and the rest of the organization. It
is the systems analyst’s job to translate business problems and requirements
into information requirements and systems. Information systems managers
are leaders of teams of programmers and analysts, project managers, physical
facility managers, telecommunications managers, or database specialists. They
are also managers of computer operations and data entry staff. Also, external
specialists, such as hardware vendors and manufacturers, software firms, and
consultants, frequently participate in the day-to-day operations and long-term
planning of information systems.
In many companies, the information systems department is headed by a chief
information officer (CIO). The CIO is a senior manager who oversees the use
of information technology in the firm. Today’s CIOs are expected to have a strong
business background as well as information systems expertise and to play a lead-
ership role in integrating technology into the firm’s business strategy. Large firms
today also have positions for a chief security officer, chief knowledge officer, and
chief privacy officer, all of whom work closely with the CIO.
The chief security officer (CSO) is in charge of information systems
security for the firm and is responsible for enforcing the firm’s information
security policy (see Chapter 8). (Sometimes this position is called the chief
information security officer [CISO] where information systems security is
separated from physical security.) The CSO is responsible for educating and
training users and information systems specialists about security, keeping
management aware of security threats and breakdowns, and maintaining the
tools and policies chosen to implement security.
Information systems security and the need to safeguard personal data have
become so important that corporations collecting vast quantities of personal
data have established positions for a chief privacy officer (CPO). The CPO is
responsible for ensuring that the company complies with existing data privacy
laws.
The chief knowledge officer (CKO) is responsible for the firm’s knowledge
management program. The CKO helps design programs and systems to find
new sources of knowledge or to make better use of existing knowledge in orga-
nizational and management processes.
End users are representatives of departments outside of the information
systems group for whom applications are developed. These users are playing an
increasingly large role in the design and development of information systems.
In the early years of computing, the information systems group was composed
mostly of programmers who performed highly specialized but limited technical
functions. Today, a growing proportion of staff members are systems analysts
and network specialists, with the information systems department acting as a
powerful change agent in the organization. The information systems depart-
ment suggests new business strategies and new information-based products
and services, and coordinates both the development of the technology and the
planned changes in the organization.
In the next five years, employment growth in IS/MIS jobs will be about
50 percent greater than the average job growth in other fields. Out of 114

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