Dimension Data has begun the search for a new CIO to join its ranks, but not to replace the current internal one.
(Credit: Dimension Data)
Instead, the advertised role would involve being a surrogate CIO for Dimension Data's outsourcing clients who have contracted Dimension Data to run their IT departments, with the official title of national outsourcing services manager.
In such contracts, one of which had been with the Starlight Foundation, Dimension Data would augment the client's existing team with its own skilled people and take over running the IT department. If the contract was ended, the staff would be again managed by the client.
The new "CIO style" role would require the applicant to be CIO to the mixed teams from multiple clients.
"We're expanding our business in this area," a spokesperson for Dimension Data told ZDNet.com.au, saying that there were currently around three or four clients who currently had such an arrangement.
The company had advertised for a CIO role, because the successful candidate would need CIO skills and not just IT support skills, according to the spokesperson, including building IT infrastructure, reporting to management — in this case the client — and being able to do improvement programs.
If the growth continued in the area, there could be scope for a second role of the same ilk, the spokesperson said.
