Just because a CIO works at a midmarket company doesn’t mean he or she is less qualified or experienced than a CIO at a large enterprise-but it probably means that he or she doesn’t earn as much.
In general, midmarket CIOs wear more hats than enterprise CIOs, requiring them to be nimble enough to multitask, and midmarket CIOs focus more on technology-whatever it takes to keep IT running-and less on strategy.
“The smaller the shop, the more the CIO tends to be involved in day-to-day operations, so CIOs in midsized companies are closer to the technology at a more detailed level,” said Mark Polansky, managing director of the IT practice at Korn/Ferry International, an executive IT search firm based in Washington. “As companies grow larger, the CIO tends to back off of the technology and move more toward leadership, politics, business strategy and alignment skills, and interpersonal relationships.”