Manufacturing and production data was managed by the managers of those functions. Data from these various departments was collected and synthesized into information and written into reports by analysts on staff to the operating officers. Information is now considered a single entity. Distinctions of origin, be they departmental or geographic, are no longer as significant as they were in years past, due in part to the ease with which information is moved and consolidated. Once perceived and managed as a single entity, information became a vehicle for control of corporate output and direction.
Information is now an asset.
The CIO is the manager of this asset. The role of the CIO is to manage the collection, flow and distribution of information assets to further corporate goals and to improve corporate profitability. These assets include the information itself as well as all systems used to collect and carry the information. Systems include computers, of course, but may also include phone systems, fax systems, copying systems, mailing systems, communications systems, and any other system whose primary function is the collection, transmission or processing of information. A supply shortage can mean lost revenue, and no vendor wants to be the cause of customer revenue losses.