Ethical Considerations for CIOs in Managing Data and Technology

CIOs in Managing Data and Technology

When organizations adopt disruptive technologies, they face the challenge of balancing those innovations with their ethical responsibility to protect people’s privacy. CIOs have a major role in ensuring that their organizations adhere to data and technology ethics.

The guiding principle for these issues is the Hippocratic Oath: “First, do no harm.” But implementing this maxim is difficult, especially when it comes to the myriad uses of data. For example, a marketing agency might need to collect and analyze personal information about customers to target them with relevant ads. But how much of this data should the firm retain? What’s the appropriate balance between gathering enough data to target consumers and not collecting too much information that might violate their privacy rights?

Individuals in leadership roles, including CIO coaching and IT directors, have a unique responsibility to enact and enforce data and technology ethics within their organizations. As such, they’re charged with creating an environment in which employees understand why these guidelines are necessary. They’re also expected to help the teams tasked with turning data into business value avoid unethical behavior and mitigate risk to the individuals whose information is being used.

Ethical Considerations for CIOs in Managing Data and Technology

Companies that fail to follow these guidelines run the risk of damaging their brand and causing legal problems. Moreover, they’re likely to find that innovation that doesn’t take ethics into account quickly runs into roadblocks. For instance, facial recognition technology that doesn’t undergo an ethical impact assessment is likely to meet resistance from governments and result in laws like those passed by San Francisco to halt its use.

It’s important that all leaders embrace tech ethics. By doing so, they’re demonstrating their commitment to “doing good” and building a long-term foundation of trust with stakeholders. This is particularly true for CIOs, whose companies are often at the forefront of technology and tasked with evaluating the risks of emerging technologies.

As these technologies become more pervasive, they can have far-reaching societal impacts. But they’re also a major source of risk. As such, it’s the job of all technology leaders to assess their potential to create negative impacts and mitigate those risks as much as possible.

This isn’t easy, as it requires balancing the needs of all stakeholders involved in a project. For example, when an organization adopts IoT devices to automate processes, it must consider the impact on employees’ privacy and what steps are required to ensure those devices are secure. It’s also critical for CIOs to ensure that their employees receive proper training on the use of these technologies.