From CIO to Enterprise Architect - is it a 'normal' move?

Having decided to plunge and go back to the core IT industry (still in consulting, but with a clear shift from Professional Services to a major IT integrator, from KPMG to Dimension Data) - I faced, during those last weeks, the question of the transition. 

During those last ten years, I worked as a CIO, leading several teams in network, infrastructure, knowledge management, ERP, development and we were, like in any busy company, working on several projects at the same time; The question is then exactly that one: are those 10 years experience the proper relevant track to become an Enterprise Architect (and, yes, you can anticipate my positive answer on that one)? 

If we consider Enterprise Architecture as being the sum of four different architectural tracks (business architecture, data architecture, application architecture and technological architecture) - I guess the answer can fairly be positive. A CIO needs to take an helicopter view on what's happening in his company and will probably allocate the majority of his time on governance, on integration and in connecting the zillions elements of the puzzle (being digital disruption, budget optimization, a strategy that outsmarts the competition etc.). In that sense, any good CIO that is willing to go back to the roots of his job should act as an architect (I could have made the same analogy with a conductor). Or become one.

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