If you have been a CIO for more than four years then maybe you should start looking for a new job! Surveys reveal that the average tenure of a CIO is five years according to Frank Petersmark, CIO of Amerisure Mutual Insurance who states: “The first year as CIO is the honeymoon. The second year is about strategy and planning, and the third year is about implementing. In the fourth year they (the higher-ups) figure out that the execution isn't going that well, and in the fifth year, you start looking for your next job.”

Before we go any further do you have a good first aider close by? Preferably one with defibrillators. Right, let’s continue. Do your staff have access to social media through your network? Are you still OK? No chest pains? Feeling faint? Good.

Last month I had one of those moments of insight that can change a man forever. OK, it wasn’t on the scale of a Road to Damascus conversion or attaining enlightenment and merging as a raindrop into the ocean of existence but it was pretty revelatory nonetheless. The second to top boss at the day job follows my blog and as such is well aware of my interest in cloud computing and the like and fired off an email saying he had some people from Microsoft coming for a day’s presentations and would I like to join him and them for dinner on the night before.

One of the hot potatoes for CIOs at the moment - and believe me it isn’t going to get any easier - is how much access - if any - do you allow staff to access company data and email through their smartphones, iPADS, netbooks, etc while away from the office. The fortress mentality of old that “we’re the company, and we can build the walls high and tell you what you can and can not do and where you can and can not do it,” is starting to show cracks. As recent events in the Middle East have shown, a small groundswell can eventually lead to collapse of the status quo.

I have long held the belief that technology is about liberation. Back in the early 1990s I helped run a teleworking forum on CompuServe which led to a four year project with the European Commission. This looked at the emerging Internet technologies and how they could benefit the geographically disadvantaged - Euro -speak for those living in the middle of nowhere. What has happened since has surpassed my wildest dreams.