A CIO today needs to focus on how the organization can use the power of technology not just to meet its goals but also to innovate its business models and processes, says Vijay Sethi
The role of a CIO is undergoing a huge transformation today. Consumerization of IT, changing profile of the workforce (where people now have a very high level of IT awareness), increasing penetration of technologies like social media, mobility, analytics and cloud (SMAC) and trends like BYOD (bring your own device)/CYOD (choose your own device) and “work from home” are having a major impact, not just on the IT landscape of organizations (both big and small) globally but also on the way IT departments are structured and the way CIOs operate. Innovation is a front-runner for all business leaders today and they realize IT (and the CIO) can play a key role in changing the culture of the organization.
The expectations from the IT department and hence the CIO, are very different today from what they were just a couple of years ago. The rate of adoption of technology in companies, is increasing at a frantic pace as everyone within the organization is aware of the value that IT brings to the table. As such, one sees a never-ending list of user requirements and a need to get things at a pace never seen before. At the same time, gone are the days when the project durations ran into years or quarters or even months; today a CIO is expected to deliver in weeks — if not days or hours.
With rapid changes in technology and the growing usage of IT in all spheres of our lives, today the role of a CIO in an organization has become much more strategic. A CIO today, needs to focus on how the organization can use the power of technology not just to meet its goals but also to innovate the organization’s business models and processes — and ensure customer delight and not just “keep the lights on”— while ensuring compliance and mitigating all possible risks that emanate from increasing digitization.
In such a scenario, while CIOs do have to deliver value to the organization, at the same time, they need to ensure that the IT function is much more nimble and customer-centric now.
The top 5 priorities of a CIO as I see today are:
- Using the power of technology to innovate; to increase engagement and satisfaction of customers, partners and employees; to reduce costs; to improve productivity and workforce effectiveness; and to deliver value to business.
- Provide the ‘right’ information to business at the ‘right’ time to help the organization become ‘smarter’ and take ‘effective decisions’ and make the organization more agile.
- Help improve compliance levels in all aspects of working of the organization.
- Help improve environment and help the organization in discharging its social obligations.
- Build an IT organization that is contemporary in its skills, approach, thinking and actions and is agile, and have policies and processes that are customer-centric.
For making this happen, the CIO will have to lead from the front and ensure an agile and a customer-centric IT setup. While CIOs need to ensure IT teams have good business knowledge, project management skills and communication skills, they also need to ensure that the IT team’s approach, behavior and IT processes/policies, etc., do not become bureaucratic. The CIO himself/herself will also have to upgrade his/her skills and approach to make it more “business savvy.”
Vijay Sethi is CIO and Vice President – IS & HR, Hero MotoCorp Limited.
