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As the demands of the industry change with time, so do the demands of the
CIOs, and subsequently, the expectations of the CXOs. In the face of the
perpetual need for cost-cutting, it becomes very important for the CIO to help
the agile running of the system, while at the same time not stray widely off his
earmarked budget. At the same time these CIOs are continuously being asked by
the top management to improve upon IT capabilities and processes to enable their
firms adapt rapidly and grow their businesses. And, of course, there is the need
to define a stronger CIO-CXO relationship that would enable IT and business
executives to identify strategic opportunities and work as a team.
These were the major learnings that came out from the Dataquest CIO Summit,
organized over four cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.
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| Mumbai CIOs deliberate on what support
they expect from the CXOs of their organizations |
For the entire gamut of CIOs present across all locations, the discussions
revolved around issues pertaining to expectations of top management from their
respective IT and department heads. The summit provided a perspective to the
CIOs on how they could bridge the gap with the top management; talking about
bottlenecks faced by CIOs in explaining the use of IT as a strategic tool to
their respective CXOs.
CIOs viewed as business leaders are seen as trusted allies by their CEOs.
Though still rare, under a trusted ally relationship the CEO encourages the CIO
to take on significant business roles and trusts him or her to deliver and to
give advice, possibly even on personal issues, said K Pandia Rajan, MD &
CEO, Ma Foi Management Consultants at Chennai: “I anticipate a CIO to think
about positioning IT investment in the context of the overall business strategy
of the organization”. He further stressed on the fact that a CIO is a
profitability enhancer and a growth enabler, and that he should be able to
develop synergy with the core business while reducing risks.
The CXOs participating in the summit believed that CIOs can improve the
potential for being a trusted ally by demonstrating deeper business knowledge,
using IS to support non-IT business objectives, spending time with senior
executives to understand the context and language of the executive team, and by
being solution-focused. Says Vishal Bali, CEO, Wockhardt hospitals, “The
relationship between a CIO and a CXO is like a joint of the hip-bone, which
ensures smooth running of the limbs.”
It was also discussed that with old industries consolidating and new ones
emerging, there is now a constant need to provide the company with the
capabilities that are needed to survive and thrive in evolving markets. And in
this case CIOs have to engage in development and rollout of new systems that are
needed to support the business. As suggested by a CIO participant himself, their
first love is technology and they also make sure that state-of-the-art industry
technology solutions are implemented. And upgradation of latest technologies and
keeping pace with the market, is their second nature.
Francis Rajan, IT head, Indian Airlines said there was an urgent need to
bridge the gap between the overall budget and allocations for IT services.
Agreed KE Ganesh, CFO, Fresh & Honest, “Cost Management is one vital issue
while working with CIOs.” What this translates into is that cost consciousness
depends on being able to develop credibility. It is like speaking the language
of money! With the increasing insistence on slashing expenditure it becomes very
important that anyone succeeding as a CIO must have a working knowledge of
managing finances, the risks involved, and the responsibility to bear financial
accountability. It's like having your own IT shop; it's about running your
team, and also about delivering a quality service at an ever-declining price.
Another learning obtained from the sessions was that key decision makers
other than CIOs themselves are “Techno Challenged”, resulting in difficulty
quantifying RoI. It was said that IT investments were not always easy to
justify, though they can't be avoided as they are the key to reach customers
better-through CRMs, portals etc. “IT investments need the same rigor that
goes into traditional investments,” reminded Francis.
Therefore, what is most expected from a CIO today is agility, which depends
on doing the right thing at the right time-or, generating the right returns at
minimal costs. It is also important that business outcomes should form an
important part of every CIO's incentive performance measures.
When building a relationship with the CIO, an organization has to be
sensitive to the situation. The CIO
is essentially responsible for two main activities. One is a thankless job and
the other a very high-risk undertaking, according to John Band, CEO, ASK-Raymond
James. The CIO-CXO relationship is a valuable joint venture between business
executives and IT executives and thus the glue that helps the other capabilities
interoperate. The stronger this relationship, the better the positioning of CIOs
as key advisors on crucial issues such as processes and technology.
| A CIO must
have a working knowledge of managing finances, the risks involved, and the
responsibility to bear financial accountability |
If the CIO-CXO becomes 'the highest performing relationship' the project
deliveries can outperform competitors in the long run. According to a CXO,
it's ultimately the strategic triumvirate of people, process and technology,
that will help in boosting productivity. Processes like aligning HR strategy to
business strategy through IT are important. It was strongly asserted at the
summit that IT in business has served as key to several organizations and has
dealt with issues like geographic spread, business diversity, and complexity of
businesses and vast area of customer coverage.
In the ultimate analysis, the final conclusion was that though all these
relationships are not set in stone, it is very important that CIOs are given
equal recognition and when the new systems pan out, exchanging good and honest
compliment cements the bond between a CIO-CXO.
Manogyata Narayan
manogyatan@cybermedia.co.in Page(s) 1
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