CIO Summit: Being A Trusted Ally

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.

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.”

The CXO Brigade in full force: 1. Ashish Chauhan of Reliance Industries; 2. John Band of ASK-Raymond James; 3. Vishal Bali of Wockhardt Hospitals; 4. K Pandia Rajan of Ma Foi.

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.

DQ editor Ibrahim Ahmad on a lighter moment with K Pandia Rajan

Alok Kumar of Reliance Industries recounts his experience of interaction with the top management, as Rajiv Gerela looks on

Unni Nambiar of Cbay Systems and Atul Gupta of Sab Miller in Bangalore seem pretty vocal about what CIOs want

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.

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