CIOs need to become tech-business Heads

The CIO must drive quality-oriented, agile, and smart tech initiatives to deliver business outcomes with inherent security as a foundation, feels Shobhana Lele, CIO, The Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing Company Ltd.

How are CIOs adopting a single technology vision?

Technology vision has to be derived from company and business vision. The technology vision is for more than just the IT department. To adopt this vision, CIOs must take all stakeholders on board and make it a “common” vision for the company.

What is the Role of the CIO in today’s post-Covid world?

The CIO’s role is multi-dimensional. Let us take the top 3 Roles. First, it is a business-facing role to help drive revenue growth. Second, it is that of a change agent to drive the adoption of evolving technology and the third is a security officer to ensure that the organizations’ boundaries are adequately protected.

How are you developing a unified data management architecture?

Data is the most important asset for driving business decisions. The data architecture must be such that it is scalable, centrally managed, and has a single source of truth so that organizations can use it for generating accurate and consistent reports/analytics.

How will be the future Role of the CIO.

I foresee CIOs graduating as “Tech-Business Heads” who also drive revenues for an organization apart from managing technology. CIOs have always donned the hat of a change manager, which will gain increasing importance in the coming days. Dos and Don’ts for the CIO.

Dos:

•             Graduate from a technologist role to a business facing role.

•             Set an example by demonstrating use cases and live models to drive adoption. 

•             Keep learning, innovating, and evolving.

Don’ts:

•             Don’t go by “one size fits all”; every organization is unique in its standards and processes.

•             Don’t adopt technology for technology’s sake, but drive it where there is business value.

•             Don’t go lenient with security policies.

The difference between a CIO, CTO, Head of Engineering, and CISO.

These are just terms. The spirit of the job is essential—drive quality-oriented, agile, and smart technology initiatives to deliver business outcomes with inherent security as a foundation.

Is the Indian CIO any different from the global CIO?

I do not think so. It is important to remember that different countries may have additional regulations, so CIOs must adapt policies accordingly. While supporting standardization, one must look at regional or geographical nuances to drive technology adoption and outcomes.

At what size of company do you require a CIO?

Every size of company needs a CIO, as every organization, however small, must recognize the digital or technical revolution taking place today. So whether it is a startup, traditional or modern company, each of them needs to go through digital transformation for which CIO is a must.

The difference between the duties of CIOs across various sectors and verticals.

While duties or roles are similar, the priority given to various initiatives would differ from sector to sector. 

While BFSI may focus on AI, and ML solutions, Manufacturing may focus on RPA, IT/OT; Retail may focus on CX, etc. 

There may be some industries like pharma/healthcare which focus on regulation. In summary, the CIO prioritizes the duties based on the needs of his/her industry and the organization’s vision.

aanchalg@cybermedia.co.in