From Techno-crat to Biz-crat

The role of a CIO has been constantly transforming. A CIO today has to be
more involved with the overall process and business requirements, and align the
IT infrastructure accordingly. The new requirements are pushing the CIOs more
towards non-technical jobs, and they are getting involved with the overall
business process. Today they are expected to contribute and provide strategic
ideas to take an organization to the next level of growth. On one hand, they are
caught in a web with technical expectations as well as business and thought
leadership. On the other hand, the time has never been so exciting to be a CIO
as the role gets more defined and refined. According to a recent Meta Group
study leading CIOs are playing dramatically more influential business roles than
they have at any time in the past. The studys findings reveal a new class of
CIOs who recognize the new demands of the position and are committed to being
enterprise change-agents. The study, The CIO As Enterprise Change Agent,
surveyed over hundred senior IT executives in order to assess the evolving role
of the CIO. And these findings underscore the new CIO business mandate. In fact,
many of those now occupying the CIO position (35%) have come to the role of
senior IT decision maker with a business background. However, whether from a
business or IT background, the majority of CIOs agree that over the next two
years, the most important aspect of their roles will be that of change-agent.
The study also noted that the most critical success factor for the CIO to
operate effectively as a change-agent is collaborative executive leadership.

The four CIOs Dataquest spoke to concurred on this.

Most exciting times for a CIO

Clynton Almeida, CIO, Redington India

CIOs have evolved from being pure technocrats to business enablers to
business strategists. The CIOs role has seen a significant change in the last
five years. Initially the CIOs role was primarily for managing IT
infrastructure and business applications, subsequently CIOs started getting into
areas of enabling technology for business benefits. And now the CIO is expected
to be more of a strategist and a key advisor for growing the business and adding
value to the organization. As a result, today the CIOs job is one of the most
demanding jobs in an organization, and practically touches most employees in one
form or another.

The earlier role of a CIO was more like an EDP head where responsibilities
were primarily being a custodian of the IT Infrastructure. In addition, the CIO
had to provide and maintain business applications for day to day business
activities, where the CIO did not have much say in the business processes and
operations. Business users had an attitude of we know our business; you do just
as you are told.

With time the CIOs role subsequently graduated to that of a business enabler
rather than a pure IT Infrastructure provider. The CIO started taking a lead
role in business process re-engineering and BPM. The CIO complemented business
ideas and initiatives taken by various operational teams in an organization, and
played key roles in its success.

The CIOs have now entered into boardrooms, and are involved
in strategic planning and decision making. Today they are expected to contribute
and provide strategic ideas to take an organization to the next level of growth.
To do this, CIOs must think and behave as business leaders.

The CIO is expected to be more of a chief innovative officer rather than
what it actually connotes. This places greater responsibility on a CIO. In turn
CIOs have a better growth path, and can move into bigger challenging roles
within an organization. Current trends indicate that CIOs are moving into larger
roles like CEOs and directors. Theres never been a more exciting time to be a
CIO. The earlier ominous abbreviated alternate for CIOs which means career is
over, now hopefully no longer holds good.

Shrikanth G

shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in

CIO to Drive Commercial Jobs

Vishnu Gupta, CIO, Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI)

With the changing times and business modalities, organizations today demand a
lot of things from the CIO that are more than just technology. The new
requirements are pushing the CIOs more towards non-technical jobs, and to get
involved with the overall business process. As IT has become a tool for
enhancing business efficiency, it is the responsibility of a CIO to align his
organizations IT infrastructure according to the business requirements, and
drive a more productive outcome.

"Todays CIO has to drive purely commercially oriented jobs like creating a
MIS and reporting, SOP generation, and various other operational level jobs. As
an IT head, a CIOs role has been constantly transforming," says Vishnu Gupta,
CIO, Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI). According to him, in most
companies, the expectations from a CIO has not been very clear. But over the
last few years its taking a shape finally, and hence the role is being
redefined. "The CIO is no more a technical head now, but a business leader who
is totally into operational execution. Within the next five years this shifting
role will be more clear and defined," he opines.

Todays CIO is a business process implementer. It is the CIO who defines the
process of his organization as per the tasks given by the management. "IT is an
enabler through which business efficiency can be increased. Now that most people
have realized this, CIO is being identified as the medium that can execute the
marriage between business and technology, and is responsible for the success of
this union," he says. A CIO has to be more involved with the overall process in
order to understand the business requirements, identify the appropriate IT
solution and align it accordingly. "Compared to many other industries, the
concept of CIO is new in the health sector. Previously the need for
computerization was purely technology driven, hence was led by a systems
manager. But as the requirements are changing and becoming more business driven,
the CIOs have been brought in the picture," says Gupta who himself has been
undergoing a lot of transformation to suit his role since the time he joined
CMRI four years back. "The health industry has been functioning more as a
corporate now. Hence, this shift is the need of the hour, and as a CIO my job is
to learn and ready myself for the new role. Today I spend little time in
technical details. My main work is to understand the total business and its
needs, and accordingly design the technology solutions and delegate it to my
team to execute," he explains.

Piyali Guha

piyalig@cybermedia.co.in

CIOs Playing Dual Roles

Ritu Madbhavi, CIO, Draft FCB Ulka

Having been the CIO for Draft FCB Ulka advertising for the past twelve years,
Ritu Madbhavi was made the business head of Interface Interactive, a highly
technology intensive business unit of Draft FCB Ulkas sister agency, Interface
Communications. For the past four years, ever since Madbhavi took up dual roles,
she has experienced the challenges of working through two extremely different
profiles. "The challenges are immense. Sometimes it feels as though Im
entrusted with two parallel jobs. Both are high intensity jobs, and are quite
different in nature as one is a profit center and the other is the cost center,"
she says.

She also explains that as a CIO, one deals with the internal consumers
whereas as a business head, one has to engage with customers and partners. The
criticality of project deadlines and the role of IT also differs in both the
cases. The skill set of employees working under her for each role are also
different in nature. Managing an IT team is different as they are more
technically oriented, and cater to the needs of the internal customers. On the
other hand, as Interactive Interface is a digital and interactive media based
unit, the employees are more quasi technical having up-to-date knowledge of the
latest IT applications while also having marketing and strategic skills. "What
really holds both jobs together is that both are very performance driven, and
both have an underbelly of technology," she says.

According to Madbhavi, a CIOs role is ultimately about customer centricity,
and once a CIO takes up a parallel business role, the understanding of user
expectations, needs and experience becomes far better. Also, it helps a CIO
better align IT with business, and proactively provide better business oriented
technology solutions. Madbhavi also believes that the role of a CIO is fast
expanding, and is becoming more crucial within an organization. "I believe that
once a CIO has an in-depth understanding of the business needs, he is the best
individual to take up a business role and get involved in the processes.
However, it also depends a lot on the nature and culture of the organization and
the outlook of the management," she concludes.

Priya Kekre

priyak@cybermedia.co.in

CIOs and Conflict Management

Anand Saxena, head, IT, BNP Paribas

Although traditionally they did do management of people, the primary role of
a CIO, according to Saxena, is mostly about conflict management and relationship
management. Saxena says that it is unfortunate that most CIOs today are caught
in a web with technical expectations on one side, and relationship/ conflict
management pressures on the other .

As per Saxena the role of the CIO is not changing, it has already changed and
assumed a whole new avatar. This new garb however, has not been easy for the CIO
to don. "While the management expects him to be proactive since he is already
considered to be a strategist for the company, his own team still looks at him
as a tech guy who is expected to add value in this area," he says.

Things such as mentoring, aligning IT with business goals and budget
pressures are things that a CIO is dealing with directly now unlike the older
times when his role was more of a stable and secure IT computing provider.

So the scenario, Saxena agrees, has dramatically changed. Quiz him about
whether IT budgets are relatively easier to get these days because the CIO is
now a business leader like the CEO, and he says that there are still
complications attached to money matters. He says that there are two flavors
that CIOs come across when it comes to budgets. One is that if you are working
for a global organization. In that case, the percentage of budgets allocated is
shrinking.

In India, however, Saxena thinks that CIOs may have a say. But how much
allocation you get after these discussions is an altogether different matter.
"The CIO is still looked upon as a head of a service department, so he gets a
secondary treatment when it comes to recognition, rewards and accolades," he
says.

Saxena holds the view that though no one in the organization now doubts the
fact that IT is indispensable, IT as a function is expected to do much more now.
The expectations, he thinks, have risen dramatically.

And how is the CIO placed amidst all this change? Well, as he puts it, "The
poor guy is caught in a web!"

The views expressed are of the individual and not of BNP Paribas

Mehak Chawla

mehakc@cybermedia.co.in