Solutions to CIO Challenges in Enabling New World Transformation

Organizations are faced with challenges to streamline their process using IT. Often there is a strong disconnect between what an organization needs and what an IT vendor delivers. These challenges further add up as the technology continues to evolve. On the following lines, Dataquest recently hosted a roundtable to discuss the solutions that CIOs would want in the new world transformation. The discussion was moderated by Srikanth RP, Executive Editor, CyberMedia, who highlighted the benefits and concerns attached with it.
The discussion was further elaborated on what are the
traditional gaps that are not currently fulfilled or CIOs
would like IT to help them with. It further delved on the
issues that are becoming a nightmare for CIOs and how
vendors can act as a catalyst by providing better SLAs,
flexibility in terms of lock-in period, etc.
This roundtable was organized in association with Wipro at the DQ Live conference held in Mumbai. The panelists included eminent industry names like Subroto K Panda, CIO & CISO, Anand & Anand; Arif Bhatkar, Technology Manager, Godrej Infotech; Mohit Bhishikar, CIO, Persistent Systems; Anjani Kumar, CIO, Safexpress; Vasanth Pai, Program Director, Tech Mahindra; Sanjay Prasad, VP-BPO & Head-Technology Engagement, TCS amongst others.

ROADBLOCKS IN THE JOURNEY

CIOs and IT companies are often poles apart when it comes to finding the right solution to a business problem. It is time that IT companies or service providers try to understand the business processes of an organization and then deliver a solution. It becomes even more important when the new IT trends are putting a lot of pressure on the organizations to improve their customer services. IoT, SMAC, big data, and BYOD are already forcing players in the BFSI, manufacturing, and retail sectors to transform the way they work. The role of solution providers should be to help the CIOs or IT heads in transitioning the company. It will hence make them partners in their growth rather than mere solution providers.

Basant Kumar Chaturvedi, Head-IT, Perfetti Van Melle said, “As far as the gaps are concerned, today the solution providers/partners in comparision to earlier solution providers have completely changed. The three major gaps that block the road are: Reliability, portability, and security. A few questions that pop out are: If a breach occurs, are the options available? How much time will I take to move out from it? How is it going to impact my business?”

As the dependency on a particular platform is increasing, at the same pace the solutions are also increasing and enterprises are relying more on the solution providers. So if the service levels of a partner is not upto the mark, then what are the solutions available. At one point in time you can compromise on the quality, but how will you handle it effectively as the total dependency is on the solution providers. Most of the organizations are not growing their IT as a function, but are relying more on outsourcing. So that dependency on outsourcing technology skillsets, etc, are also major gaps which are coming in the way.

Another major gap or challenge that CIOs are facing is of faster Internet connectivity. Vendors need to ensure that their solutions do not weigh on the bandwidth. In addition, the solution providers need to keep in mind the security concerns of CIOs or user organizations especially for cloud-related offerings. Plus, it is time that the implementation or deployment of a solution is done in a shorter time. Time to market is coming down. Businesses want to leverage the power of tech at a faster face. Delayed projects often weigh on them and eat a lot of resource and time.

GOING THE RIGHT WAY

To reap the benefits of technologies, organizations need
to overcome the roadblocks and hurdles they encounter in
their technological journey. The role of solution providers
or IT companies takes the centerstage. It is important that
customer needs are kept in mind. The solution needs to
talk to the customer’s processes so that it can be utilized
properly. Customers and IT solution providers need to
engage in a constructive manner right at the beginning,
from the time they sign an SLA.

Anuj Bhalla, Vice President and Business Head,
Wipro Technologies concluded, “Clearly, Service Level
Agreements (SLAs) are hygiene. So if the transformation
in this changing environment is key then a lot of steps are
being taken to simplify the experience boarding. Partners
ensure that there is simplification to show performance. As
IT changes and gets into more public, or outsource gets
into consumption, security will be very key parameter.”
As information today is prevalent across multiple devices
and platforms, traditional approach of building a secure
digital fortress to shield on-premise IT infrastructure will
not suffice. Thus, security leaders need to devise fresh
strategies to ensure security of corporate data. Given
the focus on customer insight and engagement, it’s no surprise that business intelligence/analytics and mobile
technologies and apps lead the list of technologies that
will drive business innovation. Rapid developments in
information technology—especially analytics and mobile
technologies—are having a dramatic impact on all
aspects of business.