THE MULTI-FUNCTIONAL CIO OF THE DIGITAL AGE

Authored by Dell EMC India

Gone are the days when the roles of CIOs were pre-defined and static. With technology becoming the accelerator for integrated business strategy and transformation, the bridge between technology functions and business are gradually eradicating. This change is altering the roles of today’s CIOs. It is also enabling organizations to rethink the role of technology and traditional operating models. In a nutshell, CIOs today are focusing on ‘being digital’ rather than ‘doing digital’ and leveraging technology to reach the goal. 

The Connected CIO event at Dell Technologies Forum 2019, echoed how CIOs are taking their roles above and beyond IT, making inroads into areas like business growth, innovation, risk management, collaboration, partnerships and integration to future-proof their enterprises. The discussions also shed light upon various attributes that are required to become a business oriented CIO of the digital economy, such as skillset management, forging new partnerships, time management, understanding customer experience, finding business case for the deployment of value, adopting new technologies like AI and analytics, and identifying new revenue streams. 

The Connected CIO event saw two panel discussions, focusing on the roles of today’s CIO in taking transformation ahead. The discussions in both the panels laid down a brilliant picture of how CIOs are rerouting the organizations’ transformation journey to reach optimum business goal. 

The Tech Minded and Disruptive CIO.

Panellist [L to R]: Srihari Palangala, Senior Director & Head of Marketing, Dell Technologies; Shrirang Deshpande, Country Head, Strategic Programs, Vertiv; Bindra Navneet Singh, Executive Director, Ingram Micro India; Subrat Kumar Kanungo, General Manager and, Head of IT, Samsung Semiconductor India, Bangalore; Kersi Tavadia, CIO, BSE; and Sanjay Nandavadekar, Director – IT, Cipla

Shapeshifter CIO.

Panellist [L to R]: Rajesh Uppal, Sr Executive Director, (HR & IT), Maruti Suzuki; Deepak Sharma, Chief Digital Officer, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.; Anoop Mathur, Founder and President, CORE Media; Shiv Bhasin, Chief Operations and Technology Officer, National Stock Exchange; Azaj Munsiff, Senior Director, Dell Digital | Dell IT; and Mitesh Shah, Head of Finance, BookMyShow

“Shift towards a digital outlook is what we need to emphasise upon. Before Digital, there has to be mindset transformation.”   – Bindra Navneet Singh, Executive Director, Ingram Micro India

Today, every industry is striving to transform in order to stay competitive in the digital age. Owing to this, CIOs are focusing on speeding up the organizational pace, enhancing operational agility, delivering greater value, while making way for market intelligence. Organizations, today, are creating differentiated services and solutions for next-gen end user.

“Customer experience is the top priority. CIOs need to identify the technology drivers that are accelerating customer relationships.”  -- Shiv Bhasin, Chief Operations and Technology Officer, National Stock Exchange

The event discussions focused upon how organizations across industries are responding to ever-changing technology and also enhancing performances. It highlighted the possible roadblocks in deploying technologies such as 5G, IoT, Blockchain, and AI; and how different CIOs are making these roadblocks obsolete.

“Few years ago, IT was a back-office support function but today it is at the forefront of the business, driving digital transformation…CIOs today need to know the business inside out and show the business leaders the art of possible with technologies.” – says Ajaz Munsiff, Senior Director, Dell Digital | Dell IT in an interview with Dell Technologies TV at the Connected CIO event. To hear more click here.   

The discussions upon the roles of CIOs at the Connected CIO event projected a crystalized picture about the prerequisites for the CIOs in digital age. They need to have an integrated strategy in place and emphasize upon innovation with technology, while becoming the culture custodians and change champions of the organization at large.

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