Resilience, sustainability and innovation take precedence over short-term goals, according to CIOs who shared their perspectives in the 4th edition of “Digital Leaders Club”.
‘Every company is a technology company’—is a statement that rings distinctly true in the current state of play. From a cost center a few years ago, the IT department traversed a great deal of distance in very less time—to become center of innovation, business agility and value generation. Every single technology leader will own up to the extraordinary period of upheaval that they went through in the last one year.
Progressive tech leaders have been driving technology agendas that transform their organizations to effectively address the demands of the digital economy. It is however a tough row to hoe, especially in a market that has been notably altered by the global disruption.
IT budgets are no longer being looked upon with the same old lens, neither are the expectations that the business have from IT. Strategic priorities are vastly different from what it used to be in the pre-COVID era. Resilience, sustainability and innovation take precedence over short-term goals.
‘How are today’s CIOs preparing their IT organizations for this radical change?’ was the core of the discussion in the 4th edition of “Digital Leaders Club”—an exclusive tech leadership platform curated by CORE Media and Google Cloud India.
Prominent CIOs from various industries put forth their learnings and future priorities in a forum moderated by Anoop Mathur, Founder & President of CORE Media along with Kamolika Peres, Director, Google Cloud India.
“As we enter a phase of predictability and agility, enterprises are looking at unlocking the value of key technologies such as cloud and analytics. Going forward, technology leaders will play a paramount role in building the technology foundation for resilience, agility and innovation,” said Mathur.
“CIOs are clearly recalibrating their key priorities to align with the changing business demands, consumer behavior and alternative ways of working. 2021 will be all about how digital and cloud technologies are helping them achieve these goals,” said Peres.
Investing on long-term goals
In the new normal, technology leaders have the challenging task of identifying and zeroing in on initiatives that demonstrate compelling long-term value for their organization.
One CIO from the banking industry emphasized how he is building a strong strategy roadmap with data analytics at the core. Hyper personalization is emerging as the key differentiator for banks in highly commoditized market. Building deep analytical capabilities is thus a key focus for banks.
Panelists also alluded to the fact innovation is the cornerstone for business revival in 2021. Many of them are looking at a cloud-first approach as they fast track their digital transformation roadmap. At the same time, security is now being looked upon as the most important parameter across all technology initiatives.
“Data analytics, AI and ML are certainly at a matured level of deployment and deliberation for us. Nevertheless, we are looking at security in a much more serious way as we build data-driven models,” another CIO from the finance sector added.
While embarking on projects of transformative nature, however, CIOs have a razor sharp focus on cost optimization. IT budgets have rebounded and enterprises are loosening the purse strings on digital investments. But increasingly, they are looking at achieving greater business value out of their technology investments.
