Digital transformation does not just enable business processes to evolve but also changes a company’s entire value proposition. It highlights the need to build diverse teams which can work cohesively to earn revenue and growth. A CIO is no longer just the technical liaison for the rest of the C-suite, he is the technical leader of the entire organization. He has the capability to offer technical guidance in major decisions that affect the company as a whole. For example, he can look at the data and tell you why the supply chain is going down or what’s the best plan to adopt new methodologies across organization to achieve rapid growth.
Whether it is about installing enterprise resource planning systems or working with the business to imagine the customer’s journey, the CIOs have always been firm believers of the fact that smart processes always win. They always think of holistic ways for departmental, functional, and operational growth. This couldn’t be more true than in today’s digital world where everything is part of a larger system. Having spent a major part of their careers looking across systems and analyzing different trends, the CIO is the perfect person to look at big data and help organizations drive business growth and maintain a competitive edge.
Technology is the driver of new and more effective ways of doing business. It enables an organization to use data, software, devices, and new platforms/channels that can help to bring the organization into a new league of business operations and opportunities. CIOs of today are equally involved in both, business and technology to ensure that the organization is set on the right technology and systems foundation to achieve growth. While IT is still performing its traditional role of managing day-to-day operations, the CIO is increasing being looked upon as someone who must chart a digital strategy for the organization to reach and engage with its customers.
CIOs must consider certain things as key priorities as they navigate their role from just being responsible for internal operations to leading strategic business objectives. For example, CIOs must champion disruption, not just for shaking things up but also for defining a better course of action to achieve accelerated growth. With big data, the CIOs have the perfect opportunity to understand the business with a much greater accuracy and context. For example, business intelligence generated by applications about behaviour, user engagement of a product can be turned into a meaningful insight by the CIO which can be used to make better business decisions about product development, marketing, and sales. The rise of analytics capabilities presents an excellent opportunity for CIOs to classify and sort the information to make it available for analysis.
Gone are the days when IT used to hold back all the data. Now is the time to distribute it to business users to drive decisions. CIO is the new growth hacker for an organization as he has the perfect opportunity to combine his technology experience with business knowledge.