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Shankar G Rao,
CIO,
Sasken
A CIO should have the ability to understand the business processes and issues. Also, the ability to sell IT as a solution to business needs where it is appropriate is fundamental.
Quantifying business benefit of IT, which is no longer a cost center, is another critical service and can provide a competitive advantage. A CIO should have the ability to build red flag mechanisms that turn information into an asset that cannot be ignored.
Perception of IT as a business enabler rather than a back office function is certainly emerging. Many of the mature organizations are making the CIO a part of their executive management team. However, the perception of IT department as a failed panacea for all business problems has not yet changed. IT is still blamed for all the inefficiencies of business processes.
IT in India, unlike USA, is yet to marry its Consulting & Delivery wings to take ownership of the outcome of automation. Process automation is still considered a project with a technical scope and not as a means to delivering direct benefits. Aligning IT strategy fully with ever changing business strategies is still a stretch.
At Sasken, a combination of core team of in-house employees focusing on strategic deliverables supported by an outsourced agency for more tactical (day to day) deliverables have proved to be successful. The success has been in terms of containing attrition, developing domain expertise and providing better service to the organization.
It is important to do introspection of your team before beginning any transformation. We need to get the right people (people with the ability and the attitude to make a difference) on the team.
Training, both formal and informal is absolutely critical to maintaining and enhancing knowledge base. Doing the same old thing will provide the same old results. Progress is largely dependent on people who want to do things better. Training is needed to help improve productivity constantly.
I have spent a lot of time in my career on implementing decision support systems including establishing the Data warehouse center of excellence in my last job. There is a constant pressure from the business to provide consistent or what we call as one version of truth.
Accurate information to all relevant stakeholders and on a real time basis is the need of the hour. It is important to recognize the value of building an integrated information platform by combining vital data from disparate sources and using technologies like BI and MDM to deliver trusted information. This approach of focusing on BI had proved to be fairly successful strategy.
At Sasken we focus heavily on values, ethics and integrity. Our employee-oriented HR practices have yielded results like the receipt of a Lifetime HRD Excellence Award from the National Human Resource Development Program.
Leaders need to be identified as per positions. While selecting a leader, we look for people who have integrity, listening skills and a deep thirst for knowledge.
You should encourage employees by delegating projects to them. Let them make mistakes and learn. Be ready to conduct autopsies, but without the blame game. Engage them in dialogue and debate, not coercion. Provide training and support where it is needed. The best form of positive reinforcement a potential leader can receive is a role model. Be the best leader you can and lead by example.
Top five management tips to your peers:
- Do not get into analysis paralysis. Be decisive and ensure the entire decision making process is time bound
- Articulate clearly the opportunity cost associated with any status quo scenario
- Build red flag mechanisms that turn information into information that cannot be ignored
- Close the gap between what business expects and what IT delivers by having an ongoing dialogue with business executives to clarify business needs in business terms.
- Achieving world class information solutions will require discipline, focus and perseverance while continuing ongoing operations, support and projects.
(Advice for my peers is that it would require incremental improvements to go from current state to the word class state)
----------------------------------------------------- As told to Sonal Desai
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