It's that time of year when we analyze events from the past year and work on
resolutions for new year. You not only get to learn from mistakes committed in
the past but also clues on the sort of changes you would like to see in the
coming year. We reached out to some of the key IT decision makers across India
and gauged their concerns and resolutions for the coming year. We also tried to
find out issues that gave them the maximum sleepless nights during 2007. Read on
to find out directly from the horse's mouth.
Sleepless nights! How many?
We asked CIOs to recall issues that were the cause of many a sleepless night
in 2007. Most of them averred that with businesses growing at such a fast pace,
they need to keep coming up with strategies to keep up with the competition. So,
they face the daunting task of aligning IT with business needs. In fact, this
was the topmost concern amongst CIOs in 2007. Enterprises have made huge
investments in IT during the last few years and are now looking at reaping
rewards for these investments. These days, whenever they start a new project,
the first thing a CIO needs to justify is how the project will add to the value
to the enterprise. IT is no longer considered a need or service; it's the means
of staying ahead and growing at a fasterpace.
However, the solution to this problem is quite simple and requires a CIO to
clearly understand the challenges before a company and play an important role in
making business decisions. This is why a CIO is also reffered as a 'Chief
Insight Officer' sometimes.
The next big challenge that most enterprises face is the expansion of IT
infrastructure. With the growth of organizations, expansion of IT infrastructure
becomes a priority. And as globalization is the name of the game, organizations
are opening up more and more branch offices that need to be connected to the
head office through WAN Links. Some of the respondents quoted last mile support
and availability of resources in remote areas as points of concern. Similarly,
maintaining 100% uptime was another problem faced by enterprises. Yet another
interesting one was related to CIOs struggling to expand their IT infrastructure
due to tight budgets. This gives a fair amount of idea of how hard pressed CIOs
are to spend their money on the right technologies, despite the fact that IT
budgets of enterprises are increasing. To cope with this challenge, enterprises
are doing some serious cost control, another issue that gave sleepless nights to
IT decision makers.
No matter what kind of IT solution you are implementing, you can never ignore
security. A major chunk of CIOs said that network security has always been a
major hassle. Even though they've taken adequate steps to ensure security for
their enterprises, they still can't claim it to be fool proof. Which is a bit
strange as enterprises have made significant investments in network security
last year, just to ensure their businesses don't suffer any breakdowns due to
any attacks or data thefts.
Time frame of some IT projects can be very long, so it becomes extremely
important for enterprises to hire the right staff and retain them. If a key
employee leaves during the implementation of a major project, it can be a real
setback to the company, for a new employee would require time to understand a
company's business, project and work done in the project. This might, sometimes,
result in extension of deadlines and the technology becoming obsolete. Also over
time, a company's requirements might change. CIOs are also unhappy with the
poaching of employees groomed by them. Other issues giving sleepless nights to
CIOs are Vendor Management, Compliance, and Server Consolidation.
What's the score in project completion?
Ask any IT topshot, there is nothing more satisfying than finishing an IT
project, no matter what kind of project it is or how long it takes. In our
survey, we asked the CIOs one thing that they completed in 2007 which gave them
maximum satisfaction. Other than project completion, to our surprise many said
that getting their budgets approved for IT project and getting additional funds
was most satisfying. As these lead to faster completion of projects or
improvement in IT infrastructure. And all this ultimately leads to customer
satisfaction which always is the prime goal of any organization.
Plans and resolutions 2008
So what's the priority of key decision makers across the country for 2008?
Any guesses? Did you say the same thing that was last year? Well believe it or
not, it's true. In our survey when asked about vision of CIOs for 2008, most of
them said 'Aligning IT with business needs,' the same thing that gave them
sleepless night in 2007. While aligning IT with business goals, CIOs are very
much concerned to ensure that businesses run smoothly and life of everyone gets
better at work.
Interestingly CIOs are least worried about cost control in the coming year
which was one of the main issues which caused sleepless nights to them.
Implementing new technologies to improve their organization's competiveness is
what CIOs are planning to do in the coming year. As you would expect to support
fast growth of businesses, IT infrastructure expansion also remains in priority
list of CIOs. In the coming year CIOs are looking to improve the current
processes and policies and be more realistic about their targets. In terms of
investments, CIOs are keen on security and DR and BCP. CIOs are also planning on
significant investments in Virtualization, Unified communication, and Web
services. Between all this Green IT also happens to be in back of their minds.
CIOs are also serious about retaining their current staff for the coming year
and taking steps to ensure that they give their team best possible carrier
opportunities.
User resolutions
Between all these business concerns CIOs haven't forgotten their users and
they do care about their smiles. According to CIOs in the coming year, they plan
to listen to their users more attentively and get frequent feedbacks from them.
As we all know user feedback is something no one can neglect and it's been said
a lot of times that it's the users who give most effective ideas. CIOs also plan
to improve support for their users and provide them with training.
IT Team resolutions
More leaders and better team spirit in their IT teams, that's what most CIOs
are looking for in the coming year. Providing job satisfaction (one of the
hardest things to do) and motivating their IT teams are also in priority list of
CIOs. Plus CIOs are also looking for ways to ensure that they retain their
current IT teams and provide regular trainings to ensure that their team
upgrades its skills with time.
Top management resolutions
Other than Aligning IT with business needs, CIOs also want to reduce the
communication gap between them and top management. CIOs are planning to stay
cost conscious for the coming year and show good returns to top management.
Vendor resolutions
Good news for vendors: CIOs are looking toward a healthy relationship with
their vendors. They are also willing to create a transparent system between
themselves and vendors to reduce the conflicts. Giving vendors clear picture
about their requirements and ensuring quality as well as timely delivery is also
among resolutions. Furthermore, CIOs are making attempts to understand
technology roadmaps and planning according to them to ensure upgrading is not an
issue at later stages.
Conclusion
Irrespective of how was the year 2007, CIOs are upbeat about the coming year
and planning to ensure profits soar in coming year. Investments in IT will
continue to grow and CIOs are also positive about the new technologies.
We thank all the key IT decision makers across the country for participating
in our survey and wish them all the best for new year. May all their resolutions
come true. Read on to find out directly from some of the topshots about their
resolutions.
Jyoti Bandopadhyay
VP-IT
Torrent Power
For my IT team, I resolve to
Lead from the front.
For my users, I resolve to
Provide a one stop solution for any IT enabled business process, under the
environment of anytime anywhere computing and information capture at source
only.
For the top management, I resolve to
Create an environment of one stop solution options for key business issues.
For my vendors, I resolve to
Forge healthy relationships, as vendors are partners to deliver effective IT
enabled business solutions for my customers (users).
Vivek Dharia
CIO
KNP Securities
For my IT team, I resolve to
Narrow the gap of communication amongst the staff & other stakeholders.
For my users, I resolve to
Provide quick & efficient feedback.
For the top management, I resolve to
Provide result oriented technology, keeping business needs in mind.
For my vendors, I resolve to
Have a good relationship.
An IT topshot from an advertising company
For my IT team, I resolve to
Provide direction and guidance to change their orientation from being mere
IT service personnel to Business Technologists.
For my users, I resolve to
Continue to provide efficient and timely response to needs.
For the top management, I resolve to
Align IT with business needs in a cost-effective manner.
For my vendors, I resolve to
Make them deliver value for money and provide solutions on time.
BA Systems offers integrated connectivity solutions for complex networks, with a specific focus on the BFSI segment. 1. What is your 2. What has your biggest learning been, in 3. What is unique about creating or |
An IT topshot from an FMCG company
For my IT team, I resolve to
Support and motivate them whenever required, for promoting/innovating new
technology and recognize them for their efforts.
For my users, I resolve to
Take feedback from their users. Make IT simple is our policy. I also resolve
to provide them regular training and update them on technologies that would
allow them to be self sufficient in their operations.
For the top management, I resolve to
To be partners with them and understand the key requirements to help both
parties to grow efficiently. Also, would provide them with the best of
technology to save the operational costs of IT.
For my vendors, I resolve to
Provide them the best of infrastructure with the limited budget available.
One of the ways is through consolidation of servers. This can be done by using
the best possible technology.
Yagnesh Parikh
ICICI Bank
For my IT team, I resolve to
Ensure to train for better and quick results.
For my users, I resolve to
Ensure giving clear requirements and explaination to team.
For the top management, I resolve to
Provide automated up-to-date MIS for their review and support for resolution
of crisis.
For my vendors, I resolve to
Give clear requirements to get quality and timely delivery.
IT Head from a top IT consultancy enterprise
For my IT team, I resolve to
Provide training to keep them abreast with best practices and latest
technology in IT Industry.
For my users, I resolve to
Provide cost effective, best-in-class infrastructure.
For the top management, I resolve to
Provide excellence in IT operations, in line with business requirements
For my vendors, I resolve to
Leverage latest technology and IT solutions offered by them to provide
best-in-class infrastructure.
1. What would be the biggest New Year resolution for WeP? Any particular business plans for the year? WeP would focus on strengthening its Solutions & Services Portfolio to widen reach and increase depth per customer. WeP's products business will strive to provide 'Tech Fantasy' to its customers in Retail & Power solutions area. We intend to grow 10% higher than the industry in these areas for the coming year. 2. What has been your biggest |
Technology resolutions of CIOs from our survey last month
To delegate more tactical issues and focus more on long term strategies for
the business.
Sumit Puri, Senior VP-IT, ICICIprulife
Make all people work online so that paper movement can be minimized as far as
possible.
SUDESH JAIN, VP-IT, TCIL
I will try to enlighten my colleagues with my career learnings, so that they
need not re-invent the wheel.
Ramesh Janarthanam, GM-IT, Onida
I would like to define the roadmap & growth plans for my team, which would
also help my company to upgrade their IT infrastructure.
Subodh Kulkarni, Director IT, Alfa Computers Inc
To keep abreast of new technologies that can be implemented effectively.
Rohit Bajaj, IT Head, Bajaj Electricals
Imparting intense knowledge to team members.
Sanjay Mittal, Head-IT, Navin Fluorine International
I would evangelize the benefits of IT infrastructure consolidation,
virtualization, IMS, ITIL implementation and would also focus on writing
articles on best practices in the industry and future trends in IT.
An IT topshot from an IT consultancy company
Anil Chopra, Swapnil Arora and Vishnu Anand