5 Top Initiatives CIOs Should Take in an Enterprise

We are going through a phase when technologies such as mobile, Cloud, social and Big Data are creating a huge impact on the enterprise. Standing at this juncture, CIOs are expected to be fully aware of the rapid changes that are taking place in the technology sphere and drive digital transformation within the organization.

At a time when digital technology is gaining popularity at a rapid pace, CIOs need to play a pivotal role in identifying new avenues and opportunities through which traditional enterprises can transform drastically. The CIO in the past was more entrusted with the responsibility to evangelize and procure new technologies; however with the digitization of the enterprise, their role has changed. Let’s take a look at the top 5 initiatives a CIO should take in order to make an enterprise modern and more efficient. 

Focus on Big Data

2015 has been the year when Big Data played a dominating role in IT and software industry. Global industry trend suggests that Big Data is going to gain more importance in 2016; therefore CIOs should give more importance to analytics and data that give competitive advantage and provide 360 degree view of customer base. Organizations that have an enterprise wide Big Data strategy always have the advantage of getting better results from predictive analytics. In such a scenario, a CIO can use actionable and authentic data to exceed customer expectations and improve business results.

Reduce IT cost

IT is one of the first departments in any organization which bear the brunt of cost reduction. For CIOs, maintaining IT cost is a major challenge in a competitive environment. They are under constant pressure to cut down IT investment cost and yet suggest a technology that has the power to transform the way the business is operating. Therefore global CIOs are always looking out for new advanced technologies that give them the freedom to reduce the cost of business operations and at the same time increase flexibility and operational efficiency. As part of cost cutting measures, CIOs can re-negotiate maintenance contracts or use more open source products. As a CIO of an organization, there is need to build an environment where others also realize the importance of keeping cost under control.

Digitize business process

CIOs play a pivotal role in transforming the existing business process by digitizing it completely. The job basically involves creating the online version of a physical process. Successful business process transformation can only happen with careful attention to process automation. CIOs in an organization have to identify what are the core strategic drivers and which are the best approaches to follow to drive the entire organization towards digitization. With a business process becoming digitized, the entire organization becomes more customer centric.

Nurture customer relationship

In the current business scenario, networking is at the nexus of technology. Building and nurturing relationships with customers and stakeholders are strategies that no growing organization can ignore, and every CIO has a key role to play in it. Today’s CIO gives lot of importance to networking through business events such seminars, conferences and open house sessions. The presence of social media has made their work simpler and faster. With well crafted social media strategies, CIOs can shift the conversation from technology to strategic innovation.

Motivate employees

Being one of the leaders in an organization, a CIO’s role also demands him/her to drive cultural change in all employees. A CIO has to motivate employees to adopt a digital and collaborative culture within the organization. It’s a CIO’s role to make every employee aware and feel comfortable about the new technology the organization is using and how it is going to enable the organization to meet its business objective.

The role of a CIO has undergone a massive change from being the custodian of IT in an organization to a more challenging role that can transform business and be more customer focussed. In such an environment, a CIO has to be very clear about his/her priorities and accordingly plan initiatives that are going to benefit the organization in the long term.