Sandeep Kothari, chief information officer (CIO) of Baggit, a retail company, has revealed some suggestions to aspiring IT managers to become CIOs.
Baggit has its own stores and presence in large format stores. Baggit also follows franchise model. Baggit has its own e-commerce portal and is also present on e-commerce market place.
The average person who joins an IT department certainly does not have the makeup to be a CIO, just as the average person in finance does not have the makeup to be a CFO.
Here’s what it takes to earn the much aspired acronym of ‘CIO’ on the business card:
Business acumen. So somebody may know how to put out fires and have every technical certification known in the industry. But technical know-how is simply a base requirement for the position of CIO. Instead, what really separates the leaders from the rest of the pack is some significant business acumen.
While an MBA can certainly help broaden one’s expertise, today’s business leaders are looking for CIOs that have spent a little bit of time in a business environment, for example, by working as a consultant. This real-world experience lends IT professionals a greater understanding of how technology affects a company’s bottom line, as well as a greater appreciation for a wide variety of everyday business challenges.
Flexible tech skills. So one have read all the right trade journals and have enrolled in the hottest high-tech programs. That’s no guarantee, however, that he will be the ripe for the role of CIO. For starters, there’s no one technical skill that’s necessary to become a CIO. Besides, if someone were to attempt to define it today, in two or three years, it would probably no longer be relevant.
Rather, because most IT shops are “dynamic” environments, they need to be flexible in their thinking” and able to act fast and on their feet.
Sandeep Kothari and his CIO life
# main achievements in the past – (1) Received IRF, Retail Technology Award – 2015, (2) business Head for ecommerce at The Bombay Store
# learnings from the past – (1) To align technology with Business goals, (2) be patience, (3) to be abreast with current business trends
# managing work-life balance – (1) Perform Yoga, (2) Try to leave office in time and try not to do any office work on Saturdays and Sundays
Relationship-building prowess. Strong project management skills are critical to running a successful IT shop. But if someone is hoping to climb that corporate ladder, it’s important to know how to build relationships up, down, and sideways. In fact, according to a recent poll from SearchCIO, conducted of 875 senior and mid-level IT executives, CIOs who earn the highest salaries make building relationships with top executives more of a priority than managing IT projects.
Being a CIO requires an ability to develop relationships in all directions–with your boss, outward with one’s peers, with other C-level executives, heads of business units and relationships downwards as well.
Personality fit. If someone has got a penchant for hiding out in your corner cubicle, chances are, he is not exactly CIO material. The traditional IT person who is deeply involved in technology is oftentimes a rather introverted person. It does require a bit of an extrovert to be able to pull off the job of CIO and to build the right relationships.
Communication. Being multilingual is hugely important for a career as a CIO. Being able to bridge the gulf between IT and the rest of the organization hinges on a CIO’s ability to translate high-tech concepts into digestible business principles that can be understood by HR managers, warehouse workers, and techies alike. It’s the CIO who has a real an appreciation for the need to build those bridges across the chasm. Unfortunately, that’s a rather rare individual.
A taste of different departments. Someone have the tech skills and have cobbled together the business acumen. The final step is getting a taste of an organization’s disparate departments, from human resources to finance. The CIO in an IT department is kind of the glue or the central nervous system across the organization. Almost all departments are brought to life by technology so a CIO needs to have expertise in all of those different areas.
Opinion on the changing role of CIOs
Here are some recent trends that have affected the CIO’s role in the organization:
Firstly, while the IT organization’s budgets are shrinking or at best flat, technology spend outside the IT department is slowly increasing. A Gartner study shows that technology spending outside of IT has increased from 20 percent of total technology spending to more than 40 percent today, and will continue to grow at the rate of 10 percent.
Secondly, decisions on IT investments are more collaborative. The CEOs and CFOs are increasingly more interested in technology and are having more of a say in the decision making.
Thirdly, organizations are viewing ‘Technology’ from a more strategic perspective than ever before. Another report from Gartner reveals that more than half of the board directors globally are willing to invest in IT as a means to change the rules of competition, and they had IT as the highest priority for investment in 2012, tied with investments in sales.
The role of the CIO is one that is constantly evolving to meet the demands of technological advances, security issues, and business pressures. It will be interesting to see the future for the CIO as accessible cloud solutions empower other business managers to find their own IT solutions. This is where an alliance with a managed services provider can be a win for both CIOs and other departments within a company.
The best solutions likely come from looking from the outside in, without any preconceived notions or biases. Figuring out the right technology solutions for the goals of the business, then helping to implement them makes every—from the CIO to the IT team to the other department leaders,–heroes. Better managed IT means greater growth and profitability, happier, more productive, more collaborative employee teams, and more efficient and effective business operations. Everybody wins.
By Baggit CIO Sandeep Kothari
Image caption: Sandeep Kothari and family visited His Holiness Dalai Lama
