"The CIO is morphing into a business leader. I believe the age of the tech CIO is over."

Varun Sood
CIO
Fortis Healthcare Limited

Varun has a rich experience of over 15 years in areas of strategy formulation & implementation, mergers & acquisitions and business & process optimization. Prior to his association with Fortis, he has worked with organizations like Ranbaxy and Compunnel Software. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal.

Challenges in technology to meet enterprise needs in 2013 and expectations

a) Expectations of business users have evolved. Personal technology and the ways we interact with it, has had a significant impact on user's expectations. The needs of enterprise technology systems and the security, efficiency and control framework they operate in are quite different. The big challenge for enterprises is to deliver on business needs from technology platforms while appropriately managing user perceptions and expectations.
b) The key expectation from service providers would be to evolve their engagement methodologies to solve business problems and deliver business outcomes instead of providing "technology". Further, business models suited for the Indian market need to be put in place.

Technology trends impacting enterprise business environment

One of the key trends is the cloud. I believe it would be a game changer from an agility and cost standpoint. Another key trend is leveraging mobility to empower customers.

The areas in business environment where solutions do not yet exist or not up to the mark, and which if existed, would've made job easier

In healthcare, we continuously look to improve on out patient care and clinical care. As a country, we need to find ways to make healthcare accessible at a cost efficient point. We continue to innovate on ways to leverage technology to do so.

My roles and responsibilities as a CIO

The CIO is morphing into a business leader. I believe the age of the tech CIO is over. The CIO is now measured more on solving business problems- known and unknown- as well as driving business outcomes.

Lessons learned and advice for fellow CIOs

Think business outcomes and not technology. Technology is just one of the components needed to achieve business outcomes. Taking a business view will change the decisions we take on technology. Think partnerships and not vendor relationships. Partners will go the extra mile, while vendors will do what is contracted.