"Enterprise Social media is another trend that has far reaching implications, but organizations are still to create a business case to leverage the collective wisdom of its teams."
Gopal Rangaraj
VP- IT
Reliance Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd.
In his current, Gopal has the responsibility of development & deployment IT strategy in alignment with the business strategy and imperatives. He has over 21 years of experience in areas of Process plant operations, Corporate Planning, Supply Chain and Operations consulting and ERP implementation.
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
Data security aspects are something that can give any senior management in the organization a sleepless night. Technology is an enabler, while security measures are a deterrent. Therefore, information security is a paradox of sorts– at one hand technology interventions enables the speed of transactions, while the security measures are designed to retard the speed of information flow.
With consumerization of gadgets and app eco system, mobile is one of the most vulnerable spot as far as data leak is concerned. This remains a challenge and in my opinion the speed of accessing data in mobile devices will keep increasing and the measures to control speed will continue to catch up, but with organizations’ dependence on systems being so high, data security and its business ramifications remains an area of high risks.
Lessons learned and advice for fellow CIOs
Managing change handling due to technology interventions is the most important aspect of success or failure of technology initiative in an organization. To me, this is more than a motherhood statement and is a corner stone as far as technology project deployment across many organizations that I have experienced across the globe are concerned.
Technology solutions have to seamlessly integrated with the people, practice and processes within an organization across the ranks. CIO and IT teams play a crucial role in this – they have to basically help organization shed their inhibitions in technology usage and act as change champions.
My roles and responsibilities as a CIO
CIOs roles have changed from being an operational champion to being a business process enabler to now being part of strategic change enabler. Many business models are entirely driven on technology back bone, and CIOs are directly involved and responsible for business outcomes.
In my opinion, CIOs and IT teams have been integral part of business outcomes, which include being part of business outcomes related financial, customer interfacing, supply chain performance, employee engagement and drive strategic. Operational and tactical interventions using technology.
Technology trends impacting enterprise business environment
Mobility in my opinion is a game changer as it provides ability to the users/ customers to connect instantly. Organizations that can create an innovative business to leverage mobility can truly innovate the business model using technology.
Enterprise Social media is another trend that has far reaching implications, but organizations are still to create a business case to leverage the collective wisdom of its teams. Coupled with social media comes the challenge of making something meaningful out of unstructured data, which again in my opinion is what organizations needed to make a sense out of.
Challenges in technology to meet enterprise needs in 2013 and expectations
Consumerization of technology, especially in the device eco system in retail space has provided a number of options. But the same has not been made available for enterprise deployment.
My wish list here would include, availability of much ‘talked about’ technology components in as seamless modes as it is talked about– especially the options of cloud. While they hold great promise, the actual deployment– entry and exits have rigidity governed by commercial considerations and therefore have issues in enterprise adaptability.
