"The CIO role is one that is always in a state of perennial change."

V.Srinivas
EVP–IT
Sanmar Group

Srinivas is a performance oriented technocrat and an award winning CIO with over 22 years of Rich Cross Functional experience includes ERP-SAP Implementation with BPR initiatives, IT Infrastructure & Security Applications Management, GIS/GPS applications etc.

Challenges in technology to meet enterprise needs in 2013 and expectations

In today’s fast changing IT environment, there are various technology platforms, applications and automated solutions to address many of the problem issues faced by Enterprises. However the big challenge as I see is
• Limited availability of Subject matter experts on various Industry domains who have techno functional skills having a practical understanding of the Business process mapping with the relevant technology solutions.
• Inability of Organizations to handle Change Management apart from the relevant linkage to the End user role changes in the context of new generation Technology Deployments
• Lower prioritization for IT initiatives when the Organization faces Business challenges (that are controllable) since Operations get priority in such testing times.
• Increasing cost of IT Services in an Outsourced environment whose ROI is only seen over a longer period of time

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

a. An Automated IT Management Dashboard that is able to capture all the end-to-end activities performed by the IT function in the form of outcome metrics that enable visibility with the relevant analytics.
b. The limitations of technology in regulated Industry Verticals where the boon of using Technology solutions to address the statutory problem issues also sometimes becomes a bane in the actual usage of the solutions, as there is more focus in reality on trying to meet the regulations even at the cost of deviating from the set automated process which can sometimes cumbersome.

Technology trends impacting enterprise business environment

• Technology Trends in the Mobile Data Services space where the 3G and 4G Airwave technologies which would lead to increased Mobility in the enterprise while bringing in change in Business Models including in the enterprises in the Regulatory environment.
• Availability of affordable and practical M2M interfacing technologies that would bring in more agility, predictability and intelligence in Manufacturing.

My roles and responsibilities as a CIO

The CIO role is one that is always in a state of perennial change. I have seen the CIO role transition from that of IT Project Management and IT Operations Sustenance Leadership when I had first moved in full time from Business into IT in 2003 to that of an IT Strategy and Business Transformation Leadership in my recent role where one is expected to come up with practical IT solutions in double quick time. However the journey to the current stage has not been easy since one as to endure failures and learning’s along the way while success also comes along.

Lessons learned and advice for fellow CIOs

Make sure that the best way to reach the top of the IT Leadership pyramid is through the grind of
• Understanding the basic fundamentals of all IT activities
• Always being a constant Learner across domains that will help keep up with the changing Technology and functional perspective trends
• Mentorship of your team
• Consistent focus on interaction with the Business teams to understand the Organizational requirements.
• Linking the IT strategy to the Organizational Business Strategy (which is a long drawn one and one has to be persistent)
• Having to be more patient in dealing with the Business