Future of CIOs as Seen Through the Eyes of Dave Ubachs

By SiliconIndia | Tuesday, February 28, 2012

As long as business exists in this world, there will always be the need for a Financial Director or a CEO. But, will there always be the need for a CIO? A question that is certainly on the minds of most of the leaders around.

Dave Ubachs is CIO and shared services manager for UK, Ireland and Scandinavia, which is part of the Global Business Services (GBS) division of P&G. He speaks about the role of CIOs in coming years and what they can probably do to take their organization to the next level.

There would hardly be a few who really want to return to paper based processes in this computers obsessed world. Technology is getting upgraded day by day. And so is the role of CIOs which is changing accordingly.

So, what the future state of the CIO's role going to be?

"Information and IT is the route to fixing the challenges that an organization faces. So CIOs are well placed to be the bridge. Organizations need them on the board to make sure you are going after the biggest problems", says Dave Ubachs in cio.co.uk

"As a CIO, if you are not doing this you cannot continue to stay relevant, especially as the technology has become standardised and is available off the shelf". A CIO needs to have a deep and right level of business expertise.

It's not necessary for every CIO to be a technology expert, but, basic understanding about the latest trends in technology is a must. A CIO must be aware of the latest technologies in the market at least. And to keep oneself updated, the CIOS must go through time to time training.

As a CIO, one also needs to ensure that his role covers all the functional, transformational and strategic demands for the CIO role and how he prioritizes strategy.

CIOs also need to be passionate about making things happen, and if a bit of technology can make that thing happen, that will drive the technology forward.