IT Everywhere
African Organisations Face a Stark
Choice
Organisations
in African can remain cautious and conservative in technology adoption, and
lose out on the transformation currently characterising the rapidly
transforming economies in Asia and Latin America or move with the times. Today
businesses and careers – particularly those of CIOs are shaped by how well
professionals are able to ride the exploding wave of data.
The Consumerisation of Information
Technology
Due
to the increasing consumerisation of IT, with users (both internal and
external) becoming more technologically astute they demand services in a way
and on a platform they want, rather than being dictated to. CIOs and ICT
leaders play a critical role in leading organisations towards becoming digital
enterprises.
The Chief Digital Officer
Companies are starting to hire a new breed
of digital leader, typically called a Chief Digital Officer, heralding a change
in the future role of the CIO and IT department
The State of Technology in Business –
Two Faces of Information Technology
Dave Aron of Gartner states IT has two faces. “One is a platform
on which most and soon all business processes run. Even the smallest business
these days has a paperless workflow, banks and receives payments electronically
and collaborates with suppliers and other business partners via various
electronic channels. The other face relates to the more recent notion of ‘IT everywhere’. The way in
which IT has permeated every aspect of life”.
Mobile Technologies Have Created
Critical Mass
The ‘IT
everywhere’ trend began
with the internet, but it was the massive take-up of mobile technologies that
created critical mass. Mobile IT is the trend currently shaping business
because it is changing the way customers behave and expect to be treated by
their service providers, and it is also opening up entirely novel business
opportunities.
According to Gartner’s 2013 CIO Agenda 71% of CIOs believe the IT department will have been replaced by a different construct by 2020
Creating a Consistent and Rewarding
Customer Experience
FNB’s
Digital Marketing and Media Head Lana Strydom states “the Chief Digital Officer’s
position has much more to do with creating a consistent and rewarding customer
experience than with business enablement. CDOs could end up being more narrowly
focussed on marketing and so reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer or
e-Commerce instead of reporting to the CEO”.
A Driver of Innovation and
Operational Excellence
These
are early days here in South Africa and CIOs still have time to assess their
options. But they should do so sooner rather than later because things are
moving, and inertia has its own risks. Forward-thinking CIOs have been working
hard to reposition technology and thus themselves at a more strategic level for
years. It’s an approach that has worked in many companies, where technology has
become a driver of innovation as well as operational excellence.
Headhunting the Chief Digital
Officer
Madge
Gibson, principal at head hunters Odgers Berndtson, states “companies are
definitely starting to ask for people to fill the digital leadership role for
the whole company or group. Most demand is coming from the retail and financial
services sectors, with fast-moving consumer goods also beginning to show
interest”.
Profile of the Chief Digital Officer
The
Chief Digital Officer needs to be a futurist, with strategic and leadership
ability as well as having a flair for technology and marketing.
Finding
this type of person is hard and businesses tend to look outside of their
organisation to fill the role. Head hunters Odgers Berndtson have been looking
internationally in places like Silicon Valley. Tracy Dawson a partner at Jack
Hammer Executive warns the new CDO role is not really about the nitty-gritty of
network architecture and the like as all this can be outsourced!
Going
Forward – Strategy for South African Businesses
IT Everywhere - Social Mobile,
Analytics and Cloud
Discovery Health is specifically focused
on mobile apps and digital channels that will add significant value to its
members, doctors and partners – Kris Tokarzewski – CIO
Business Connexion foresees the growth
of what they term SMAC (Social Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) and their focus will
be on achieving the right blend and integration for this, while keeping things
cost-effective for the business – Andy Brauer – CIO
Dimension Data feels that mobility
and cloud computing will continue to have significant impact on enterprises in
the near term future. This will offer more flexible ways of working, both for
employees and for organizations – Laurent Leclercq – CIO
Advertising is preoccupied with
being digital and that changes the game radically for IT – David Breytenbach,
Ogilvy South Africa – Group IT Manager
Primedia has a large footprint into
Africa so have been focusing on cloud-centric solutions. Secondary to this is
the mobile revolution and how people are accessing information differently –
Morne van Heerden – CIO
Edcon feels there are many exciting
changes in the IT landscape at present, but highlights social media and the
power of mobile devices as being key to changing the way organizations,
including Edcon will interact with people - Henri Slabbert – CIO
South Africa’s crown jewel of
leisure and tourism is entirely relationship based which makes on-going
investment in the clever use of social media for marketing a priority with an
ongoing emphasis on the adoption of dynamic mobile technologies.
