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Digital business models test CIOs

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Johannesburg, 19 Mar 2015
Technologies like mobile, cloud computing, big data, analytics, Internet of things and social media are having the biggest impact on CIOs.
Technologies like mobile, cloud computing, big data, analytics, Internet of things and social media are having the biggest impact on CIOs.

Digitisation of business models and the influx of new technologies are challenging the way chief information officers (CIOs) plan for their organisations.

So said Heydon Hall, CIO of Regent Insurance, delivering a keynote address at the IT Leaders Africa Summit in Sandton yesterday.

He pointed to technologies like mobile, cloud computing, big data, analytics, Internet of things and social media as having the biggest impact on the CIO role.

"Besides, the business pie is getting smaller by the day; and the question CIOs are constantly asking themselves is, 'what can I do for the business to steal the pie from the competition?' Businesses are also faced with more and more regulations as well as governance issues which also impact on the CIOs," said Hall.

He believes a digital business must use a model that enables it to connect directly to customers.

"Since buying behaviours have rapidly changed, with customers having more and more choices, it is the duty of the CIO to ensure the digital business has integrated and customer-centric processes in place," he pointed out.

He explained these organisations sense and react to customers timeously through dynamic analytics and customer insight metrics that enable them to appropriately customise products and services.

Following social media conversations about the brand is one way the digital business can obtain such insights, he noted.

According to Hall, a digital business is insight-driven and provides innovative services as well as products; it also encompasses an integrated workplace operating model.

"A digital enterprise is one that is strategic and deliberately uses an integrated technology approach to improve business models - processes, systems and operations - throughout the entire organisation.

"It must also have a unified customer view and provide a consistent customer experience across brands, products and channels," he added.

During a panel discussion at the event, Mike Davies, CIO of Royal Bafokeng Platinum, said in today's tough operating environment, the CIO must be able to understand the business and how it relates to the IT architecture.

Davies also pointed out CIOs must be flexible to change. "The CIO is an agent of change; as a CIO, if you can't effect change, you will not succeed."

Adding to the discussion, Hugo Timmerman, head of IT Southern Africa at British American Tobacco, said any enterprise strategy works if CIOs change the way they think about technology. He believes technology should be viewed as a critical business enabler.

Among the challenges CIOs are facing, Timmerman pointed out they have to ensure cost-effectiveness, add value to the business, and drive company strategy.

Robert Sussman, joint-CEO of Integr8 Group, concurred: "With organisations now looking to do much more with less, every CIO is expected to drive down costs for the business. CIOs are expected to have an idea of where the business is going."

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