CIO Journey to the Corner Office - A reality or a Fantasy !

Recently I was in a panel discussion in a Seminar and the question of the CIO's journey to the corner office as the CEO of the Company.
Unfortunately the instances of the CIO transforming to a CEO are few in the world of business and there are number  of reasons logically this transformation is possible but in a Real world it is a fantasy.
Let us examine the qualities of a good CIO the first of course is being a good team player, second political acumen to survive and please the various stake holders in business and the last is the IT prowess.
CIO's who are successful do excel in people management and handling corporate warfare and wading through uncertain cycles in the business.
But are these qualities enough to make them the CEO, there are certain factors missing, the CIO never leads the business troops which is essential to be a CEO, neither does the CEO interact with the Board on a regular basis in most companies, the CIO is drowned in budgets,data and analysis whereas many successful CEO's are street smart and lead from the Gut.

Let there be a New Dawn for CIO's to realize their Potential as Business CEO's 

Thus the qualities needed by a CIO and the CEO are world's apart, though the CIO has a ringside view of business the CIO is not the doer, the CIO is just the observer watching from the sidelines.
The CIO seldom has an opportunity to demonstrate leadership attributes ; the CIO does lead  the IT team, which are mostly a breed with high IQ and high emotions thus when the CIO has to lead the troops it will be greeted with resistance and followed by failure.
The Board seldom gives face time to the CIO, most often it is the CFO who gets the credit from the Board and whom the Board trusts for IT Investments, this puts the CIO at a Disadvantage but the CEO is comfortable, since the probability of the Bean Counter wanting the corner office is generally remote.
Though some CFO's have become CEO's  the outcome has been mixed.
So if the reality is that the CIO Journey to the corner office is doomed, then how does the CIO realize one's fantasy?
IF the CIO firmly believes that one is made for the corner office, then then at the first opportunity the CIO should jettison the IT department as a cost center, and as the first step make the IT department the profit center.
Few Boards will agree with this approach, so it is the CIO's persuasive powers alone which can make it happen and a good time to try is when the Business is doing well.
The CIO  has an enlightened Board and the IT Department becomes a profit center, the next step of  the CIO  is to reduce the exposure of IT services to the parent business and expand the IT services to outside companies. This should to be done quickly and with profits must accrue into the balance sheet of the Profit Center led be the CIO.
A smart CIO can show exponential growth in IT services, since the angel investor is the parent company and when the CIO converts the IT company into an independent unit then the CIO's  fantasy will be a reality .
Surprisingly IT companies return on Assets employed is one of the highest in the world and the IT Division can be spun as a separate entity and subsequently get listed and create wealth for all and bigger corner office to the CIO transformed in the CEO.
Here is wishing all CIO's a wonderful journey to the corner office as the CEO's of their own IT companies, after nothing succeeds like success driven by one's own core competence.
May more CIO's transform in CEO's in 2014!

P.S. There are number of these CIO's today who due to circumstances or of their own choice have transformed themselves into CEO's and  seem to be happier and effective.
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The CIO role in supporting top line growth

The urgency of the CIO to ride the juggernaut called inclusive technology is a challenge. Today the young executive is more tech savvy then most people in the IT department who have become tired and jaded in just keeping the lights on.
Innovation and Excellence from the IT department needs a CIO who can juggle being a strategist, innovator and also hit the sweet spot in emerging technology swings.
The CIO needs to deploy  technology as a catalyst to stitch the organization together in delivering the same goal and vision as articulated by the Board .

CIO has Miles to Go and Promise to Keep in an Uncharted Terrain!

In the world of SMAC the CIO has to become an aggregator and has to change his teams pace in adopting technology which is driven by his company's employees and customers rather than by the IT Team.
Gone are the days when the CIO had a chance to choose build deploy and support technology, today the CIO  has to deliver in real time in a hyper competitive environment and show direct correlation to market share and top line growth of the company.
Let me share a SMAC story, this is the story of start up  company named Vondasoft ( www.vondasoft.com) who have a SMAC solution on the cloud, they trawl the digital world 24x7 and aggregate data about your company, product or whatever you wish to know.
They come up with real time analysis or time series analysis on what your customers are thinking or doing or posting about your product, they give you a customer insight which will help you micro manage your relationship with every customer you own in the digital world.
Money is scarce and the old capex model is history, we live in an opex world with tighter accounting and a business which has shorter time to markets and a very impatient end user of technology. If the IT team does not deliver, the business will use underground technology, they are many in the market which can be used with a simple credit card.
The CIO's role in  supporting the top line growth is under threat unless the CIO is willing to  adapt  to today's ever changing technology landscape and use technology for business agility, value addition and simplifying the way we do business.




 

Goodbye Cloud, Welcome Services.

It it time to bid goodbye to cloud computing, the time has come to evangelise the three services offered by the cloud
IAAS - Infrastructure as a service
PAAS - Platform as a service
SAAS - Software as a service.

Are you ready to embrace cloud services

Cloud has been established as an utility - secure reliable resilient and trustworthy.
So the future is in evangelizing, marketing, branding and deploying the services that ride on the cloud.

The opportunity in SAAS has seen exponential growth making cloud ubiquitous for computing.

The next challenge is in increasing PAAS and SAAS adoption, this means shaking up the enterprise computing space, changing the mindsets of the CTO/CIO and the CISO  and the Cloud Strategist.

Are we ready for this, the next year will see the intense adoption of PAAS and SAAS as more companies shut down their data centers and move to cloud computing.

Are you prepared to ride the next tsunami in the cloud computing saga, are you prepared to deploy and support PAAS and IAAS operations.

The time is now to build the expertise and skills in managing these services in the cloud.

By the end of the year we will bid  goodbye to the cloud  and embrace  the services PAAS/IAAS?
Are you ready for the next wave in the cloud computing disruption ?

Cloud Adoption - Start with the Public Cloud.

Many Enterprises start with virtualization in their data center and then scale their data centers into a private cloud and then maybe migrate to a hybrid cloud by integrating with the public cloud.
This approach could be flawed though it may give comfort the CTO/CIO of the organization,  because  it may be a risky route to test cloud computing.
Virtualization management needs good skilled personnel more so when the virtualized servers run into a problem, these resources are a challenge to find and even if found difficult to retain .
Secondly building private clouds may not be economical and is time consuming to get it resilient and reliable.
Most private enterprise clouds do not have a self service model build in their deployment, rather it goes through the IT department again, which means there is no agility and ease of deployment of services for an end user.

A Private Cloud May turn out to be like the boat in the Well!

A better route for an enterprise is to start using the public cloud by launching a social media campaign and a few SAAS solutions which  will bring agility, innovation and value to the enterprise.
Add on mobile device accessibility to enhance the employee experience and  you have a winning cloud deployment in your enterprise. You would delight the enterprise leadership with this approach, since it may add visibility and simplicity in getting a better insight into the teams that they manage in a very short window of time.
Using the Public Clouds builds  the required confidence and trust in cloud computing. Once these benchmarks are established you may want to invest in a cloud appliance for the private cloud which can be deployed withing the enterprise. Once the private cloud appliance is integrated with the public cloud presto you have a hybrid cloud and are ready to reap the economical and strategic benefits of the cloud !

Your private cloud may turn out be like the boat in the picture, which is at rest in a well with no where to go

Selling a SAAS Software to the CIO

Today an old friend of mine asked me on my idea of selling SAAS software solutions to a CIO.

His contention was since I was a CIO  could I share my perspective of how to go about selling SAAS solutions to CIO's.

The CIO

The CIO - Chief Information Officer is a busy person, who is more like a juggler who has to make sure that the digital infrastructure and solutions are working like a well oiled machinery for the success of  the business.

CIO is a busy person and it is important you have your elevator pitch ready to get your product into his.her eco system.

Pitching to the  CIO

Will the solution be useful for his business, does it feel a need that a Business has been asking for  a while.
If it is a new fad the CIO has no time for your solution.

Important for you to map the CIO with the benefits and advantages for your software product.

Remembers not more than 7 points .. that is all his attention level, so get the best first.

Here goes a suggestion of key points of interest

·        Cost of Ownership of our solution  is Low

·        Our solution Will work in any device and standard operating system

·        We have already rolled out three (n) locations successfully

·        You can do the pilot in a few hours on our self service environment

·        Can you please nominate someone from your team to check our solution.

·        we will give you a free trial for three months and lock in the price before the evaluation

·         You can customize the solution with your company logo and screens of your company

Managing the CIO

You might have found the CIO' attention but closing the deal has to be done surgically and with finesse at the shortest possible time, before similar product vendors come knocking the CIO's door.

You can move the CIO into buying with the right strategy !

Managing the CIO's ego is something of an art, we recommend a salesman who can do this and not a technology and product specialist :-)

Finding the CIO

Find out the curious CIO's in conferences and events or some whom you may know professionally, they are the  people open to ideas and willing to try.

Beware of CIO's who are good listeners, they sponge your product idea and try to build it themselves to keep their troops at home happy.

Happy Selling!

Big Data Conundrum

The Big Data Conundrum continues, those who are innovative and know how to leverage it, benefit.
Big Data is not for everyone, just like market research is not used by all enterprises. 
The first answer you will need is will Big Data be useful to my business and can I get the required investment ?
If your Business can benefit, then do you have clean data? the job of cleaning and collating Big Data is a challenging task and is not for the weak.  
You will then need to build a team with complementing skills to work on big data, though the attitude needed will be the ability to sift through chaff for grain, with patience and a need to win. 
Big Data cannot be driven by the CIO rather it should be driven by the leadership team who handle the business strategy, the CIO can help with the technology tools and solutions to make Big Data Reality.

Big Data similar to a Bougainvillea Bush, Beautiful but one needs to manage the thorns!

So who should lead Big Data, the ideal person is the person who leads the  Market Research and Strategy in an enterprise who can use big data fruitfully.
In a  healthcare environment it will be the Core Medical Research team who would lead the Big Data initiative. 
In a Government environment it could be the Department of Economics & Statistics who could lead  the team to take on Big Data. 
The CIO/CTO and Big Data are like Chalk and Cheese, but having stated this the CIO/CTO needs be part of the Big Data team but may not be the right leader to for the Big Data Charge.
So if you think Big Data will work for your organization you know whom you need to address and educate. 

Will the CIO invite the Cloud Computing Evangelist to the Leadership Team or continue be the Nowhere Man !

The CIO on his own cannot introduce cloud computing in the Enterprise, even if the CIO is a believer in cloud computing his business leadership may not accept cloud computing adoption;  they have bigger risks to handle with higher rewards which takes priority over technology and as a business priority they still believe in the old saying " If it ain't broke don't fix it " when it come to corporate computing.

The CIO needs the Cloud Evangelist to Navigate the Cloud !

Business Leadership look at CIO's as people with high IQ who are a necessary evil in the business ecosystem and are best left to do what they need in their own Ivory Tower.
A smart CIO can use some help from a Cloud Computing Evangelist to convince the business leaders in  on the benefits of Cloud Adoption.
The Cloud Computing Evangelist can work with the CIO to pitch the cloud as a strategic business enabler and as an utility to steer the the Business leadership's understanding and adoption of cloud computing.
The Cloud Evangelist will educate the business leadership on the economic benefits  of the cloud  and more.
The Cloud Evangelist can help the CIO to step out of the Ivory tower and become a true and valued member of the Business Leadership.

Will the CIO invite the Cloud Computing Evangelist to the Leadership Teamor continue be the Nowhere Man !



The Beatles song "Nowhere Man".
( courtesy : http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Nowhere-Man-lyrics-The-Beatles/A47D370E54FB65B348256BC200138D54 )

He's a real nowhere man,

Sitting in his Nowhere Land,

Making all his nowhere plans

for nobody.

Doesn't have a point of view,

Knows not where he's going to,

Isn't he a bit like you and me?

Nowhere Man please listen,

You don't know what you're missing,

Nowhere Man,the world is at your command!

He's as blind as he can be,

Just sees what he wants to see,

Nowhere Man can you see me at all?

Nowhere Man, don't worry,

Take your time, don't hurry,

Leave it all till somebody else

lends you a hand!

Doesn't have a point of view,

Knows not where he's going to,

Isn't he a bit like you and me?

Nowhere Man please listen,

you don't know what you're missing

Nowhere Man, the world is at your command!

He's a real Nowhere Man,

Sitting in his Nowhere Land,

Making all his nowhere plans

for nobody.

Making all his nowhere plans

for nobody.

Making all his nowhere plans

for nobody!

EDP CFO & Cloud Computing

EDP was the origin of computing in business, it was the acronym for "Electronic Data Processing",
The  EDP department was a busy factory during salary computation, closing of the financial books and also month end sales and inventory management and finally MIS (Management Information System) .
There were no Microsoft workstation in those days, no lotus 123 just reams of printout in high speed printers which were transferred neatly into transparencies with marker pens !
The EDP was always under the control of the CFO - the chief financial office and EDP manager was a powerful person who had to be reliable and accomplished in technology.
EDP began with punched cards, then tapes and so on ; today they are relics, but the EDP department was the temple of information, it was the knowledge bank of the business and access to it was restricted.
The CFO was the lord and master of the EDP department because the first baby steps of data processing was accounting, later on it moved into costing, inventory management and subsequently into sales and marketing analysis.

CFO will lead Cloud Computing Adoption 

The EDP department was a centralized data processing center and the staff were some of the best paid for their knowledge of computing skills, even if it meant punching cards :-).
The Cloud Computing solutions today will need to be driven by the CFO and the CIO's role may diminish to that of the EDP manager if the CIO is not innovative and willing to adopt cloud computing in the organization.
The CFO community can beecome cloud evangelist, with a little education and they are the future  champions of cloud computing adoption, CFO's understand the value of utilities, operating expenses (opex), risk and finally economic value and often hav a seat in the Board or at least the attention of the Board.
Cultivate and educate the CFO  and the  Board of Directors if you want cloud computing adoption.
Welcome the new avatar of the EDP Manager, the Cloud Computing Director (CCD) also known as the CFO.
Fresh coffee and action is brewing for the new avatar of the CFO - CCD !
Welcome aboard to Cloud Computing CFO's of the World !
Your coffee mug embossed with the message "Future of computing is the Cloud" awaits you.

P.S. I offer training for CFO's and Board members on  cloud computing adoption if interested contact me at subramanianls@gmail.com

Shiva & Nandi and Cloud Computing & CIO

In Hindu mythology Shiva is the destroyer and Nandi the Bull is Shiva's mount and is the gate keeper to Shiva and his consort Parvathi.

Every Shiva temple has a Nandi at its entrance which prevents direct view of the idol at the Sanctum of the temple.
More on Wikpedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandi_(bull)

If the CIO is the Nandi then cloud computing is  Shiva the destroyer of traditional computing. Unless the Nandi moves the business cannot reap the benefits of the cloud and attain salvation.

Hence it is important that the CIO transforms himself as the mount for the organization to benefit from cloud computing rather then being the gatekeeper who will not allow the business to adopt cloud computing.

Is the CIO - Nandi ready for the transformation from a gatekeeper to the mount for the business to ride into cloud computing for agile and innovative computing ?

The monolithic stone Nandi Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh 

(length 27 feet, height 15 feet)

Cloud Computing Transformation in 2013

As we ring out 2012 which had its share of success and tribulation in cloud computing.
We can ring in 2013 as the year Cloud Computing will  transform into an everyday utility like electricity.
The Cloud will cease to be a novelty or a laboratory, it is for real and it has proved it can deliver reliably in 2012 despite the pessimists who  kept picking on every cloud disruption rather then seeing the totality of the benefits.
2013 will be the year when the cloud will be the utility that transform and drives the economy in a tough and recessionary year.
There will be large cloud utilities formed by merger and acquisition of fragmented cloud server providers and we we will have companies like Microsoft, HP, Dell, IBM, Cisco, EMC  embracing the cloud for their survival and relevance in the technology landscape.
More then 250 companies in the Fortune 500 can move to the cloud today based on their nature of their business and focus on growing their business in a recessionary 2013  rather then burn capital on their in-house computing infrastructure.
There will be companies that will emerge similar to EDS  who will sign contracts to take care of the computing needs of the business by acquiring their technology assets and people and migrate computing to the cloud. Both will benefit and grow with this synergistic relationship the allow them to  focus on their core competence in a recessionary economy.
The CEO & CFO aided by the CTO will lead the journey to cloud with the help of  the legal pundits who will be needed to legally mitigate the  cloud computing risks before the transition into the  cloud.
We will see a Ma Bell  emerge in cloud computing services, one possibility could be the merger of the year (if it every happens) when AWS merges with Microsoft, the technology and marketing synergies will be a Winner for all stake holders including end users.

Just like Thomas Edison's innovations saw the light of the day through GE and delivery of electricity and appliances to the common man.
WE will see a similar dynamo emerging in 2013 in the world of cloud computing which will transform the way we consume computing and disrupt the very way we compute.
FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google were the teasers, the main course in cloud computing will be in 2013.
Let us prepare ourselves and to enjoy the new order of computing in 2013 and beyond lead by the cloud.
Happy New Year.

Footnote : 
Thomas Edison  http://www.ge.com/company/history/thomas-edison
 http://www.ge.com/company/history/1878-1904
Ma Bell 
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_System 

Business will Lead Cloud Computing Adoption in 2012

The Business will lead cloud computing adoption in 2012 and beyond.

Just like ERP adoption was led by business and not the EDP manager , cloud computing adoption will be led by the Business and not the CIO/CTO.

If you do not learn how to ride the cloud computing horse, then you are doomed to be trampled under their hooves, learn to adapt to business.

Unless Technology leaders learn to change their stripes quickly and improve their trust and knowledge on cloud computing they stand to be drowned in the cloud computing deluge which is waiting to be unleashed in the coming years.

CIO/CTO/ Die Hard Technology non believers, convert and repent and adopt cloud computing else you will be swept away into insignificance like the old EDP Manager .

Welcome 2012 with the belief and conviction that Cloud Computing and Business will tango together just like the two horses in the picture.

Add Cloud Computing Adoption as the No 1 item in your TO DO list for 2012!

Cloud Appliance the Boat for Enterprise Cloud Computing

Cloud Appliances

A cloud appliance is an off the shelf computing  equipment delivered fully assembled and tested, with the software stack loaded and configured. When the appliance is connected to the power and network and turned on, it works. This is one of the easiest methods to build a private cloud as an IAAS deployment, so if you had three cloud appliances in three data centers and a network, all you need is to plug in the three cloud appliances and Presto you have an enterprise (private)  cloud. 

Cloud Appliance the Boat for Enterprise Cloud Computing

all photos in this blog courtesy Ajay Gopal (aj2z on Twitter)

Today's cloud appliance are more matured and can be deployed for connecting to the public cloud thus creating a hybrid cloud. So now you have your enterprise private cloud and you can connect to the large and powerful public cloud using the cloud appliance. 

This allows the the enterprise to use the cloud appliance as a boat to the public cloud and when the enterprise is ready it can discard its own private cloud by pulling the plug on the cloud appliance (Boat).
I call the cloud appliance a  Boat and not a Bridge because the cloud appliance is used like a boat to cross a body of water at the end of the crossing you leave the boat behind whereas a Bridge is a permanent  structure and is a continuous link . 
As understanding the cloud offering and the marriage with the cloud service providers strengthens, the enterprise  can  abandon the boat and board the Mother ship ( Public Cloud). Of course if the business still requires it  can continue to run the enterprise private cloud and leverage on the public cloud thus benefiting from the strength and security  of a hybrid cloud. 
The business/enterprise will decide on what will run on the Public Cloud and what will run on the enterprise (private) cloud.  The Control remains with the business until it Trusts the public cloud . 

Barriers to using the Powerful Public cloud will be overcome with use of Cloud Appliance. 

The introduction of the cloud appliance accelerates the adoption of the public cloud by the enterprise with the comfort of the CIO/CTO  that the team members and technology investments will not be made redundant immediately, rather they will be phased out in a structured and planned time frame. 
Many cloud service providers and appliance vendors  have introduced or have plans to introduce cloud appliances, they include, IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, HP, AMAX offers CloudMax, Intalio and OpenBravo Cloud Appliance to name a few. 


IBM's Cloud Appliance
IBM's offering of Cloud Appliance is its  Workload Deployer v3.0 and WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance V2.0.
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/webservers/workload-deployer/features/index.html?S_CMP=wspace

IBM will now be able to offer its Enterprise Customer a ride into Public Cloud Computing offered by IBM which has almost all the popular  Enterprise Applications under its Hood. 

This will allow BIG BLUE an accelerated ride into the cloud computing market and I can sign off by stating that the Elephant has not Forgotten to Dance. 
Footnote: This post was inspired by Mr. Anupam Garg (anupam.gaur@in.ibm.com) of IBM who shared about  IBM's cloud appliance offering at the Mumbai Cloud Camp last week.