8 April-June 2020Role of a CIO TodayThe role of a Chief Information Officer (CIO) starts with positioning oneself as a transformational and digital change leader within the business. With availability of cloud computing to manage infrastructure layers of the IT stack, CIO roles will become a lot less operational and more strategic in driving the organization's digital transformation roadmap. One key imperative in this role is to drive and own the agenda for digital change pertaining to their businesses--especially as it relates to transforming core business operations. Chief Digital Officers will typically own external-facing and product related innovation--CIOs, on the other hand, needs to own how insights from these "connected" products can transform the core. CIOs will need to define and operate under a venture capitalistic model and associated principles, to maximize returns on their program investments.Making Business Counterparts Think Differently On ITOne approach that I have seen work is through a "purpose built" innovation program--a program that would demonstrate "art of the possible" to the non-IT functions on how technology can help reinvent work across the business. The innovation program needs to be executed in the context of various business functions and well aligned to their needs. At the same time, technology mega-trends need to be recognized for their disruptive power and should guide the amount of change they can drive into the business.CIO can also drive a venture capitalistic model for allocation of funds by developing a well balanced approach to IT investments. Placing bets with a good spread of risk/pay-off profile that can yield significant benefits for big hits. Lastly, CIOs need to find a way to engage the broader organization in a meaningful way by creating culture and structures that allow IT and other business functions be part of the same team--every time and all the time (co-location, cross-pollination of talent etc.) Promoting a culture that has built-in desire to adapt and learn with potential for producing innovative solutions on a steady basis.Latest TrendsNo doubt that some of the most powerful trends today include: 1) Increasing amounts of cheap and powerful sensors, 2) Generated data from the sensors about the world around us, 3) Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence, and 4) Mixed- Reality. These trends have the potential to equip the workforce with some powerful insights, advisory tools, and innovative human-machine interfaces. Creating step function improvements in business outcomes through productivity and elevated human performance, while also, providing us with the means to run the business differently and leap-frog competition.Exciting Future TechnologiesAlthough I named quite a few, I would TRANSFORMING IT TO DIGITAL TECHNOLOGYMano MannoochahrBy Mano Mannoochahr, CIO, GE Energy ConnectionsIN MYOPINION
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