Author: Mbaki Manewe Mathambo smarrtz@gmail.

com

Case Study: The Future of CIOs

What is a Chief Information Officer?

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) is the head of the IT group within an organization, and usually reports to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). They provide organizations with the vision to master information technology as a competitive tool. (Acs.org.au, 2007). From the above statement we can understand that the Chief Information Officer is a new position that started with the existence of information technology. The Chief Information Officer provides a wide scope of how technology can be better effectively used by the organization. The Businessdictionary.com also describes The Chief Information Officer as an

Executive responsible for development, implementation, and operation of a firm's information technology policy. the organization, He and is or she oversees for all information systems infrastructure within standards to

responsible

establishing information related all

facilitate management

control over

corporate resources.

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The Traditional Roles of CIO roles of CIO

In order to better understand the traditional roles of the Chief Information Officer, it was necessary that requirements by companies and organizations in the early years be reviewed. According to Gordon (2010:127), The Chief Information Officer: A Review of the Role article states that a review of job advertisements by Todd for over a twenty year period from 1970 to 1990 determined a common thread relating to the blend of technical skills and business knowledge, coupled with effective interpersonal skills. With this it meant that the CIO had to become the link between the information processing department and the senior top management. Their core functionality was to represent the information infrastructure (hardware and software) and therefore focusing on the data processing functions and how best to make them meet the requirements of the senior management as the business model demands. Between 1993 and 2004 Tong Hon Keong led the implementation of several major systems and application projects such as the highly popular Customer Relationship Management system, Branch Sales system, and Customer Contact Centre system. (Maybridgeasia.com, 2008) To successfully implement such systems and applications he had to have extensive knowledge in IT (which was relatively new) and business knowledge, planning and project management skills. From the already mentioned so far it can be drawn that the primary or traditional roles and qualities of a CIO are (but not limit to) the following: Implement IT according to specifications Give the IT team direction in regards to performance objectives. Project Management Extensive Experience in Information Technology industry A CIO should be able to outsource a smart individuals Team building skills Visionary

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Evolution of the CIO

26% of CIOs spent half their career in IT and half outside of IT 55% say contributing to corporate strategy is one of their three top responsibilities 34% of CIOs manage another corporate function while running IT 16% spend most of their time dealing with emergencies 55% report to the chairman, CEO or president of their company (Alter. A, 2012) Responsibilities and Management, From the above we can tell that it is important that the CIO has a balance of experience in information technology systems, their applications and business. Over half of the CIOs have contributing to the corporate strategy as one of their highest priorities and also report to the chairman, CEO or president of the company who are among the senior management of the organization. Over a third manage another corporate responsibility and IT at the same time. Less than a quarter of CIOs spend most of their time dealing with emergencies. As discussed in the beginning of this research the CIO who was also back then called the data processing manager is no longer limited to focusing on the IT infrastructure and data processes within the organization. They are getting more involvement and roles in the corporate governance of organizations and its long term strategic goals meaning they have a very direct channel of communication with the top strategic management. The new CIO should be able to perceive that everything they do, even a line of code is about business. Oon said: "You're not doing a line of code You're actually creating a business opportunity A program is a business opportunity You've got to bridge the business-technology divide've got to make smart use.... of IT, prudent project management, good IT governance, accountability and transparency. " Ko. C (2008) Innovation and knowledge management, As CIO are getting more involvement into the strategic business management they are forced to keep up with the latest technological developments in order to help the organization gain competitive advantage. Technology by itself is a highly dynamic variable in the role of the Chief Information Officer as it helps organizations meet successfully strategic business objectives when used appropriately. It is therefore important that the CIO understands the business landscape and how best to benefit from IT not the other way round. With technology changing so rapidly and business and shifting market oriented conditions organizations are seeking experts who are technologically savvy and creative thinkers, who can

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analyze current market conditions, predict future trends and streamline business processes to achieve set conditions at minimum cost and risk. These are very critical as there have been numerous technological advancements on internet platforms including mobile internet, mobile applications and cloud computing which organizations are quickly adopting to have competitive advantage. With the growing complexity of all these applications more emphasis is put on how efficiently and conveniently can they be used to meet current business and market requirements and future organizational needs such as scalability in case the organization wants to increase capacity. Oon Wee Jong former CIO (Maybank) goes on to stress on this point by saying that owing to customers' rising demand and expectations, banks today had to be vigilant and adopt solutions to provide the best turnaround time. Dhesi. D (2006). He further goes on to say that for IT to become more effective, Whether working on ROI, project status, project management, vendor management, or service level agreements, CIOs need to measure each from the business and customer points-of-view - not just from perspective of IT. A 'customer-point-of-view', for example, would be how fast a customer can conduct a transaction with a foreign country. Dhesi. D (2006).

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Contemporary Roles of the Chief Information Officer

Todays Banking and Financial Markets CIOs spend an impressive 57 percent of their time on activities that spur innovation. These activities include generating buy-in for innovative plans, implementing new technologies and managing non-technology business issues. The remaining 43 percent is spent on essential, more traditional CIO tasks related to managing the ongoing technology environment. This includes reducing IT costs, mitigating enterprise risks and leveraging automation to reduce costs elsewhere in the business. IBM (2008) From the above mentioned by IBM it is evident that the contemporary CIOs roles are broader combining both the elements of IT and business. It also important that the CIO focus bringing new creative and innovative products and solutions tailor made to meet both the business and the customer requirements. CIOs universally acknowledge that some of their most important objectives too often seem to clash: How can I support the introduction of new services while avoiding the disruption of existing services? How can I reduce costs while improving services? How can I balance the need to influence business strategy with the need to provide top-notch IT support? IBM (2008) In a fast moving business environment such as banking it is important to ponder on how the Chief Information Officer can achieve a proper balance of business and IT initiatives. However CIO roles might be slightly different depending on the industry and so expertise in a particular business industry will be coupled with knowledge in IT relating to the specific industry. A CIO of a banking institution which handles large, accurate and sensitive data will be different from the CIO of a company that specializes in car sales in the sense that the CIO of a bank should be well versed in the financial services industry, mobile internet, Customer relationship management while the CIO of a car sales will have to know more about car sales market both locally and internationally and as more about logistics. The mentioned are just some of the general roles of a contemporary CIO. From these we can draw conclusion that some of the responsibilities of the contemporary CIO are (but not limited to):

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Facilitating Innovation, As discussed in this research the CIO is suppose to support and facilitate innovation by making sure that all the necessary ground work has been laid, considering the current business problems and solution and how to best and creatively meet current and future business requirements. Maybank seals US322m deal with Computer Sciences Matt, H (2003) The largest outsourcing deal with Computer Sciences in Malaysia was led by Mr Tong Hon Keong in 2003 who was then the Chief Information officer of Maybank. Computer Sciences also took over Maybanks desktop, mainframe and network infrastructure and introduced the popular Maybank2u website.

Add business value, Maybank became the first Malaysian Bank to offer the following since 2003; Maybank2u.com internet Kiosk, e-dividend via Maybank2e, online mobile banking via and M2U Mobile services using GPRS /3G phones. It is through these years up to the present that we see Maybank leading in Malaysia. Maybank2011.online-ar.com(2011)

By finding out ways of increasing the customer proposition value. The CIO should be able to use IT effectively to lower costs and increase efficiency to increase business value. With the all the IT infrastructure in place this resulted in Maybank setting them a better brand.

Besides just improving the Rate of return on IT investments the CIO should also be able to identify new way to help increase customer satisfaction and help organizations benefit from how data is used on applications. The IT infrastructure that was in place it has become the CIO responsibility to make data useful to stakeholders. Mobile phone applications have allowed data to be shared easily between Maybank and its clients. It was therefore necessary that the CIO of Maybank be technologically savvy so that they can keep up with the ever changing business and technological landscape.

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Collaboration, As seen when Maybank secured the largest outsourcing deal in Malaysia the CIO of then Mr Tong was responsible for making sure that there is a clear understanding between Maybank and the outsourcing company Computer Sciences. In order to bridge the gap between other non-technical executive officers it was important that the CIO be competent in the language of these CIO so that he will be better able to interpret the business requirements for the outsourcing company. This was necessary as he had to collaborate with leaders from other departmental functions.

More leadership involvement, The contemporary CIO has also been given a share of the governance of banking organizations as with the advent of the internet and data sharing there are many government laws and policies that should be adhered to. These are laws that have to do with sensitive information. They are also supposed to represent the IT face of the company.

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Future Trends in Roles of the CIO

When research was being done it was found out that there are numerous conflicting ideas about the role of the CIO. Some argue that the role of the CIO is soon becoming obsolete or they should be demoted while others strongly argue that the role of the CIO will not become obsolete but will evolve as the business world demands. Those who say that a CIO will primarily cease to exist because the player cannot stay up to date with the changes in their profession and will not be play the role of a CIO to its fullest potential. A CIO may also be unnecessary because of the changing business models and emergence of digital business models. This is because data is no longer confined to one place but it is brought to the window of the company or organization. It is safe to say that this self-managed and automated system systems and applications might render the CIO obsolete. Outsourcing has also posed a major threat to the role of the CIO. This is because the modern business manager or executive officers are now IT savvy and can opt to put source for their IT needs and focus on the core values of the business. Others argue that the CIO will also be an essential part of the business and that instead of becoming obsolete the role of the CIO will adapt to meet the changes in the market and business landscape. They stress the importance of a player who is dynamic and responsive to these changes. They argue that the CIO will always be critical to the market as banks are focusing on a customer oriented approach of business. The CIO is responsible for making sure that the current technology in place is being used effectively and also is a constant a reminder for the senior executive not to become unrealistic with their strategies. In the case of the CIO of Maybank plays an important role as there infrastructure that needs to be taken care of. The banking business model has been in existence for a long time now and as compared to the new digital business model the CIO will have to make sure that all this are running in parallel to the banks business objectives. The CIO will also be responsible for making or breaking outsourcing deal other executive officers may not have a common language between the enterprise and the vendor. Different IT

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vendors have their own business objectives and banks as have their own objectives so it will be necessary that the CIO be in place to negotiate such deals where other executive officers fall short. For an organization such as Maybank we can conclude that the following will contribute to the future role of the Maybank Chief Information Officer: Issues regarding data sensitive and data breach. Increasing value proposition by streamlining business and IT activity to meet changing customer needs and changing business demands. The CIO of Maybank should also act as an agent of change by influencing the bank and its employees to take fu advantages of the It that has been put in place to perform their duties effectively. As Maybank is beginning to outsource some of its IT activities the CIO is also a collaboration partner as they have to make sure that all that the service level agreements are to the best interest of Maybank and that the vendor can best understand the banks out sourcing specifications. Last but not least the Maybank CIO should be a driver of innovation. To do this the CIO needs to be able to outsource smartly and hire the right individuals to assist him. The CIO will be responsible for making sure that creative banking and management solutions are identified in order to capture an opportunity that may arise or create an opportunity.

Author: Mbaki Manewe Mathambo smarrtz@gmail.com

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