Chief Information Officers are once
again finding themselves at the cutting edge of company operations as
firms increasingly go digital. When trying to pinpoint the drastic
changes companies will have to go through, we should not underestimate
this key role.
Deloitte recently unveiled its
Tech Trends 2013 report,
which examines the ever-evolving landscape of “technology put to
business use.” L'Atelier has reported in previous years on this annual
study, which once again this time selects ten trends that the global
consulting firm believes have the potential to impact business over the
next two years. Here we focus on some of these trends with the help of
three experts from Deloitte: Eric Delgove, Consulting Partner, and Head
of the Technology Advisory Sébastien Ropartz, Consulting Partner,
Technology Advisory Marc Ayadi, Head of IT Advisory, Entreprise Risk
Services.
L'Atelier: Deloitte has listed ten principal trends which are likely to
have an impact on companies over the next two years. Among them, the
role of the CIO seems set to evolve.
Sébastien Ropartz: Yes, we’re talking about a
profound change in the role of the CIO. In the past, s/he was pretty
much on the sidelines but now a CIO must grasp the reins of innovation
and drive the digital revolution through. The CIO is becoming a
post-digital catalyst, who must be connected to everything the company
does. S/he must support innovation, and be a driving force among
colleagues. If the CIO succeeds in harnessing the potential of digital
innovation, s/he can change the nature of the CIO role vis-à-vis the
company’s businesses. S/he’ll contribute opportunities for growth and
will be able to highlight and promote the advantages of digital
solutions to the businesses rather than dwelling on technical
constraints. Plan big, start small, fail fast, scale appropriately:
these are the watchwords for the CIO’s new role.
The study goes so far as to suggest that Information Systems Management is a business in its own right.
Sébastien Ropartz: One of the problems that a CIO is
now having to face is procuring the right resources to cope with the
challenges of the digital era. The CIO’s switch to digital is first and
foremost about recruiting and retaining staff with key skills. This
means of course specific digital technology skills but more general
managerial skills as well, which will enable that particular person to
drive forward new ways of working and to respond to the needs of the
firm’s businesses. IT ought to be positioned as a partner in its own
right, as both a driver and a beneficiary of change within the
post-digital company.
The report stresses that companies should no longer be thinking ‘mobile first’ but ‘mobile only’. What exactly does that mean?
Eric Delgove: Mobile is everywhere, that’s perfectly
clear. Our study shows that 80% of all European firms put mobile in
their top ten strategic priorities. Tablets and smartphones are now part
of our everyday lives. They allow us to develop augmented reality and
offer new possibilities for both information exchange and action. The
increasing number of new generation terminals together with cloud
computing promises new ways of interacting.
When it comes to security, you’ve described this hyper-mobility as the IT “nightmare”.
Marc Ayadi: A sentence springs to mind that sums up
the situation perfectly: “You can never stop a determined person from
getting in.” No-one is safe from pirates and hackers, even though some
top managers just don’t seem to realise that. Moreover, it takes around
three to six months to sort out a cyber-attack, so we shouldn’t be
taking cyber-crime lightly! Hackers are today much better organised and
use very sophisticated techniques. Some 94% of all cyber-attacks are not
made public, but they do account for considerable losses. Firms need to
put plans in place to cope with such attacks, they need to face up to
the situation and take precautions. Deloitte France decided this year to
make an investment in DLab, a computer security platform. Our aim is to
offer firms cyber security solutions tailored to their needs.
On a more cheerful note, in-company gamification. How do you explain the takeoff of this approach?
Eric Delgove: Did you know that the average age of
video games players is 49? Or that 42% of all gamers are women? Once you
realise that you can see why gamification makes sense. A firm needs to
grab the attention of its staff, and it can boost their engagement by
incorporating gaming into the working environment. Companies should also
be using gamification to encourage customers and suppliers to engage
with them. This isn’t a new approach, that’s true, but it still remains a
top-ten trend in 2013.
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