SW upgrades are the toughest

The CIO's position has changed immensely in recent years. CIOs have largely

shed their backseat status, finally partnering with their CEO on the strategic

use of IT. A CIO's job skills match those of other executives-effective

communication, strategic thinking and planning, plus comprehension of the

changing needs of business, processes and operations. The role of IT has changed

from being a support function to an enabler making new business possible and

reducing cost of operations.

Thus, CIOs play an important role in several areas. One key area is managing
change in the IT infrastructure of the organization. Investment in new hardware

and software is often needed because:

n New applications need new OS and/or higher
hardware configurations




n

Increasing data generation needs higher storage capacity



n

Latest OS can boost productivity.



n

Forced upgrades due to obsolescence of earlier h/w and s/w



n

Upgrades to bring in savings






For new accounts, some investment is needed. Given this scenario, the CIO has to
render the balancing act of minimizing capital investment and increasing

productivity and savings.









n

Many CIOs are implementing video conferencing to save traveling costs. Some are

upgrading their printers to double side printers, which save paper.



n

Again WLAN tops the list of CIOs. WLAN enables mobility within the office apart

from allowing visiting employees from other geographies to connect to the

network and start working. Here again CIOs face challenges like WLAN security

and bandwidth constraint in 802.11b, and justifications for ROI



n

We are in an era of a PC/laptop for every person and at every desk. Upgrades of

desktop hardware and OS are a continuous challenge.



l

Chip vendors launch a new chip every 12-14 months and users feel an urge to

upgrade to the latest processor. However, most applications, like MS Office,

which is the most popular application software used in desktops, do not need

great CPU processing power. So, users using only MS Office and e-mail

applications need not necessarily be provided with upgrades.



l

For other applications, especially in the client server architecture, e.g. the

client of the billing application, mostly the application vendor specifies the

minimum processing power needed for that application. This should be the guiding

factor whether a PC upgrade or a new PC with higher CPU power is needed or not.



n

Software upgrades are also a challenge. Vendors like MS come up with new OS'

frequently. So the guidelines for CIOs are as follows:



l

Upgrade the OS only if necessary for operation and if the existing hardware

permits.



l Ensure not more than two or maximum three

variants of desktop OS' exist in the organization to keep it manageable. Too

many variants necessitate wide expertise development, and leads to compatibility

issues, and delay in trouble shooting.



l Often lack of support for older OS versions

from vendors' forces upgrades. In such a situation the CIO needs to weigh the

risks of lack of support on a long-term perspective and decide on upgrades.



l Many organizations now are going in for a

3-year warranty contract, which provides free upgrades. Organizations are

ensuring that vendors include upgrades also in their AMC contracts.



l CIOs are implementing asset management

tools which keep track of software versions, and RAM size which helps to keep

tracks of upgrades.