'Why can't CIOs be CEOs?'

CIOs Vs other CXOs- how much of this ‘Vs’ operates in reality and when will it dilute? What is your sense of a CIO’s career path in that respect?

In a lighter vein, I would say that a CIO’s career is over. Sitting on a volcano of information, a CIO is in a different position. Every CXO has his own function and domain, be it a CFO, or a CMO. But a CIO knows all implications of a business. I would say – why can’t CIOs be CEOs or business leaders? IT should be a line function instead of just a support function

So the IT heads and business process owners have a different equation?

Well, I have been on both sides of IT, as buyer, and as seller both. My view is that why should one has to sell to IT and then to the business head? You add another element in the chain and it gets diluted, because the handle of ROI is somewhere else. IT Head has to be the catalyst in the change and business process owner should be the owner.

Who should one sell then to?

Software should not be sold to IT heads but to process owners. Sales people are not able to figure out who is the right audience and who will really benefit.

Do the recent buzz rounds made by BPM hint at what you are talking about?

We shouldn’t be chasing buzzwords first of all. It should be in our reflexes. BPM is the key to role of a CIO, as he knows the entire business process management.

How about buzzwords like virtualization then?

Every year, a new buzzword enters our industry. So did with virtualization. But technocrats should remind themselves that clouds and virtualization etc is only a new garment for what we were already doing. We have been doing it since long. Many talk ‘green IT, or ‘Virtualisation’, but what they miss out on talking is the business language.

So vendors don’t really dish out benefits when they dish out new stuff? Do you agree with the way product development or upgradation works?

Be it a software or a hardware company, every few months they bring out a new product, when we have barely used 30 per cent of any new technology. By the time we apply it to actual usage, the rules of the game change again. I keep wondering – why do you keep making your products obsolete every few months, and that too without looking at real business needs? But nobody is bothered, specially when they are busy pushing black boxes.

What has been your career trajectory lessons so far?

I switched over my industry and I took this calculated risk only to bring change management in the industry. From body shopping models to service orientation, the industry is re-orienting a lot. We as an industry are very successful outside, but not within our country, for our own CIOs.