Telescope: IT is like Bollywood

MUMBAI, INDIA: Are there any real big-shift trends happening in IT as you reckon?

The last big thing in IT era was Internet. Cloud was all about specializations. Today mobility and Cloud are coming together in a big way. It is driving a lot of opportunity in every dimension. It is opening up new opportunities that have never been before.

It is like a Bollywood setting, with each new change we find a new audience connect angle. Same story cannot be told again and again. Corporate IT will be the new game in the times to come. IT performance will now influence business performance much more starkly. So much of what IT used to do for itself will now be public.

Does that translate into a new role for CIOs? Would it be a plumber’s title or of a shopper or a fireman or a R&D guy?

It is easy for business executives to recognize that IT clearly defines its functions — speed (less interruption and cost), scale (capability to do business) and choice (options for the future). So much is being talked about consumerisation of IT? If that is actually a big trend, does it negatively correlate with Enterprise IT spends?

I cannot separate consumeristaion and mobility. Consumerisation means competition. That’s when my job is to see the new era as an opportunity. A medical firm for instance deployed a lot of iPads for its sales people. IT has to find a connect.

What about insourcing?

To the extent, IT can improve cycle times and productivity, it will be worth it. Organisations will have to be leaner. If I choose not to orient it for the customer, then there is no basis for insourcing.

Any questions one can ask before choosing to insource?

Yes, First — Whether all insourcing solutions deliver advantage, may be around customer experience. Second — Where can these sources save time-to-market part? Third- Where can these resources create new opportunities?

Is analytics hyped for more than what it’s worth?

There is a natural hype to it. It is a silver bullet if you don’t know what application it is about. Organisations need to know what are they targeting to do better with this strength. More information is not necessarily better information. That’s why analytics has gone up and down often. Everything can be made available in the market but not context. Often companies that are actually good at harnessing analytics, do not talk about it too much.

So many so-called breakthroughs in technology have been around. Does it at times lead to a situation where CIOs force fit technologies?

The only big idea in last few years was sourcing and what new shifts are being talked of now are not much different. The big Cloud answer is liberated resources. But losing weight is not the answer. The real part is what to do after one loses weight. If you still keep sitting and watching TV, it does more harm than good.