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FINAL WORD
Five traits of the
transformational
CIO
With a majority of IT budgets currently
trapped in maintaining support
functions, Niral Patel, MD and Technology
Leader for Oracle South Africa, advises
how CIOs can shift from simply ‘keeping
the lights on’ to driving new revenue and
transformation throughout the business.
T
he transformational Chief Information Officer (CIO) is the
talk of the town – a captain of innovation, charting a course
toward digital transformation for your business. With a view
that stretches beyond the IT department, the transformational CIO is
instigating a seismic shift in business that is seeing technology become
a defining, differentiating strategic tool that can drive success.
Gartner’s 2018 CIO Agenda survey shows that as digitalisation
and innovation put more emphasis on information rather than
technology, the role of the CIO is transforming from delivery
executive to business executive, and from controlling costs to
exploiting data to drive revenue. Yet, an estimated 80% of IT
budgets still remain trapped in support functions – such as upgrades,
maintenance and security patches – that keep the lights on, but
don’t bring new revenue to the business.
So, what are the key traits that define the transformational CIO? By
keeping these five traits top of mind, any CIO has the potential to
achieve that careful balance of keeping the lights on while acting as
a transformational force for the business:
1. Stay aligned with the overall business direction
The transformational CIO understands that winning buy-in from
the top is key to justifying and paying for new IT projects, and
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