Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 15 | Page 74

INDUSTRY WATCH
SOMEONE FAR WISER THAN ME ONCE SAID THAT WHO YOU REPORT TO IS MUCH LESS IMPORTANT THAN HAVING THE SUPPORT AND REMIT TO DO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO . MANAGE YOUR TEAM WELL AND BE THE BEST YOU CAN AND IF THE ORGANISATION NEEDS MORE FROM YOU , IT WILL ASK
Nexthink . At first we were incredibly unsure that the claims Nexthink made about their product could be met , however they convinced us to do a PoC , and the results exceeded our expectations providing a level of insight for our service desk that we did not know was possible . Now , in parallel to having the ability to hone in on root cause analysis for a support ticket , we have the necessary visibility from the end- customer perspective to ensure that people are getting use out of the expensive tools we provided for them to do their jobs . Therefore , we have improved our customer service and our cost control capabilities in one go .
How have recent projects helped distinguish your business from regional competitors ? ICT rarely provides competitive advantage in a business like ours , although it can confer the opposite and it does not stop us seeking out solutions that will provide a competitive edge . There is no doubt that fixing some of the more boring , but essential , elements of ICT have helped , like establishing and implementing standards , processes , Service Level Agreements and focusing on improvements in [ internal ] customer service . We run a lean but efficient
ICT function that has a positive and helpful demeanor and we have tried to eradicate words like ‘ user ’ and ‘ no ’ from the language we use day-to-day .
There is a general perception among most CIOs that IT is not adequately heard in toplevel executive management talks . What do you think about this school of thought ? I once overheard a conversation between two CIOs who were discussing how aggrieved they were that neither of them reported to the CEO , how important they were to the business and how unfair their reporting lines were . Someone far wiser than me once said that who you report to is much less important than having the support and remit to do what you need to do . Manage your team well and be the best you can and if the organisation needs more from you it will ask . I doubt the two CIOs I overheard understood what their organisations needed from them and their teams and made sure they got those things right .
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