Challenges that a CIO has to face
There are lot of professional jobs in the world. And one of
the most difficult jobs in the present situation is that of a chief information
officer or an information technology director. This is indeed the most
important job when it comes to a company or organisation based on information
technology. It is also safe to say that this period of time is the toughest
period for CIOs. Nowadays a CTO of a company needs to make sure that he is good
in leading and also well versed in the different aspects of business. If this
is not the case they would not be able to remain in the position for long. Most
of the people who hold the title are not able to cope up with hurdles and
challenges thrown at them due to the tight competition that is there in the
market. In this twenty first century, the importance of technology especially
the field of IT is expanding ever so quickly. This creates both opportunities as
well as challenges for the companies and the final decision on most of the
issues must be taken by the CIO. Hence the pressure of the holder of this
position is immensely large.
Some of the many challenges that a CIO has to face are:
·
Making the organisation ready for data
explosion: This is probably the
most difficult challenge that CIOs or CTOs has to face. Yet again when we speak
about the improvement in technology, the past few decades is the period that
seen the most of the advancements. Ranging from computers to internet, from
cell phones to smart phones everything have been developed in the past few
years. And it is also safe to say that the advancements in technology are on
the rise. In fact the most interesting concept that is gaining popularity is
the internet of things(IoT). The major idea is to connect more and more gadgets
that are used regularly onto the internet. in short this is being able to make
ordinary things work in a smart manner. For achieving this, there must be
capability for processing a lot of data. Hence there is a chance or in fact
there will be a huge data explosion in the nearby future. The company must be
ready to counter this problem or else it will not be able to cope up with the
others in the field. And it is the responsibility of the CIOs to make sure that
the company is ready when the time comes.
·
Making arrangements so that the data is
meaningful even when used in different systems: the most important
problem is that the present world is a data driven one. Hence it is very
important the data from system is made meaningful to others. Or else the gap
between the different sections would increase which is not desired. Another
problem is that the data which is not meaningful is very hard to pull out. Or
in other words the process of retrieving the data and making reports will
become very time consuming.
·
Finding staff that are skilled in the field: When speaking about the challenges faced by the
CIOs across the world, one that cannot be missed is the lack of availability of
people who are well trained and skilled. It is true that many countries show a
lot of potential to produce skilled personnel. But the problem is that the
talent is raw in most cases and proper training is something that is lacking.
As CIOs, providing training from the grass root level is something that is not
practical. The only thing that they can do is to employ people who are best in
the field. The problem if the people employed are not skilled is that the
company’s progress would be hindered and also there would be a huge loss of
money as well.
·
Make appropriate changes so that the company can
cope up with the changes that mobile has brought about: The word mobile itself means one that is moving.
Hence it is not improper in saying that invention and development of mobiles
have set the whole world into motion. People can now work from anywhere and
also at any time. Hence as a company’s CIO, it is very important to make sure
that the mobile employees are properly managed.
·
Make sure that all the data is safe: One of the side- effects of the vast
improvements in the field of information technology is that ensuring the safety
of a piece of data has become very difficult. Again as far as CIOs or CTOs are
concerned, one of the most important things to make sure is that the data
stored in their company or organisation is completely safe and secure. It is
evident from the records that the attempts for data breaching are on the rise.
Also the efficiency of the whole organisation rests on the level of security
provided to the data that it holds. If a cyber-breach takes place and some of
the data gets wiped out, then the whole company begin to fall apart.
·
Making sure that he or she earns credibility as
a CTO: This may sound easy,
but can only be achieved if he or she is able to fulfil all the other
requirements mentioned above. The person will have to show leadership both
internally as well as externally. They will have to make sure that the
employees are united and performing efficiently and at the same time should cater
to the requirements of the customers or else the company will lose its position
in the field.
And because of all these reasons the period for
which most CIOs or CTOs last is only about 24 months. Also new ideas are being
developed on a daily basis and hence it is not very easy to decide which one to
select and which one to neglect. Hence it is evident that the job of a chief
information officer is not at all easy.
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