Dozens of articles, webinars and conferences have been held over the past decade to highlight the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO), the challenges they face and what keeps them awake at night. These challenges range from business and the role Information Communication Technology (ICT) plays in enabling the business to keep it’s a specific competitive advantage in an industry, to the evolution of technology development in every area. From the time you switch on a device until you receive information back from the device, millions of technologies and interfaces are executing in the background to deliver the expected results.
Globally, we’ve both experienced and witnessed the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th industrial revolutions, and now there are talks about a 5th industrial revolution. Industry jargon and semantics add further complexity and play a critical part in this never-ending evolution of technology.
In the midst of it all is the CIO, whose role it is to consolidate, merge, optimize and transform all these technologies wave after wave by compiling solution-based ICT strategies best suited to the business they’re in. The exciting challenge they face is to always be aware, open-minded and agile to the technological winds of change. When an industry or corporate stagnates in their technological advancement, it reminds me of an old adage “the only difference between a groove and a grave is the depth”– unknown.
Please do not stagnate in your business and technology progress.
In the post-Covid era, we find ourselves at a point where technology advancement is imperative to any corporate’s survival. We have never found ourselves in a situation like this. At the same time, we’ve never before had access to the incredible technology we have at our fingertips today, which we can use to our advantage in solving the challenges we’re faced with. Technology has supercharged ahead, giving businesses the opportunity to explore numerous digital solutions to seamlessly transact without the intervention of people.
Indeed, technology is here to stay. It has changed our lives and will inevitably keep on evolving into the future. Remote work, remote communication, remote implementations, remote monitoring… remote everything. I’ve created my own acronym for this — “RemoteX” — which will be more prevalent in time to come.
Educate yourself daily and embrace the change, and you will enjoy this journey.
Employing the role of a CIO can be overwhelming at the best of times. That is why we at TAU ICT Consulting are here to bridge the gap and assist your business with these challenges.
Contact us at TAU ICT Consulting for a free consultation, and we will explain the value of a Virtual CIO for your business.
Our final message to all the CIO’s out there: you’re perfectly positioned at a time such as this, with excellent technology at your disposal. Use it to enable business through your ICT thought leadership strategy.
Most importantly, enjoy the ride.
Article by Martin Pretorius — Director at TAU ICT Consulting.