Endava’s CIO, Helena Nimmo shares her global experiences of the challenges CIOs are facing and how regional CIOs need to rapidly change their corporate gameplan to prepare for the next technology cycle.
[ICIO ME] Do you see a difference in the way CIOs in the Middle East approach their roles, compared to their global counterparts, and what are the best practices Middle East CIOs should adopt?
[Helena Nimmo] When you consider the diversity of the region, its expat traditions and immigrant-friendly policies, it comes as no surprise that its CIOs follow the same pattern. Middle East IT leaders bring a wealth of knowledge, project experience, best practices, and corporate cultures from around the world.
This squares neatly with the trend we see in the changing role of the CIO. They now need to have a foot in both the business and technology camps and must understand a range of perspectives to be successful.
While the pace of this transition varies with industry and, to an extent, the overall leadership approach of the individual organisation, one commonality that CIOs in the Middle East must accommodate, is the region’s impressive drive to pioneer innovation through the use of new technologies. They must therefore see their role as one of guide and leader, as enterprises seek to create technology-based value streams.
While a trifle obvious, technology as a value-stream creator requires customer-centric thinking. Technology renewals, digital acceleration programs — whatever you are doing, you should be looking to revisit strategies with customers’ goals at the centre. This naturally implies that the adoption of technology for its own sake is fraught with risk and should be avoided at all costs. Focus on the real value to the end customer.
Following on from this, it pays to focus on quality as a means of market differentiation. Especially in the face of a challenging economic environment, it is critical to double down on the basics to keep customers delighted. Big data, AI, and a range of other tools can help you automatically discover what customers prefer and uncover what their pain points are. These are the actionable insights a business needs to get ahead.
Consider the entire supply chain, rather than just the link you inhabit. This will make you a leader in your field — more relevant, and with deep meaningful relationships with customers and suppliers. This approach allows an easier demonstration to regulators of your compliance, and it allows your direct and indirect customers to see the value you add on their behalf.
[ICIO ME] Do you think that Middle East IT decision makers spend enough time and resources on planning their forward-looking IT strategies with partners?
[Helena Nimmo] The level of partnership engagement in the Middle East is lower than in Asia Pacific or North America. This represents opportunities for engagement with partners to deliver value and help create those strategic technology-based value streams.
Senior IT leaders who are ready to be the champions of innovation will be critical to taking advantage of these opportunities. They have experience of the value chains and supply chains that pervade the industry, and they can bring that experience to the table and educate their colleagues across the organisation on what a good engagement looks like.
In the early stages this will mean taking a little longer before making decisions, but as collective knowledge grows of both the strategy and how to optimise engagement with partners, agility will grow as well.
And then there is identifying the right technology partner, a herculean task given the number of organisations that can deliver truly impressive sales pitches and even project designs, but stumble during the all too critical implementation phase.
My advice here is for CIOs to focus less on the cost and focus more on the true business value you are seeking. Find a delivery partner that will do that with you. Any true partner will ensure you are getting value for money while delivering tangible business benefits.
A methodology that is centred around digital acceleration, which is the advancement of IT in the service of business objectives through impactful and incremental innovation, may require guidance from a partner.
[ICIO ME] In your opinion, are Middle East organisations doing enough to align IT strategies with business and customer expectations?
[Helena Nimmo] I do not think regional organisations are any different from their global peers when it comes to aligning IT strategy with business strategy. Some organisations are fully committed to technology being a driver of growth, and others, less so.
The Middle East has set out one of the most ambitious technology-driven growth plans in the world. Technology leadership will play a vital role in realising the value of these proposed investments and delivering on expectations.
Making this vision a reality will first require that technology which was implemented 20 years ago gets a refresh. There is a new technology cycle approaching and CIOs will have to deal with several legacy technology challenges to ensure that their transformation strategies are fit for purpose. Bridging from the heritage to the new while maintaining service excellence is key.
The role of the technology leader has changed dramatically over the years and will continue to evolve. Many have already struggled with the transition from technical leadership to business leadership, but the writing is on the wall. Technology leaders will need to understand how every part of the business operates, what the future trends will be, and link the commercial and the operational as well as retain the relevant technical personnel.
Getting the balance right between all these demands can be challenging, and I certainly do not get it right all the time. But staying agile and being able to recognise when a rebalance is required, and acting on it, should be an area for constant focus and improvement.
[ICIO ME] While Middle East enterprises have begun their digital journeys, what are your recommendations for them to accelerate and become full-fledged end-to-end digital enterprises?
[Helena Nimmo] Be bold. Set a vision to reach for, one that will sustain you, your team, and your non-tech colleagues. Adopt a collaborative and growth mindset and find the right partner. And ensure your foundations, especially in data, are solid enough to allow for the upscaling that is coming.
Drop the term digital transformation. It suggests starting from a point that does not include any level of digital, and eventually arriving contentedly at a position where digital objectives are met. Any CIO would know that such a nirvana simply does not exist, and today’s benchmarks are simply tomorrow’s baselines.
Instead, adopt a digital acceleration mindset, incremental improvements across existing systems. Any successful change must be collaborative and inclusive. By that, I do not mean management by consensus. Rather, I mean making sure all the right people are involved and engaged.
Global to local: Action plan for regional CIOs
- The Middle East has set out one of the most ambitious technology-driven growth plans in the world.
- Technology leadership will play a vital role in realising the value of these proposed investments and delivering on expectations.
- Some regional organisations are fully committed to technology being a driver of growth, others are less so.
- There is a new technology cycle approaching and regional CIOs will have to deal with several legacy technology challenges to ensure transformation strategies are fit for purpose.
- Bridging from the heritage to the new while maintaining service excellence is key.
- The role of the technology leader has changed dramatically over the years and will continue to evolve.
- Many CIOs have already struggled with the transition from technical leadership to business leadership, but the writing is on the wall.
- Technology leaders will need to understand how every part of the business operates, and what the future trends will be.
- Regional CIOs need to link the commercial and the operational as well as retain the relevant technical personnel.
- Ensure your foundations, especially in data, are strong enough to allow for the upscaling that is coming.
- Drop the term digital transformation. Today’s benchmarks are simply tomorrow’s baselines.
- Regional CIOs need to have a foot both in business and technology camps to be successful.
- Regional CIOs must see their role as one of guide and leader, as enterprises seek to create technology-based value streams.
- Technology as a value-stream creator requires customer-centric thinking.
- Regional CIOs should be looking to revisit strategies with customer goals at the centre.
- Adoption of technology for its own sake is fraught with risk and should be avoided at all costs.
- Consider the entire supply chain, rather than just the link you inhabit.
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