How the IT Function Can Enable the Organisation to Achieve its Goals. An interview with Anupam Singh

Interview with: Anupam Singh, Director, Acute Professional Services

Originally interviewed in 2023 for the Marcus Evans Australian CIO Summit.

“When CIOs take the time to understand the organisational pain points, user base and goals, and enable people to achieve those goals, the IT function will be considered as an enabler and not an overhead. They must consult the right people and consider how technologies impact different departments, but not all CIOs are investing the time and effort they need to,” said Anupam Singh, who at the time of this interview was Director at Acute Professional Services.

At the time of the interview, Acute Professional Services was a sponsor of the Marcus Evans Australian CIO Summit 2023. Singh shared his perspectives on how CIOs can position IT as a business enabler, prepare users for technological change, make better technology decisions and avoid costly transformation challenges.

How can CIOs make sure the IT function is seen as an enabler and not an overhead?

If the IT function helps people achieve organisational objectives via technology, it will be considered an enabler. Whether the goal is to improve customer experience, reduce overheads via automation or generate additional revenue by providing a better user experience, it is the CIO’s responsibility to provide good technology and good processes so they can achieve those. CIOs need to understand what is happening in the organisation, and choose the right tools for people to utilise.

How can CIOs ensure their user base is ready for the changes they are planning to implement?

It all comes down to understanding the demographics of the user base. What type of users are they? Are they tech savvy? Can they utilise a new tool efficiently? Are they used to doing a lot of manual work? Will customers, vendors or partners be dealing with the technology? How your user base interacts with technology and tools is also a major consideration. What kind of obstacles might there be if the tool is implemented? Create champions for change.

Should CIOs focus more on technologies that work for similar businesses or implement all new technologies?

It could be a combination of both. Many companies embark on a journey to replicate what similar businesses may have done and implement technologies that have worked elsewhere, without doing what we discussed earlier. First, they must understand who they are enabling it for, and what they are trying to enable. The technology conversation comes second. That will allow them to determine if they need to focus on existing technologies they might not be utilising properly, or if a brand new tool with high implementation costs will reap better benefits in the long run.

Many CIOs are not very technical which is a good thing because they can bring another perspective to the role. The problem, however, is that every organisation is like an organism that works differently, so unless they have a pulse on the operations of their organisation, they will need guidance when making those technological choices. The majority of technology decisions are made at the top and get funnelled down to the bottom. What is the harm in spending some time and effort consulting people and using those understandings to source the right technology?

I often see organisations signing five-year deals to get a good discount on a new technology, but once they roll it out, they realise they need customisation and the costs just creep up. They get stuck. Another issue is that these technologies are sold with the promise that they can integrate the client’s entire ecosystem into one platform, which means they will be dependent on one vendor. Once the investment is made, there is no backing out. Sometimes the tool isn’t enough, and they decide to keep some of their legacy systems. That just doubles their costs.

Such transformations need to be managed properly. It doesn’t hurt to invest time earlier on in understanding if they really need the technology and what benefits it will provide. Fifteen years ago, CIOs would spend months assessing each tool but they don’t do that anymore. Even when they do, they do not necessarily engage the right people who can provide the guidance they need.

What opportunities are CIOs not making the most of?

They are not taking advantage of the true agile methodology. Sometimes they implement agile left, right and centre for the sake of simplifying things but it doesn’t work at the bottom level. People get confused. Why would sales go agile? Agile works best if you adapt the methodology to suit your organisational culture and demands, rather than changing your organisational culture to suit what’s written in the book.

Cyber security is another interesting area. Over the years, organisations collected billions of data sets in the hope of understanding and serving their customers better. But now cyber threat is causing them more pain and cost than ever before.

"It all comes down to understanding the demographics of the user base" - Anupam Singh

View Anupam Singh on Linkedin here.

Find out more about the upcoming Australian CIO Summit.

For more information, please contact: Kyriakos Xenophontos, kyriakosx@marcusevanscy.com