FEATURE : STATE OF THE CIO
the fast adoption of Digital Transformation strategies in the Middle East and Africa .
Saleh said with increased digitalisation comes more cybersecurity risks for CIOs to mitigate . “ To face today ’ s threats , CIOs must turn their attention to what , for many organisations , is the last line of defence and one that is often ill-prepared : its people ,” he said .
Digital Transformation and technological innovation are priority for many organisations in MEA but CIOs seem not to be spending a lot of time on this .
“ Well , the saying goes that if Digital Transformation were easy , you ’ d already be there ! And I would say that in Digital Transformation there will be leaders and those who fall behind . And I would definitely say that CIOs that have started the process and have begun transforming their organisations are better positioned to handle big challenges and achieve business results ,” Amin pointed out .
He said Dell Technologies believes that Digital Transformation creates millions of possibilities and that , in order to really achieve this , technology must move to the centre of an organisation ’ s products , services and operations .
Ghoush observed that several CIOs are of the opinion that Digital Transformation as a concept has been overused . So , while CIOs welcome Digital Transformation and its benefits , Ghoush believes the starting point for them is to actually answer the critical question : What business outcomes do you want to achieve for customers ? “ It is worth noting the history of Digital Transformation has several examples of wasted investments – for example , GE , Ford and other major players poured US $ 1.3 trillion into transformation initiatives , 70 % of which – or $ 900 billion – was wasted on failed programmes .”
He explained that rather than jump straight into Digital Transformation , a good CIO will work backwards from desired business outcomes . “ In MEA , we are seeing several CIOs do this exactly . Time is being spent to analyse and understand the customer a clear set of objectives and reaching a consensus on the best path to pursue . By doing so , they are getting the biggest bang for the buck from their tech investments ,” he pointed out .
Tshifhiwa Makhari , Managing Director , Oracle Services , iOCO
Proofpoint ’ s Saleh explained that there are a number of reasons why some CIOs are still in early stages of their Digital Transformation journey . “ Those can include the complexity of legacy systems but most importantly , it is crucial that CIOs understand that their role must be focused on transforming IT into a core driver of business value .”
At Dell Technologies , Amin noted that the company likes to say that becoming a digital organisation has become ‘ mission critical ’ and this year has proven that , now more than ever , organisations need to be digital , they need to be powered by data and they need to be running in a multi-cloud world .
“ There are a multitude of industries that are all racing to adapt to the data decade and to the unprecedented challenges we all face . That goes across the board from retail to manufacturing to finance and high tech .
“ When we talk about ‘ connected CIOs ’, what we also mean is that they are leaders and people that can overcome these challenges – they are experts in meeting business needs with technology and innovating in the face of numerous , and large , challenges . They can help navigate disruption and they can help strengthen business agility with multi-cloud . But when we talk about technology , it is easy to forget about the people behind it . One of the big challenges CIOs face is attracting , empowering and retaining talent with workplace technologies ,” he added .
Ghoush concurred on organisations being more digital and pointed out that the world today is more digital now than ever before , however , this has brought in its own share of consumer privacy and data security issues .
“ In 2020 , CIOs have faced significant challenges when it comes to storage of consumer data and cybersecurity . With the recent passing of the California Consumer Privacy Act ( CCPA ) and the European General Data Protection Regulation ( GDPR ), CIOs must now ensure that businesses are compliant with all these regulations ,” he said .
According to Saleh , 2020 will be remembered by CIOs as the year when organisations have had to re-think the way they work – resulting in mass migration to remote working , job insecurity , more unstructured work environments – which has only served to increase the cybersecurity risk .
“ Insider threat incidents presented another challenge this year , with their frequency increasing by almost 50 % over the past two years . A 2020 Ponemon Institute Cost of Insider Threats report , revealed that companies in the Middle East experienced the most insider incidents and are most likely to experience credential theft compared to other regions in the last year ,” he noted .
Given the challenging nature of the role of CIO , pundits are urging CIOs and IT teams to avoid certain pitfalls when implementing their Digital Transformation strategies .
Tshifhiwa Makhari , Managing Director , Oracle Services at iOCO said many CIOs and organisations make the mistake of thinking that Digital Transformation is a once off event and then it is done . “ This couldn ’ t be further from reality . Digital Transformation is less about the technology and more about the organisation ’ s strategy , structure , culture , capabilities and understanding of their customers ’ needs . Technology is just an enabler and therefore , CIOs must exploit the technology to enhance their effectiveness to respond to customer ’ s needs ,” he said
Tinashe Katsande , Principal – Business Development Digital and Emerging Tech , Synthesis , said as the role of CIO shifts so does that of the IT teams they lead .
Katsande said the CIO must ensure that they have the right people to carry out the vision and must also allow the team to redefine
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