Interview Questions

Full Interview with Kumar Parkala

Kumar Parkala:

I agree that IT innovation will be critical in helping business organizations recover faster from the global financial crisis. It is extremely important for an organization to continue to innovate to remain in business - runs the risk of commoditization.

IT has always been an enabler for business transformation and also plays a very important role in various organizations within the enterprise to improve operational efficiencies. On both those fronts, innovation is absolutely critical. And the CIO, as the leader of the IT organization, definitely has a significant role to play in helping organizations recover faster from the impact of the global financial crisis - as well as coming up with innovative solutions that will drive the recovery and the business strategy of a company. This includes looking at innovative service delivery opportunities using IT. The CIO needs to be become chief innovation officer using IT.

 

Kumar Parkala:

 

The Indian economy is very buoyant, and in the last few months we have seen a number of positive signs of recovery. Vendors that we've been interacting with tell us that there's a lot of optimism in the market. They believe that organizations are now in a recovery and growth mode, which means more money will be spent to support a growth agenda, which is good for vendors. As far as cost cutting is concerned, there are now healthy indications of growth over the next two years, and I don't think CIOs should look at significant cost-cutting. Value creation is more important than cost-cutting to support the growth agenda of companies and that should be a CIO's focus.

 

Kumar Parkala:

CIOs must understand the direction of the business they are supporting and enabling. The need to very carefully analyze how IT can support either a growth or a cost-optimization agenda. During the next few months, the single most important objective for a CIO should be to develop strategies that will enable recovery from the recent economic slowdown and help launch their organization on a growth path.

 

 

Kumar Parkala:

Indian enterprises are going through different phases of change. CIOs need to align their capabilities to the change occurring within their organizations. The job of a CIO is extremely difficult. They need to be visionary like a CEO, have the financial acumen of a CFO and the operational abilities of a COO. In response to your question, the CIO needs to take all these aspects; they need to be a visionary, a strategist and at the same time be practical and deliver solutions and also clearly demonstrate their contribution's value. So really, a CIO today is expected to have wide-ranging skills and those skills need to be aligned to the issues that the organization is facing to help business leaders pave the way ahead.

 

The days of the purely technical CIO are almost over. In many countries, the CIO is now a very important part of the organization's senior executive team. They are involved in the running of the organization alongside the CFO, the COO and the CEO. The CIOs are moving up the value-chain in India and increasingly playing a critical role in value-creation. Their CEO will be looking up to them to come up with innovative ideas using IT to drive the business forward. The CIO must embrace this leadership challenge.

 

Kumar Parkala:

Selling to management is only a challenge, if a CIO is not able to connect with the leadership team. Often technology speak becomes a barrier and an inhibitor. If the CIO can communicate in simple business language and gain the trust of management, getting support on key decisions is becomes very easy. Gaining management buy-in was never a challenge in any of my CIO roles.

I would say that CIOs need sound business acumen. They need to communicate the benefits of investing in IT and the impact those investments are going to have on the overall business and growth strategy of an organization. Cost is only an issue if the value proposition is not compelling. The CIO has the responsibility of communicating that value proposition in way the leadership team understands.

 

Kumar Parkala:

I consider a CIO as a business leader. Leadership needs emotional empathy.  It is no longer sufficient for CIOs to have only technical skills - in fact this is a disadvantage sometimes. CIOs need to have the skills to manage a large number of technical people. A CIO is not required to be a technical expert and should not even try become one. CIOs need to have the ability to motivate technical teams, who very intelligent people. They need good people skills and also mentoring and coaching skills.

As the economy recovers, CIOs will face competition and attrition will be high since the market will open up and opportunities will increase for their staff. CIOs who will retain their teams will be those who can relate to their staff, motivate them and provide a clear purpose for working. Paying a higher salary than anyone else is only a short-term solution. CIOs need to be good people leaders.

 

Kumar Parkala:

When there is M&A activity in progress - and I agree there will be many on the way to recovery - one of the most expensive exercises is the integration of technology. When you look around at some of the major M&As around the world, you will see that the technology integration was so complex and costly that organizations decided to leave the technology platforms on a standalone basis. But in doing so, complete integration was not possible and the synergies could not be fully achieved.

From my own experience, when two companies come together, the CIO needs to be on the frontline and needs to clearly define how the two companies are going to merge in a cost-effective manner. When you see successful marriages, it's clear that those organizations have got their IT integration right. CEOs need to understand this. They need to hire the right CIOs with the right skills. They need to support CIOs, empower them, and support them in being transformational agents who want to effectively use technology to help the business grow.