One of the favorite topic of discussion in the business world today is - the state of the business environment at length - the global and the Indian economies? Everybody has their own perspective about it, everybody has opinions / suggestions on what needs to be done to set it right.
In short, we all try to find a scapegoat and what we do about it in most cases - nothing really, nothing different and life goes on.
But, personally, I have a different perspective on this. I believe it is, in fact, a wake-up call. This is an opportunity - opportunity for CEOs / COOs to think differently. It is opportunity for the CEOs / COOs to rope in their CIOs and work and partner with them to bring in the much needed efficiency and the effectiveness in business processes, to automate business processes, to deploy solutions that are customer-centric. It is an opportunity to look at each and every function very closely and jointly work with their CIOs to identify the problem areas, work on them, put in technology solutions to improve and overcome the problem areas and iron them out permanently forever.
The CEOs / COOs need to understand that their CIOs with their business acumen and understanding of the business processes as a result of all the technology interventions - ERP and CRM solutions, are the most apt and best suited for bringing about this change. The CEOs / COOs need to realize that a CIO can take a complete fresh look and new perspective at areas of operations wherein the CIO can actually drive down or even drive out the cost and deliver better service to the "real" customer. The CEOs / COOs need to realise that their CIO is the best partner to work with ironing out inefficient and ineffective business processes and hence prepare the business for the next wave of improved business sentiments resulting in better business performance, to transform the business to grow to greater heights in the future.
Furthermore, the CEOs / COOs need to understand and respect that with all theirs and every other business function and all the employees depends on technology thus the IT function has today become the "bloodline" the business. If you cut down on this "bloodline" or decide to reduce the "blood" that runs through the veins and arteries of your business, it will lead to a "business anemia". By reducing the "blood", the CEOs and COOs are in fact killing their own businesses. The CEOs / COOs need to understand that if the businesses dies, they die with it too. In these times of desperation, the most common mistake most CEOs / COOs make is - pump in more money in sales and marketing, into increase production capacity without really ironing out inefficient and ineffective business processes.
Well... it can be argued that pumping money into a marketing campaigns, announcing sales incentives, bidding for more business, building larger capacities will bring in "instant", "quick" returns and "makeshift" changes. True... but just pause in here for a second... how long can the business sustain it all with inefficient and ineffective business processes and people? "Instant", "quick" returns and "makeshift" changes do not last long if the core problems are not resloved. The CEOs / COOs need to realize that they have to treat the disease to the core, they need to eradicate the disease, prevent it from reoccurrence because everytime it reoccurs, the disease drains away vital energy, resources and money from their businesses. Attack the root-cause of inefficient and ineffective business processes, of people through use of technology, transform the business because in the long-run that is perhaps the ONLY solution to all problems, the ONLY solution for sustenance of the business.
It can be argued that - technology is not the solution to all business problems. Very true... and that is not what I am even trying to prompt. All I am saying is - by the virtue that the CIO understands the business processes because of the numerous technology interventions in the business such as - ERP and CRM projects, because of the documentation of the "as-on" business processes and is also an senior management executive, the CEOs / COOs can seek and partner with the CIO to set the things right at least as far as the business processes are concerned. Furthermore, it is a believed that technology intervention do bring in efficiency in the business. So, I would like to urge the CEOs / COOs to give the CIO a chance, bring him / her into the mainstream of business (if not already) decisions, partner with the CIO and transform the business to ensure long-term sustainability for your business.
There is a very famous hearsay or story, I am not too sure, on this and it goes like this - an major Indian automotive company was struggling and that particular year did not make large profits, but the top man of the company decided to invest most of the profits of that year in improving the business processes and bringing in efficiency and effectiveness by streamling business processes and bringing about a transformation through technology and today that automotive company is a major and leading business conglomerate. It was the foresight of this business leader who attacked the root cause, invested in technology to bring about the transformation of the business for long term sustenance rather than investing in efforts that gave "quick", "instant" returns and "makeshift" changes.
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