Big Data- Different Roles, Different Strokes (Part 2)
Nitin Saxena
Cloud Partnerships & Business Development| Global System Integrators |Cloud Security| ISV| Sustainability| Channel
Continuing from where I left last time, I want to focus on the role of a CIO in embracing Big Data in an organization. In this new world of transformation, the CIO according to me, has the most challenging task to Run, Grow and Transform their infrastructure. According to a recent US study, approximately 50% of all systems are legacy. These systems have been assembled over several years, and sometime decades. With many of these system supporting Mission-Critical apps, it’s not feasible for CIO’s to replace them as they are core to the functioning of the business.
The balancing act between running a business and investing in new technologies can be a key competitive differentiator in this changing economy. This could one of the factors which led to Gartner predicting “by 2016 over 50% of application modernization efforts will address business demand for enhanced functionality to legacy applications, not cost reduction”. Modernization applications is a first big step in the journey to embrace Big Data. The CIO’s have to lead this effort by keeping the following design principles in mind:
Scalable: Applications which are either re-built or re-designed should be scalable up and/or out based on the business requirements. The cloud platform is a key enabler of this design principle.
Responsive: Applications supporting the Big Data initiatives have to be data responsive meaning, it not only carries the information for the user but also brings the data back to the system based on user behavior/usage.
Secure: With over 1/3rd of the workforce likely to access corporate information remotely raises the huge challenge of keeping the data secure both ways. It’s imperative for CIO’s to enable an infrastructure which helps them keep their Big Data Applications secure.
It's widely predicted that more technology-related budget will move to the marketing department, which leads to a natural question: Will CIOs be able to win the trust from their peers such as CMOs and compliment their efforts or merely grit their teeth and co-exist? The good news is according to a recent CIO research, there is a mutual respect between CIO’s and CMO’s in today’s enterprises. Here’s a snapshot of the findings from the report.
CIOs and CMOs do differ in some areas regarding who is driving technology investments*.
Cloud Computing: CIOs are more likely than the CMOs to point to the IT function as leading in this area (71 percent, versus 51 percent). This is especially true at large companies (80 percent compared to 67 percent at smaller businesses).
Consumerization of IT: Both CIO and CMO also agree that IT has primary responsibility for driving (44 percent, versus 54 percent for CIOs).
Big Data and Mobile: This is where the biggest dis- connect is between CIO and CMO. Nearly half of the CIOs surveyed (46 percent), identify IT as the primary driver of mobile investments; however, CMOs most often point to marketing as leading the charge (29 percent) followed by IT (26 percent). One quarter of CIOs in companies with 1,000 or more employees point to marketing as the lead for mobile investments, significantly higher than their peers in small and midsize companies (11 percent).
The approach to Big Data as an enabler of “competitive advantage” largely depends on CIO and CMO relationship and trust. A consensus driven approach between CIO and CMO is a cornerstone in enterprises successfully implementing Big Data. What else? Share your thoughts....
Cheers,
Nitin Saxena
Cloud and Big Data Marketing at Microsoft.
*CIO research data.
Director Digital Alliances - UK & Europe at Wipro
10 年Very true analysis of both roles