Connecting IT with Businesses and Going Beyond Technology ROI

“Thoughts are magnetic, and thoughts have a frequency. As you think thoughts, they are sent out into the Universe, and they magnetically attract all like things that are on the same frequency. Everything sent out returns to the source—you.”?

― Rhonda Byrne, The Secret?

The seventh episode of ClarITea chat gave an insight into the thought process of Arun Gupta and how this led him to achieve success and jump to different positions throughout his professional life.??

ClarlTea Chat is a live show where I talk to CIOs and management leaders. We discuss different aspects of technology and learn from their experiences through different short stories of their personal & professional life. In the seventh episode, I had a refreshing session with Arun Gupta (Ex-CIO of Cipla, Ex-CTO Shoppers Stop, Advisor for many companies), on -?

?● Expanding technology benefits beyond ROI and focus on the impact of business?

● Importance of connecting IT with business. Why and How???

●? Role of advisor or consultant in organization?

The 7th edition of "Transformation Clarity by JCB", will decode the art of finding ROI with technologies, & will ponder over what all things to focus on in business other than ROI. Building and hiring a team brighter than you and personalized leadership for your team. And why does an organization need an advisor or consultant???

Success is not mandatory, it's a choice that you make for yourself.??

Here is the link to the complete ClarITea chat episode. Let’s get started now.?

?Key insights around introspecting IT and business??

1) Looking beyond ROI?

• ROI Started as a measure for large investment primarily in the manufacturing industry. ROI is nothing but how quickly you can recover the money you put into the infrastructure or business.??
• Envisage investments in IT as Leaps of faith which will ultimately impact the success of all organizational functions and their respective KPIs and ROI. ?
• Have the courage to say there is no ROI for technologies which are necessary for basic efficiency and productive work environment. He gave an example of upgrading the infrastructure raising the productivity of people, ultimately improving the customer satisfaction.?
• Cross-question on what will happen if investment in IT is not done and how “no decision” taken will adversely impact the business.??
• Ensure the cost of doing business, cost of opportunity and cost of efficiency while projecting the ROI of IT implementation.?

Instead of just focusing on ROI, talk about the cost of doing business, cost of opportunity, and cost of efficiency.?

2) Creating business intimacy:?

To build business intimacy as a culture within the IT team and the processes or rituals, to get the entire team to be business-centric includes:?

• First, having a top-notch organizational culture starting from the top management. As the team behaves the way, the owner, promoter, and the CEO of the company behave.??
• Second, don't be a pretender or be insecure about your position, because you did something good and had put a lot of effort and hard work to be in the current position.??
• Create a connection at a personal level.?
• Introspecting why IT exists? IT does not exist just for the sake of IT. It is within the organization to help businesses do something different, better, faster, and cheaper.??

Your effectiveness of connecting IT within the business depends on how well you have connected back to business and communicated.??

3) Creating business IT connect:?

• The basic question is, who needs to know more about whom? And the answer is, IT guys need to know about the business more so that they can automate or connect IT with business. Whereas vice versa is not true.??
• The second thing is, where is the impact going to be created? It's always business, and if your work is going to create that impact, you better know inside out of the business.??

If an IT guy is approachable and down to earth, people at all levels will talk to you and people will tell you what better can be done for the organization?

4) Tips to Build high-performing Team:?

• Hire people whose skills are scalable and learning ability to scale-up.?
• Empowering the people, letting them make mistakes and finding the solution on their own. Help them learn, and not teach them.?
• Situational Leadership: Treating people for who they are rather than the role they are in.??

To build a good team, hire learnable people, empower them; and guide them with personalized leadership.

5) Role of Advisor or Consultant in an Organization:

You need an advisor or consultant because of certain reasons:??

• Sometimes in organizations, people don't listen to your advice and want to take a second opinion.??
• The organization wants to validate the decision and wants fresh eyes to whatever you are doing and to communicate more effectively.??

Hiring a consultant is like taking a second piece of advice from a doctor because you are not sure about the first one.? ?

In conclusion, I would like to say, Arun gave wonderful advice. First, dreaming and defining the place or position where you want to reach in the future is very important. “That’s where I want to be someday”. Even when you don't know how but believe that somehow the universe conspires for you to be there if you are true to your goal and make efforts to reach there. The second one was to quit at your best because when you quit at your high, people remember you.??

Arun focused on the impact of the project rather than just ROI. Before thinking about the ROI, we should focus on the cost of building a business, opportunity cost, etc. Hiring a team that is brighter than you and empowering them is very important. And last but not least, who needs to know more about whom? IT exists to help the business grow faster and better, so, therefore IT guys need to know inside out of the business.?

About the Author?

Jagdish Belwal is CIO turned global advisor on business growth using technology and digitalisation. He is also the founder of FlocknGo startup after having been an angel investor in tech startups. He is a regular speaker & conference moderator at various national and international platforms.

His ClarITea Chat show brings out the wisdom and experiences of CIOs and Leaders of top organisations and is popular with the IT fraternity on Linkedin & Youtube.?You can find all the episodes here, or in the?Featured section?of Jagdish's Linkedin profile. The ClarITea Chat podcasts are also now available on all major podcasting platforms. He can be reached out for advisory, investing, training and conference moderation on [email protected]?

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