and the various technologies that are out there. For example, we have sales people all over the world and some of them are using different tools and technologies, which are all consolidated under the Salesforce customer relationship management (CRM) product. Before adopting a CRM tool, we may have overlooked business opportunities  because some members of our sales team weren’t necessarily aware of the customer relationships possessed by salespeople in other divisions or departments. After adopting Salesforce, we have been able to build a consolidated sales strategy around our key customers. That's just one example of the importance of having the right data, and accessing it, which is similar to a business intelligence tool.

Recommendation for New Solution

Ideas for new IT solutions are only limited by one’s imagination. One that I feel would be particularly useful would be the combination of Apple and Microsoft IT ecosystems. Despite their versatility and their convenience, the iPad and similar tablet devices  still haven’t been able to replace the laptop for everyday business purposes. If one were to pair an iPad or other tablet’s processing power and portability  with the ability to use Microsoft Office’s suite of applications (Excel, PowerPoint, and Word) the benefits would be immediate and significant.  

Modern day industries would appreciate having a small factory unit but there are still a lot of technologies that are yet to talk to each other. It is important to understand that, when one organization buys another, sometimes it creates a hotchpotch of HR, finance, transportation and procurement systems. As a result, the organization starts operating in an inefficient manner as they do not understand all their data that their business is using.

Disruptive Trends

From a pure data perspective, one can build a global warehouse and pull data from multiple enterprise resource planning software applications and then process it. But there is not any easy inexpensive way to do that. We are creating trends related to mobilization and workflow automation processes. We have different software packages through which we can automate those workflow processes, and it usually leads to cost-savings and efficiency. Talking in terms of mobilization, enterprises can pull data from multiple systems and put it in the form of a mobile tool, where customers can see the data that they want.

Changing Role of IT

I understand business as well as finance, so I can sit down with any of our three division presidents and talk to them about the innovations. I can discuss the markings being higher, and the reason behind taking immense amount of time to get a product out of the door. This could be because the processes are not automated. In the past, we had four to five sales organizations that didn't didn’t communicate well and weren’t intimately familiar with each other’s customer base. Today, we are one sales organization with one system globally. We have really transformed the way IT operates from sales and manufacturing perspective. We are also implementing a common transportation system, procurement system, HR system and financial system – basically we are uniting all the departments.

Creating a New Vision

A good CIO understands the business and the way to run it. My role is like a chief transformation officer. I believe in forwarding the company's offerings in an efficient manner. My perception is to bring change in all pieces and parts of the company. I encourage my team to go out and meet with high-end technological organizations. I usually conduct meetings with CEOs and contact technical folks of other organizations and comprehend their market strategy. For new and emerging CIOs, I would advise them to understand their business and their company’s product offerings which will eventually help them to evolve as an asset for the company.