Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 58 | Page 29

EDITOR ’ S QUESTION

The role of IT has changed dramatically over the past few years and we have seen accelerated growth of technology adoption in the Middle East . The next generation of enterprise IT is moving from conventional transactional systems to a multidimensional interconnected ecosystem . Hence , IT leaders must-have an assessment about the company ’ s challenges and opportunities being faced across the organisation . There should be a team of professionals and resources in place to execute plans that will enhance the business .

In the current competitive corporate world , established organisations are striving towards their Digital Transformation goals . The multi-discipline CIO continues to be looked at to take the lead and push on to new frontier for the success of the business . CIOs plays an important and central role in scaling these systematic goals , and chart out a roadmap for how change will bring about success . With this role change , CIOs are expected to create the best value for their organisation ’ s technological changes which transform the way they work .
The real challenge for CIOs and industry leaders is to ride this wave of change and pick out the benefits without losing focus of their organisation ’ s overall business objectives or skills . CIOs will be responsible for creating a work culture within the organisation for adopting these changes where employees must constantly learn new applications and software and update themselves with latest trends and technologies .
The multi-discipline CIO continues to be looked at to take the lead and push on to new frontier for the success of the business .
already experienced the changes that the pandemic has brought on the job market and the economic landscape . Current needs now entail upskilling and reskilling existing resources which will enable businesses to be more effective where there is a constant demand for mobilising the existing talent base .
Some of the common mistakes which enterprises make in the Middle East include investing only in work-specific skills . While providing job specific training , it is also important to develop soft skills that will help them grow into bigger roles . Another area where organisations falter is not knowing their employees or their needs and working with a one-size-fits-all training programme with irrelevant learning opportunities that may not be beneficial . The more you know and understand the needs of your employees , the better you can prepare a highly effective upskilling programme . Yet another area is not evaluating the upskilling programme for effectiveness through a system of continuous feedback and improvement . p
That said , I strongly believe it is a joint responsibility for both the CIO and HR on hiring the right talent with appropriate skills in line with the organisation ’ s business objectives . A CIO is able to predict the future IT skills and accordingly HR can look for those skills within the organisation or outside . Enable them with the required skills and help them move into new roles within the organisation . Upskilling and reskilling is critical in today ’ s world and we have
SAJITH KUMAR , GENERAL MANAGER – ENTERPRISE ,
CLOUD BOX TECHNOLOGIES
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