[Only AK's & KG's responses are excerpted below].
Ten years ago, we were all looking to optimize that [IT budget], squeeze it down by
10%. Now I actually don’t care if you spend more, if that makes everyone else more
productive. If you can do something that lets me scale revenue faster—because I can’t
hire more people, they just aren’t available to hire—then that is incredibly useful and
valuable. So the CIO is really a partner now, no longer the cost function that I have got
to irritatingly pay heed to.
Logic dictates that he wouldn't be worried about hiring folks now if so many hadn't been RA'd previously.
By: CIO Journal Staff
April 4, 2022 6:00 am ET
https://www.wsj.com/articles/roundtable-the-cio-in-an-age-of-disruption-11649066400
CIO Journal marked its 10th anniversary on April 2. The role of the chief information officer changed dramatically during the last decade of technological upheaval, which was accelerated by the pandemic. We asked CIOs, CEOs and other leaders to share their perspective on what this disruption means for business. Here are edited highlights.
How has the relationship between business and technology changed during the last 10 years?
Arvind Krishna, CEO, International Business Machines Corp.
I would say technology has gone from being a cost of doing business to one of the fundamental sources of competitive advantage. If I look at the sources of competitive advantage, 2,000 years ago it was physical resources. Then it was trading…the things you got from the land, gold, wheat, grain. Then it went to money. You then go to knowledge. Through the last century we talked about knowledge workers. Today, I think it’s technology. I think tech is the fundamental source of competitive advantage today.
How has the CEO’s relationship to the CIO changed?
IBM’s Mr. Krishna
I think 10 years ago, many business leaders would feel perfectly competent to make a decision, and then the CIO would [execute it]. Now, even in my own process—I am a reasonable technologist—I would not make a decision without asking my CIO, “What do you think? What does your team think? What do you and your team think is the best answer?”
Ten years ago, we were all looking to optimize that [IT budget], squeeze it down by 10%. Now I actually don’t care if you spend more, if that makes everyone else more productive. If you can do something that lets me scale revenue faster—because I can’t hire more people, they just aren’t available to hire—then that is incredibly useful and valuable. So the CIO is really a partner now, no longer the cost function that I have got to irritatingly pay heed to.
How will enterprise technology and the role of the CIO change in the foreseeable future?
IBM’s Mr. Krishna
Cybersecurity is the issue of the decade. I think that is the single biggest issue we all are going to face.
Kathryn Guarini, CIO, IBM
Some technologies, including AI and blockchain, have been slower to drive change than they were predicted to. I think there’s tremendous capabilities in both…in terms of real business impact. I think there’s more to come. It’s not any one entity that can deploy blockchain and have it be widely adopted. It requires both technology and business model changes that I think make it more challenging to drive. And I think quantum computing is going to emerge as being an essential component of enterprise technology…across industries like financial services, energy, utilities.