Personal branding is not a new term. In fact, it came into existence around 1997 when Tom Peters coined the phrase. With economic volatility, the emergence of new technologies and an increase in IT consulting, personal branding is becoming more and more prevalent. Self-branding in such a scenario is important for CIOs to stand out. They have to demonstrate a deep understanding of business and come across as thought leaders than support heads.
Technology is the key in most organizations to attain efficiency. If the CIO can contribute to the business vision of the company, it can greatly enhance the role of IT and make it far more strategic. The biggest value that a strong CIO brand can bring within an enterprise is trust. Being trusted by business stakeholders will ensure that the CIO and their organization are automatically involved in strategic initiatives and that their counsel and expertise is sought after to deliver solutions that create IT as a differentiator and drive business success.
Internally, CIOs have to look at them as a business leader rather than functional experts. S/he has to provide thought leadership on how technology can attain business roles. S/he has to develop deep understanding of the company’s processes to be able to make them efficient. This helps build trust and a reputation as a “go-to” person for developing solutions that can leverage IT as a tool. On the other hand, externally the CIO should position them as a technology thought leader by participating in events and writing blogs different magazines. Industry recognition also demonstrates a CIO’s ability to align business with the technology solutions offered by technology products and service providers. Emphasizing this, Tony Velleca, CIO, UST Global, exerts, “Having an effective personal brand is critical in today’s society. It is important for a leader to stand for something and make this public. In my case, my brand is ‘Endless Possibilities’. I believe that technology is creating endless possibilities to create an impact on business, people and society, in general. All my points of view (published materials and speaking engagements) align to this brand.”
 |  |
Businesses today leverage technology to conduct most business processes. So the CIO does have a unique opportunity to gain profound insights into the entire organization’s processes which can enable them to provide valuable inputs to the organization and enhance their ability to move into higher roles. It goes without saying that, at a baseline level, he or she needs to consistently meet and surpass the expectations set for them as a CIO. Agreeing to this, Muralidharan Ramachandran, CIO, Syntel, adds, “In my view, the ability of the CIO to transition to new and higher roles within the organization is dependent on the individual’s ability to contribute, demonstrate expertise and deliver value to the business beyond the call of his or her duty as CIO.
CIOs have to manage their brands
It is important to have a distinct personal brand as a CIO, so that you can stand out from the crowd. It involves articulating a simple, clear statement of who you are, what you are doing consistently, so that when people think of, say, business turnarounds, they think of you. A CIO’s role not only helps his team internally, but also requires him to be on good terms with the top management. Externally, the acceptance of a CIO within the organization and the industry, with various stakeholders such as software vendors and partners is also very important.
CIO manages his/her brand by constantly evaluating employee’s functions and to constantly adjust internal IT systems to deliver higher value. Fifteen years back, browser-based email access from home was considered a hot and exciting tool. Today, inventory updates can come in from a delivery person's mobile app and change the inventory numbers in a backend ERP application. K. C. Ramakrishnan, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Vantage Circle, says, “CIOs need to keep up with the latest IT products, latest trends in Enterprise architectures, understand open architectures and protocols, deploying Open Source for agility and driving down costs. CIOs also need to understand software project management to be able to initiate and execute custom solutions for organizations.” Anil Kumar Nirmal, CTO, RealtoExpress, opines, “CIO needs to manage his/her brand through work. The CIO needs to interact more with other departments, understand their issues and roadblocks and then deliver IT solution for them. There is no way to create a better brand by being proactive in providing solutions to the organization. Also, all public platforms, blogs, conferences in the organization must be used to present the vision of the CIO. CIO’s vision must reach to all stakeholders to make the brand a success.”
 |  |
However, the core expertise of a CIO should lie in their innate ability to bring technology and business together. The most important attribute of a successful CIO is the ability to understand business processes, leverage technology and drive cultural and behavioural changes within the organization to contribute to business results.
CIO’s unique value proposition
CIO and IT are the drivers of innovation in any organization (innovation in IT and enabling innovation in business). More importantly, as information is a critical part of any business, having the right information architecture and IT infrastructure in place is the key to a business’s success. CIOs that understand this and implement this can really create a good brand for themselves. CIOs are tasked with leveraging technology to enhance operational efficiency. This especially involves keeping up to date with the latest developments in IT and adapting them for the organization.
For a “CIO Brand” to be created, it requires time and also depends on the individual as well. Shrikant Kulkarni, Sr. VP & CIO, KPIT Technologies Ltd., expresses himself, “A CIO who can be a complete leader, think strategically, has a good understanding of the business and sees how IT can help drive the business will be able to build a strong brand for himself.”
 |  |
It is absolutely true to say that CIO and IT are the drivers of innovation in any organization (innovation in IT and enabling innovation in business). More importantly, as information is a critical part of any business, having the right information architecture and IT infrastructure in place is the key to a busine ss’s success. Agreeing this, Dharmesh Godha, President & CTO, Advaiya Solutions, explains, “CIOs who understand this and implement this can really create a good brand for themselves.”
A strong CIO brand can make the CIO very influential in setting up business directions. Transitioning IT into a value provider for end customer and making IT a profit center are good bets for this. Aligning various functions of IT with business goals and drivers will definitely help in making IT a strategic part of the business.
Finally…
A strong CIO with strategic vision can contribute to the success of business. In the age of digital communications, apart from the product, it is how you are using the IT-based systems and communicating with your internal and external consumers decides the success of business. The motto of a CIO should be – “Accelerate the business”. Apart from this, the CIO should also enable functions like HR and Marketing. A CIO is constantly looking for new revenue growth centres and being focussed and the ability to take risks would be the USP.
The success of a CIO lies in the various implementations that he does. A CIO is always thinking of new initiatives, constantly proposing something new, becoming the driver for business growth. Only a strong CIO brand can help achieve the above. And to be able to do so, a CIO requires a good relationship with all the stakeholders involved in the process.
satinder@varindia.com
