In terms of functionality, there should be better integration between cloud vendors. There are several tools available, yet, it is a time-consuming act to integrate them. In addition, there should be consortiums of sorts between vendors so that out-of-the-box integrations are possible that enable less maintenance costs.

The Challenges Encountered As a CIO

The foremost challenge is to establish a balance between customers and your superiors. CIOs are constantly asked to bring down the costs by their superiors whereas customers demand enhanced capacity, increased bandwidth, better resolutions and devices. It is a daunting affair to come up with methods to meet these requirements simultaneously. Another challenge is with respect to speedy execution of projects. Projects that took years are a thing of the past; the current demand is for shorter projects of six months, three months or even weeks. Patience is growing thin among the people involved in the industry; however, the industry as a whole is not yet ready to meet with this requirement. For instance, in case of network providers, it is a matter of few months to even enhance the bandwidth. Similarly, considering ERP Providers, it takes significant time to put ERPs into production. There is a lack of methodology that can effectively address these demands and match the high expectations. Therefore, it is another greatest challenge to come up such an innovative methodology.

Another critical concern is regarding security issues, with the cloud gaining importance and hackers getting increasingly sophisticated, security is a constant challenge. Nowadays, even remote parts of the world have access to computers. Therefore, one has to be always vigilant and prepared to address security concerns.

In this fast-paced world, it turns out to be another bigger challenge to keep pace with the ever-changing technological trends. Failure to do so would make you outdated, therefore, there should be people to continuously monitor, and adapt to latest technology.

Going deep into the cloud, there are many not willing to upgrade into cloud, citing several reasons. To add to it, the way many adapt to the cloud fails to be in sync with the expectations of several CEOs or CFOs and higher officials. Also, many times, lack of support comes in the way of CIOs intention to embrace the cloud. Often, lack of support is the main reason why many industries still lag behind in terms of the cloud.

Innovation is not Merely Building Solutions

Innovation in IT is of vital importance, as the exclusive way to meet with the requirements of your superiors and customers. Coming to the strategies, innovation within the same thing is not sustainable, you need to take the workforce out of their comfort zone, empower them and liberate them to focus on innovation. There are a lot of strategies out there; you need to search for it with the right approach and mindset.

The innovation I believe is not just building on any solutions, but to search for the right solutions, embrace it and adapt it. In other words, instead of merely building solutions, innovative approach should be focusing on enabling the right functions to utilize those innovations. Coming to training the work force, they decide when to receive the training and the type of training. So, innovation for me is all about making the workforce increasingly self-reliant, self-sufficient and better communicators. We address, through innovation, not only the technological aspects, but also the whole IT support area, adoption area and the cloud.