While the eighties were the decade of hardware (PCs, distributed computing, servers, et al.), the nineties were clearly the decade of software (operating systems, ERP, and so on). Both these trends were primarily driven by vendors and their technologies. The user was in the meanwhile, trying to cope up with jargon and get a grip on technology options, apart from spending a lot of money.

All that seems to be changing in this decade. The words this time are very different. To begin with, return on investment (RoI) is the first word that every CIO throws back at vendors. The CIO is talking about usability here. He is talking about quality of service (QoS) and service-level agreements (SLAs). He wants network security. He wants disaster recovery. He is looking for CRM. The CIO is now talking about his needs, on his terms. He is focused on usability and returns on investment. Vendors will have to pay complete attention to him, and should not even try to divert the discussion.

Those who think that this is just a temporary phase, and that CIOs will forget these questions once things are all pink and rosy, are still not ready to face emerging realities. The fact is that the first decade of this millennium will be the decade of the user. He is in the driver’s seat. Vendors will have to gear up to play the role of the navigator, and go to him with solutions, not just technologies.

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The decade of the user will also have something else to be careful about. The CIO is now not just looking after IT alone. He is worried about communications too. That is because IT and communications are getting more and more intertwined in today’s tech-savvy, ambitious organizations. Therefore, it will require the IT vendors to work together with communications vendors, to not just give the complete solution to organizations, but to win orders too. Working alongside communications service providers will be of great help to vendors.

From being cost centers, the IT departments are now being pressurized to turn into profit centers. The direct impact is that they are becoming increasingly cost conscious. Therefore, it makes the job of selling products and services to them even more challenging. While, on the one hand, claims are made by CIOs that ‘costs are of no consideration’, the reality is that CIOs have started bargaining very hard on costs. Vendors will have to constantly come up with ideas where cost-related questions are convincingly answered, or some attractive schemes are offered.

Is the deal finally bagged after all this? Most probably not! CIOs are today more busy attending business meetings rather than drawing out their organization’s technology roadmap. That job is now being done by his team members. So, vendors need to know not only the CIO, but his team members as well!

And, you thought selling to the new generation CIO would be easier!

Ibrahim Ahmed