Its an exciting opportunity and sure its a pleasure to be listening to Mr. Dhir.
Mr. Dhir starts with saying that the definition of a CIO has evolved overtime. The CIO in an organisation is the head of information systems and the custodian of the IT and information assets in a organisation. The role has evolved into planning , strategy. Its moer involved. Every CIO cannot have all these qualities and it all comes with time. Interestingly Mr. Dhir spreads out the role of today’s CIO for everyone in the room.
When I went into the entrepreneurial mode about 10 years back, things were different then. It needs lots of things to sustain the business.
So interestingly we start with The Divide: CIO’s and Technology Vendors. From the CIOs side:
- the vendors talk only technology
- they are small
- haven’t heard about you
- how different are you from others?
and from the vendors side:
- How do we approach the CIO/
- Rigidity to change/ inflexibility/ Lack of technology awareness
- If the CIO doesn’t listen or understand, I’ll go to the business guys
- Extended evaluation/ buying cycles
- Comparison with the biggies
- Very high/ unrealistic expectation
This is highly interesting, Mr. Dhir, is talking from his experience giving the entire scope and its fantastic to learn from experience.
CIO Priorities for 2010, Pressures from Business to;
- Cut costs
- Improve efficiency
- add value to business
- lean head count
- Agile infrastructure
These points came into prominence in the last 2-3 years and these remain as priorities. Well, and here we are with some interesting projections, which Mr. Dhir shares with the room for 2010-2011.
While sharing On the IT spend, IT Budgets, Mr. Dhir, shares that the recession has not really gone. It will take time from the Q2 of this year and forward.
And from the technology perspective we have the most invested technologies now:
- Information security
- ERP
- Document management systems
- Business intelligence/ Analytics
- Virtualization
- Data center consolidation
- Unified communications
- Mobile workforce
- Web 2.0
- Cloud
These are the technologies which are going to be invested in the next 2-3 years says Mr. Dhir. Interesting talk about how a CSO and the IT work together in organizations of today. One of the things Mr. Dhir says, I’d like to add over here, is Green Technology. Another couple of years down the line, organizations will start planning for this.
Hot technologies:
- Cloud
- Web 2.0
- Mobile Workforce
- Unified communications
Most explored tech
- Web 2.0
- cloud
- Unified Communications
Things have changed today, you have a lot of flexibility says Mr. Dhir, while sharing his experiences.
Critical Issues:
- Vendor or Partner
- What CIOs want?
- The CIO vendor alignment
- meaningful and win win relationship
- Best and worst practices
This ecosystem is a very collaborative ecosystem of the consumers and the partners who are there. Most of the CIOs consider providers as partners, of their ecosystem and this is how the partner ecosystem evolves. When you position yourself, you have to start thinking, positioning and behaving yourself as a partner.
Well, and now we have an interesting CIO survey with us, with questions, which found out the pain points from the CIOs perspective. The first touch point we are talking about is a telephone call and the various questions for the CIOs regarding the same. We now evolve to E-mails and how CIOs respond.
What is the issue and how do you resolve them? This is the real part now!!
Issue – unsolicited phone calls/ emails/ posts/ invites
- No mass mailers
- Avoid calls on direct numbers/ cellphones
- Send personalized mails
- Seek permission to speak/ meet
- Observe etiquette in Emails/ Calls
- People who are the first touch point, should be imparted ’soft’ skills
These can make or mar the impression and the relationship indeed! What are the three most important ways a vendor should differentiate themselves when contacting you? What is the single best piece of advice you would give vendors about approaching you to create a potential win-win scenario.
We have the results of the questionnaire being shared by Mr. Dhir now and well, sure there are CIOs in the room who speak in the same voice.
Issue – lack of awareness on the company
- Adequate research on the prospect organization
- Dont expect the CIOs to do business based on what you want to sell or have, but position your products/ solutions/ services on a clearly articulated and understood strategy
You need to know the first contact point in the organization, you must be prepared for the same.
Issue – value propositions, what buyers want and what sellers propose
CIOs – a framework enabling them to quantify their potential ROI vendors – A pitch or positioning statement
Recommendations –
- Inside – out perspective
- Listen to your buyer
- Think how your products will help the CIO and his organization to achieve specific business goals
- Create an outside – In perspective by careful research and listening
- Understand the CIOs business/ strategies / IT goals and then align the solution offering with a quantifiable and measurable ROI
Issue – referential cases, or lack of
Recommendations –
- Ethical endorsements of CIOs
- Create marquee installations
- Brand visibility and Recall
- Online matchmaking
- Mentoring
- Relationships – Build, Manage Ethically, Nurture, Sustain
Create your positioning, branding and a strong memory recall. Your first touch-point matters!
Issue – Ethics, conduct and Integrity
Recommendations –
- Understand carefully the culture of the organization and the Ethics, Conduct and Integrity Policy
- Never breach the code of conduct
In the anxiety to sell, in the pressure, at times you mis-sell. You must never though, miss the code of conduct.
Issue – Bypassing the CIO Hierarchy
Recommendations –
- In your quest for a sales deal never bypass the CIO
- Respect the hierarchy
- Respect the sensitivity of the relationship
- Learn to lose a deal as gracefully as you would love to win it! Who knows – you may get a call from the same CIO after some time, good impressions always last long
Well, now comes the real question from Mr. Dhir, what do you want to be?!
We now have the session to an end and I am sure everyone in the room has gotten absolute amazing value from the same.
