IT Needs to Provide a Platform for Collaboration and Innovation to Occur








 



 

 Yuvinder Kochar, a speaker at the marcus evans CIO Summit 2011, explains the importance of IT being the driving force of an organization’s core functions.

Interview with: Yuvinder Kochar, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President Technology, The Washington Post Group


 



 


 


 


 


 


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


The global business landscape has been transformed following the arrival of mobile technologies. Information Technology (IT) is now required to respond more rapidly than has historically been the case. As business leaders today demand more knowledge at a faster pace to make decisions in real time, IT’s challenge of supporting the business as it moves forward has never been more acute, says Yuvinder Kochar, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President Technology, The Washington Post. A speaker at the marcus evans CIO Summit 2011 in Dallas, Texas, April 11-13, Kochar explains that technology is now a central tenet of any business.
 
How can IT leaders employ strategies that focus more on innovating, in terms of process and customers, rather than simply running IT?


Yuvinder Kochar: IT has to be integral to the development of new business models and strategies. It is no longer about waiting for orders to come in and then figuring out what to do. Chief Technology Officers must enable collaboration and innovation to be unlocked in companies. Everybody agrees that innovation is not just for the executives in the company – the general population has to be able to participate, provide ideas and collaborate with each other to move products and services faster. IT needs to provide a platform to allow that collaboration and innovation to happen.


How important is it for IT executives to create strong synergy with the Chief Executive Officer?


Yuvinder Kochar: IT executives need to have broader relationships than just with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and be one level below where many of the functional areas in a business come together. IT has a view across these areas and can identify synergies and opportunities that will help to create that essential alignment of the business. Companies are becoming much flatter and the traditional hierarchical structure is changing fast. One of the proponents of this thought is John Chambers from Cisco. He is abdicating control and pushing it down into the organization into smaller groups where decisions can be made and agility can be developed to address business opportunities faster. It is collaboration technology that is delivering this transformation.


What are your thoughts on cloud computing initiatives? 


Yuvinder Kochar: Agility is a big part of cloud computing. Resources can be easily deployed and released for products and solutions. It also reduces capital expenses and creates more variable costs. As a result, IT can be more aligned with the business usage and allows more flexibility for business leaders. Use of software, platform and infrastructure as a service is expanding very aggressively, especially for non-core areas. Obviously infrastructure as a service is where a lot of the discussion is and that is just going to grow – whether that is private or public clouds. The level of sophistication that clouds get to varies from company to company. But I do not think there is any hiding from the cloud services in this current day and age.


What is the second decade of this millennium going to bring do you predict?


Yuvinder Kochar: Mobile is the next technology that is going to transform business. The speed of business is going to increase. The ability to participate or make decisions or move the business forward is increasing. Social networking provides a similar kind of enabler to speed up collaboration, decision-making and the pace of business.


People are looking for and getting much more control on information and knowledge that they can access when and where they want. Mobile and social are both driving that transformation.



Contact:
Maeve McGovern
Group News and Features Writer
marcus evans
Tel: + 357 22 849 313
Email: press@marcusevanscy.com



About the CIO Summit 2011


This unique forum will take place at the Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, Texas, April 11-13, 2011. Offering much more than any conference, exhibition or trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed industry thought leaders and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking event. The Summit includes presentations on virtualization, social networking and IT-business alignment.


For more information please send an email to info@marcusevanscy.com or visit the event website


marcus evans group – IT sector portal


Please note that the summit is a closed business event and the number of participants strictly limited.



About marcus evans summits


marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, think tanks, seminars and one-on-one business meetings. For more information, please visit www.marcusevans.com



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