[kictanet] IT posts for full circle

[Harry Hare]

A CIO is meant to have a split brain, one that thinks IT and another that
thinks business. What we are seeing is failure for IT experts to develop the
business brain and therefore unable to have 50% of the skills set required
for that position. A read on IT service management will show you how IT can
make money.

Kindest regards
Harry

From:  Charles Maye <cmaye at ke.nationmedia.com>
Date:  Mon, 8 Aug 2011 14:17:08 +0300
To:  Harry Hare <harry at africanedevelopment.org>
Cc:  KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Subject:  Re: [kictanet] IT posts for full circle

Actually, IT on its own cannot create profits.
Airtel Kenya has a network that is as good as any. But they are losing cash.
Same goes for Telkom Kenya. Africa Online was a great idea born by IT
experts. It was ahead of its time and never made money. When a technology is
new to the world, it can generate profits. The moment it is duplicated and
commoditized and for the rest of its life, it needs another set of skills.
That set of skills is what makes organizations select people other than IT
experts as CIO¹s. 
 
Closer home, part of the many reasons the good doctor is so successful at
driving our ICT agenda as a country is because he understands how to make
technology connect with our aspirations as a people. I stand to be corrected
but I believe the good doctor is not an engineer.
 
Charles Maye
 

From: kictanet-bounces+cmaye=ke.nationmedia.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+cmaye=ke.nationmedia.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On
Behalf Of Agosta Liko
Sent: 08 August 2011 13:25
To: Charles Maye
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] IT posts for full circle
 
Toma

About - "Lets face it ICT on its own cannot run or profit an organization"

This is not true, Safaricom, Airtel, Access Kenya, Zuku etc etc etc are ALL
about IT.

It can create mad profits or drive them

Look at agency banking - its all about branding, float and a device (android
app) ... with that a bank cuts on capex


Look at Mobile Money - its all IT, Money moves from one account to the other
and there are fees for that

For old school corporates - IT is gives massive distribution ... an
insurance company does not have to have offices and agents all over the
country, all they need is mobile/web interfaces

A good CIO is the difference between USD10,000 for SugarCRM and USD3,000,000
for Siebel ... etc etc etc

Thanks

On Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 12:05 PM, Thomas Kibui <thomas.kibui at gmail.com>
wrote:
Initially ICT was considered a necessary cost centre within many
organizations. It was usually placed under  Operations division or sometimes
under the stingy Finance division to control its cost.

Lets face it ICT on its own cannot run or profit an organization. It is a
business enabler and unless the ICT division within an organization is able
to show the management of that organization that it can operate as a profit
centre  and actually generate tangible profits OR at least reduce the cost
or making profit within other divisions , .. it will never have say in the
organization.

Bottom line .. the shareholders want "profits"

Another line of argument that I have heard inside a board room is that ..
most of what the ICT team refer to as "ICT Technology" are actually "nice to
have" gizmos e.g. iPADs..    But I have reservation about this argument ..
simply because those who were saying it were fidgeting with their
blackberries ...

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