CWP: What challenges do you face in trying to meet the expectations of higher management or the CEO? How do you meet these challenges?

Valdes: I was going to say it’s really the communications aspect, as Earl and Ray were saying. You are selling a lot more to senior management, and the ability to be able to communicate the idea that IT is an enabler, that IT is there to be part of the business strategy rather than be the support, is going to be the biggest task of the CIO.

Being able to translate the benefits of IT into something that the ordinary CEO would understand is important.

Dela Cruz: IT has always been perceived as the most expensive department of the company and I have not been trying to prove management wrong of that notion but rather let them see the investments of the company is worth it. We are using third-party vendors and so we can only negotiate so much. Management’s perception is that supporting and servicing the IT requirements of the company in general is really expensive. That’s why last year, and actually continuing this year, we have several initiatives when it comes to cost savings and, in fact, the regional office and the local management have provided us targets. Majority of it is on communications cost. Fortunately, they are not telling us to cut our staff cost.

The other challenge is still on the perception of IT being very expensive. Whenever we sell our services, for example the warehousing side of the business, we have to provide IT solutions as part of the outsourcing requirements of the customers. We will always tell them that our solutions may be expensive but if they have to invest on IT on their own and not outsource to us, then they will incur bigger expenses.

I think the forwarding business is a more matured business here in the Philippines so customers are more matured when it comes to knowing the IT cost part of the business. On the supply chain side, I think in general here in the Philippines, customers are still wary of outsourcing their warehousing operations because they perceive it to be expensive. It may be expensive but they wouldn’t have to worry about infrastructure and the manpower. So those are the factors that we have to consider when trying to convince a customer that outsourcing or using our services is actually cheaper.

Ferrer: Not necessary a challenge but more of a distraction is ensuring infrastructure reliability. This is taken for granted and, given the various factors, it is no longer acceptable to have breakdowns every now and then. Having the right team in place and being able to mold the skills and expertise of the people toward what is necessary allows me to have less of this distraction. Dependency on third-party experts such as vendors, consultants and peers in other countries also provides critical information which, if not acknowledged, may cripple the business.

The readiness of the corporation to have the IT head as a full member of the management team and not just be a technical expert is a must for the CIO role to evolve.

Abanto: Usually IT is expected to deliver business solutions and, well, with IT there’s systems technology you can either purchase or build, but the funny thing is even though I’m from IT I don’t always advocate the development or purchase of such things. I always tend to push first the recalibration of our policies. Maybe just by modifying our procedures, the system will be improved and that there is no need for an IT implementation. So I think we should always review our policies and procedures first before we look to IT for a solution.

CWP: Jose Maria, you mentioned earlier that CEOs always say they are not techie and they don’t understand you. Is selling IT to top management that hard?

Valdes: If it has a price tag of three million dollars, you really have to justify because they are going to ask you the following questions: How much will it cost? When can I get the return? In what form is the return? Is it going to be cost-efficient? Is it going to be revenue-generating? These are the things that the CIO must answer other than saying “this is the new technology and it has better performance.”

Ferrer: The flip side of that is having a boss with the knowledge of what can be done without really knowing how it can be done. Sometimes they’ll say: “you know I saw this in James Bond movie can we do that?” That’s the flip side of the whole thing and it’s your role to say, “yes, but we have to re-do all these things first.” The challenge is also not to oversell the capabilities IT.

CWP: What kind of support would you like higher management and end-users to give you so that you can more effectively perform your duties?

Abanto: I want the users to own their systems; we will just be making suggestions on how to improve them. I hope there will come a time that they will be involved in the improvement and in the development of the system. I don’t have a problem on the management side because our bosses recognize that IT is an enabler. But they sometimes still see IT as an expense, although some areas they see as an investment. The maintenance and services will be an expense so I hope they would understand that there’s really going to be cost associated with the deployment of a system.

Ferrer: The readiness of the management to accept the head of IT as an equal peer in the management team is necessary. The IT head, in turn, has the big responsibility of earning and keeping that spot. The IT head must be financially, operationally and commercially inclined to be able to really contribute and be treated as equal.

CWP: Is it really the role of the CIOs to adjust to reach out rather than the other way around?

Ferrer: There is really no silver bullet answer for that question because not everybody has the skill to talk to people. But it is important for a CIO to learn how to reach out to other departments because you should be able support anybody with the company. It’s a basic skill most probably unrecognized right now.

CWP: So not every IT guy is weed out to be a CIO?

Ferrer: Maybe. Like not all sales managers can become the VP of sales.

Dela Cruz: But sometimes a future CIO or somebody who is groomed to be a CIO may not know that he needs to improve his communication skills unless he gets feedback from management about that. To me, feedback is a really important support factor or motivator for any person in any position that is aiming for a professional career growth.

CWP: What role do you see CIOs or IT executives playing five to 10 years from now?

Dela Cruz: I think five to 10 years from now CIOs will be the CEOs since they have been exposed to the different users and all aspects of the business operations.

Valdes: It makes a good hunting ground for becoming overall responsible for operation. Becoming a CEO or COO is not far-fetched because we are expanding the scope of our responsibilities beyond just IT and into the business. If a CIO contributes greatly to the strategy of a company, he is well-positioned to become a CEO.

Abanto: Since my boss in IT is already focusing on corporate planning, he’ll probably become a CEO one day; and I think that’s where the CIOs are supposed to be headed because, basically, they’ve spearheaded the integration of everything in the organization. They know all the steps.

Valdes: There’s also a lot of outsourcing initiatives happening in the IT industry. So, eventually, the role of the CIO is really just managing all these outsourced initiatives.

Ferrer: The IT executive definitely is still going to play a major role in the organization in the future. The role will be expected more and more to contribute in the company’s revenue growth either via creating new business lines or setting up new revenue streams. The IT head will also be expected to be a source of ideas and initiatives where costs can be cut. In totality, the person must be able to contribute immensely in the organization’s EBITA (earnings before interest, tax, and amortization) increase.

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