I recently re-read the book by Hossein Eslambolchi, 2020 Vision: Business transformation through technology innovation. I want to share my 2-bit with you on why I think CIOs should embrace the strategies mentioned in it.

The book examines the impact of new technologies on an organisation’s IT strategies and that CIOs should drive results to the top and bottom lines of the business. In effect, it offers a technology vision for 2020.

There is a clear reasoning for the 15 year vision. Yes there is the fast-pace of technology change and it is perceivable that a 15-year time span is a tough one. But if we look back to about 15 years, i.e. early 90’s, you will know how the vision spans out. Then, PCs were rare, exclusive to the larger organisations, and not reached the home. Mobile technology was in its infancy and Internet and Email were non-existent. But look what happened in 15 years – high proliferation of PCs, Internet and mobile technologies – not only in the enterprise space but also into the lives of people.

So the vision was there – the 15 year long vision when the community, then only the IT community, knew that these technologies will proliferate into the business world.

On the same lines, the interconnection of today’s new or ‘next-gen’ technologies will be the driving technological force over the next 15 years. So this is exactly what the CIOs should do – examine and study the convergence of technologies, layering one on top of the other, to bring us the converged world. Finally, CIOs should work towards making the converged future desirable and ethically responsible.

Being a CIO is one of the toughest jobs in corporate world today. Because the CIO must place risky, high-value technology bets on an unknowable future. Because the CIO will need to understand and work with newer technologies that often take much longer to integrate and install than originally forecasted. And because the CIO’s technology choices must do it all – cut costs, increase enterprise efficiencies and productivity, and generate revenue simultaneously.

My friend, it is to this world that you take the next steps. Clearly it’s a complex, stressful and challenging job. And it has become more intense in the recent years because of the even greater demands that are being placed on the CIO.

There is only one way to survive the future: embrace the essence of technology and business innovation…