The Information Technology ministry needs to drive the IT sector forward and must frame a roadmap to bolster the competitiveness of the sector. This was the demand of top Chief Information Officers (CIOs) of the country at the Fourth Annual CIO TheYearAhead 2012 Summit presented by IBM Pakistan and organised by CIO Pakistan.
This was after partnering with the World Economic Forum in order to gather leaders from the technology, business and media arenas to discuss strategies for Pakistan. Under the auspice of such privileged institutes, the exclusive gathering focused on incorporate exciting new strategies in a discussion forum on “Rebuilding Pakistan: Communicate. Collaborate. Construct” in order to help Pakistan become a stronger player in the global technology roadmap. IBM Country Manager Humayun Bashir in his welcome address stressed on the involvement of the government to produce better results in the IT sector for the economic and social development of the country in the current situation and rising inflation that is impacting on business results.
It was noted that professionals related to this IT sector are facing unique challenges that call for some restructuring for an enhanced outlook and they need to fully exploit opportunities and to adapt to international trends. ‘Challenges are more to the next year, so on the national level a little support from the government is needed so that the IT industry can bounce back,’ he added. CIO Pakistan/CIO Afghanistan Editor-in-Chief Rabia Garib said that we are facing the leadership issues in every sector and we lack vision, so there is a strong need of image building. Taxation is the main hindrance of IT growth and government has to play an important role in this regard, yet our capacity to adapt new technologies is commendable, she added.
Adnan Siddiqi of IBM while giving his presentation on recently conducted studies on CIOs underlined that an interesting fact that emerged in this study is the complete disconnect in the agendas of CIOs and CEOs within an enterprise. He informed that 55 percent of CEOs were found concerned of fast change in their businesses as total information generated today stands at 66 percent a year against the physical power that stands at seven percent.
Some 79 percent of CEOs are expecting a high level of complexity in their businesses in the next five years, so they are focusing on getting closer to the customer, developing people skills, insight and intelligence, he said, adding that both CIOs and CEOs think that business intelligence and cloud computing are key factors for businesses in the near future. Infotech CEO Naseer Akhtar in his comments said that we are moving into economic isolation from political isolation in the world community, therefore, it is necessary to devise goals of growth in this scenario.