November - 2015 - issue > In My Opinion

Six Tips for CIOs to Follow

Ravi Naik

CIO-SanDisk

Friday, November 6, 2015

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Ravi Naik, SVP and CIO for SanDisk, a global leader in flash storage solutions, believes that in order to achieve true excellence in IT management, CIOs need to think about IT in terms of what it can do for the business vs. just implementing the latest and greatest buzz-word technologies. Sure everyone is talking about big data, virtualization, cloud but the question CIOs should be asking themselves is how can these technologies (or others) deliver business value for their companies? This is why Naik always advises his team to start with understanding the business pain points and work back from there to the proper technology solution. Ravi explains his approach to running IT in his own words below.

1. Always Ask Do We Need It?

Even if your IT group is highly disciplined and organized, other parts of the business will regularly assume they're going to get caught up in the desire to play with cool toys and fun projects.

Every new technology has to be measured in terms of how it impacts business productivity and process improvements. One of the big reasons cloud technologies have gained such widespread acceptance is because cloud advocates like ZenDesk and ServiceNow have simplified their value proposition for a broader range of employees and executives. These companies talk about results, not technology. The absence of such rigor can result in the disruptive new technology being disruptive to the business.

2. Think of Yourself as an Analyst, not a Technologist