Hello and a very warm welcome to our latest edition of smartCIO EMEA – the magazine for Chief Information Officers and other IT leaders across the region.
Regular readers will know that our mission is to share the latest technology and leadership insights to help create and educate a community of current CIOs, and those aspiring to move into the role.
In this issue, we’re putting the spotlight on the continued move towards the digital transformation of core business systems, the motivators for this, and of course the critical role CIOs play in supporting their organisations through this business-critical process.
And yes, digital transformation of these systems IS a business imperative. The pandemic demonstrated to many companies that the old ERP systems they had in place were not fit-for-purpose, and were not adaptable or flexible enough to cope with the shifting demands of business.
As we enter a world full of new uncertainties and shifting dynamics, these legacy tools will not set organisations up for success. For we emerge from a global pandemic into a business world beset by challenges as economies tackle conflict in Europe, inflation, supply chain issues and a myriad other issues. No industry is fully immune from these problems, and so every company should be preparing for uncertainty.
Obviously the CIO in EMEA cannot solve these macro-level problems, but as Martin Veitch looks at in his article ‘How CIOs might frame the new age of uncertainty’, it’s time for CIOs to listen to the needs of the business and respond accordingly. Tumultuous times call for difficult, and sometimes bold, decisions. Martin talks about CIO’s taking a ‘boxer’s stance’ to defend against risk while landing targeted punches on opportunity.
Digital transformation remains high on the agenda, not only because the pandemic demonstrated the need to modernise core business systems, but because these modern, true-cloud systems help business functions to respond and deal with the ever-changing modern business world. We hope the articles in this issue continue to inspire and show how this transformation and investment is critical for today’s business climate.
As always, our aim for smartCIO EMEA is that it provides you with insight, opinion and discussion around the key leadership, business and technology topics that are relevant to you and your role in modern business.
We look forward to you joining the conversation. Please give us feedback, suggest new ideas, offer your own expertise and insight. We can’t wait to hear from you.
Grant Currie Editor-in-Chief
