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My motivation is that this is a field that I love and am passionate about and that is more fulfilling than getting a fat cheque.
The global shift in technology has not escaped Zimbabwe and I find the transition quite intriguing, though its still in its infancy.

One of the key technological developments that have not escaped the attention of Zimbabwe and other African states is the creation of the post of a chief information officer in most organisations.

Last week I spoke in detail on the reasons why every organisation should consider hiring a CIO.
The CIO or information technology director also referred to as the chief technology officer is a job title commonly given to the most senior executive in an organisation responsible for the information technology.

The CIO reports to the chief executive officer, chief operations officer or chief financial officer.
This officer is different from the IT manager that we have here in Zimbabwe who reports to the finance manager, director or administrator.

Strategically the IT manager is much more functional when reporting to the IT director or chief information officer.
With the advent of high-tech gadgets and the social network dispensation, most enterprises are forced to start looking at technological opportunities to enhance their profit margins.

The majority of employees are now coming from technologically equipped environment driven by easy and intuitive Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus and LinkedIn interfaces.
With the click of few buttons most tedious tasks are now being easily solved and pushed to the world.

The huge street banners, flyers and static ads may   still be relevant but may no longer be as effective as a simple bulk SMS in targeted recipients’ inboxes.
The greatest challenge for a CIO is bringing that experience, that ease of use, that social experience, into the business environment.

The same opportunities presented by technology may also face serious resistance with the old guard or rather most senior employees in Zimbabwe who are coming from the type-writer generation.
To them the computer its self is the greatest leap forward ever to grace their offices, so trying to introduce these dynamic concepts to them would be rather unnecessarily disruptive.

Being a CIO is a result-oriented task and when one is found in such a corporate setup, well the task to flawlessly deliver would have to pass through the acidic test.
It takes a great deal of technological stamina to deliver technology to these two distinct age groups.

Of course above these immediate needs, as a CIO, you also have the organisation at large to serve and these are challenges that rather excite most tech savvy directors rather than discourage them.

This includes taking care of help desks, communication networks (voice and data), computer programme  development, and computer systems operations.
The day to day challenges of a CIO would inevitably involve people leadership, managing budgets, business alignment, infrastructure security, compliance, resource management, managing customers, managing change and board politics among other top demands.

According to the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 which created the chief information officer position, the CIO is also responsible for all data and  technical service centres, production scheduling functions, policy, strategic planning, capital planning and investment, acquisition, security and information assurance, architecture and infrastructure assessment among the most critical points.

Coming from a purely technological background, solving this corporate puzzle would be impossible.
The CIO in the modern organisation is required to possess business management skills and the ability to relate to the organisation as a whole, as opposed to being a technological expert with limited functional business expertise.

The greatest challenge for CIOs in both public and private sectors is to carve out a budget for themselves and their staff that is appropriate to their responsibilities; the Clinger-Cohen Act does not talk about appropriate funding but mere functions.

Presenting a tech-related budget will and has always faced resistance in most corporates especially those, which are not tech centric.
Traditionally ICTs as enablers are not allowed to encroach and chew a larger chunk off the financial systems.
The other major challenges facing CIOs is tackling network capacity in a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) era with the advent of new concepts of “consumerisation” which is taking the corporate world by storm.

Consumeration concepts are driving the trend towards bring-your-own device.
Employees are increasingly using their personal devices to access corporate resources which is putting the corporate network at risk.
It has also become exponentially difficult to protect against mobile malware threats. IT and security managers simply don’t have the visibility or the control to ensure their environment is adequately protected.

What’s at stake here is rather the security of the organisation’s data, maintaining a satisfactory level of visibility and control.
Striking a balance with needs of employees who are now demanding a loosely tightened IT environment- without the “IT policeman”.

Devising ways to build better products, and how we can sell those products to our customers via the available technological streams, is the million-dollar question for CIOs. Knowing what your competitors are doing, and how best you can beat them settles the dust for the next top CIO.
As technology in Zimbabwe is already filling up this void, the risks and rewards for the biggest tech post will be gradually defined to harness the greatest opportunities availed by technologies