should support the enterprise business strategy. further, the governance oversight also should ensure putting in place processes by which proper coordination is established at organisational level between cio / cto and ceo with members across the business units so that the it deployment strategy synchronises with the business strategy in order to harness the full capability of the it systems. notwithstanding the timelines – be it short term or long term – it is the turnaround time of the it strategy and its implementation that would be critical to the success of any business strategy. therefore, at the board level it would be imperative to ensure that the business and it units are not driven in silos. some of the important questions that arise in this context are : who decides it resource / asset requirement? is it by it team or by business team? or is it board driven? investment in it is a strategic decision which will have large long term impact on the bank. it is proven fact that the it strategy of the firm and its declaration of it investment plan impact the value of the firm. 2 it strategy can be deployed differently in different circumstances and include : automate – i. e. substituting manual intervention with automated business processes provide information, at the asking, for decision making – i. e. provide correct information about business activities to senior management on time for taking right decision and also provide information about business activities to employees across the firm transform – fundamentally redefine business and industry processes and relationships combination of the above – while under normal circumstances automation could evolve over a period of time, in an incremental manner, typically in kaizen mode, the sudden challenge of the quickly changing business environment may need sweeping transformation, in the kaikaku mode. it is important for any bank to be certain about what strategy they are following. when banks took upon the core banking implementation challenge, what was actually targeted? was it 100 % branches coverage or effective managerial control over the banking assets and liabilities or mis or merely regulatory compliance and in the process harnessing residual benefits? was it “ automate ” strategy or simple “ mechanisation ”? or was it the “ transform ” strategy? even after many years of cbs implementation banks are struggling to provide information required for decision making or not able to automate the regulatory report “ the value relevance of announcement of transformational information technology investment ” – bruce dehning, veron j. richardson and robert w amud bis central bankers ’ speeches requirements out of cbs. this raises the

on diverse parameters through processes having manual interventions. the time criticality is further heightened by the need to act and react fast in a highly competitive market environment where growth and survival require quick information dissemination and decision making. risks and opportunities have to be spotted quickly, followed by swift action. so, it is in the interest of all stakeholders that a single view of information and data in the banks with automated / straight through processing is ensured for internal and external reporting. our banks have come a long way by using the prowess of it, but, it deployment is still evolving and a lot more is yet to be done. so, what does it mean for the ctos and cios? well, an obviously increasing importance of role and enhancement in budgets ; which come along with much higher responsibilities for design, execution, management of more, bigger it projects and enhanced requirements for efficient, effective service delivery. leanings from all the incidents and surveys can come in handy in decision making. there are a number of it project failures, but reasons may be diverse and unique in each case. as rightly stated, “ decision - centric complexity is the essence of an it project. while it ’ s easy to get lured into a false sense of security because a gantt chart can make an it project look relatively simply, the underlying web of interrelated decisions is the dimension that makes managing it projects so hard to do. by recognizing that dimension and understanding the many and varied factors that affect the way individuals, teams and organizations make decisions, organizations can start on the long road towards developing the levels of expertise needed to be able to improve their chances of success ”. ( r. goatham ) having discussed about it governance, where do the ctos and cios come in? well, everywhere, as far as the it management and governance space is concerned. i recently came across a blog on archeology institute site, where one opinion read, everyone knows that an it manager's job is " to do the thing right and do the right thing ". but as we know the original quote by peter drucker was “ efficiency is doing things right ; effectiveness is doing the right things ”. for it managers, – " do the things right " means deliver to the business quality systems, on time and on budget – " do the right thing " means to partner with the business in view to innovate. ” bis central bankers ’ speeches in conclusion, i would say that expectation from ctos and