IT & the New C-Suite CEOs are from Mars;IT professionals are from Venus

It’s not this: Don’t get intimidated

CEOs are from Mars; IT developers are from Venus - Existential question is when will people from Mars understand people from Venus? Some parodies of what the famous author John Gray had said (with due apologies): “When CEOs and IT professionals are able to respect and accept their differences then love has a chance to blossom”. “Just as a CEO is fulfilled through working out the intricate details of solving a problem, an IT professional is fulfilled through talking about the details of his/her problems”.

What are the tools/weapons that IT developers possess? and what should be used to build a strong infrastructure? INTERNAL TECHNOLOGY ISSUES: Internet, Intranet, WAN – the wire infrastructure Workflow solution that rides on a CMS Sales and Marketing effort that rides on a CRMERP ‣ Costs GNU / Open source / Freeware EXTERNAL TECHNOLOGY ISSUES: Provide interface to Design studios, freelancers, advt agencies, advertisers, subscribers, subscription/distribution agents, printing press, readers and companies Applications to engage all of the above Monetise: Text, photos, videos, audio

A D DDD OO O O O AAA D Internal External / Website AAAAA UUUUU You can have multiple websites too. External User – Reader/Advertiser/Vendor/Partner The issue is NOT what technology to use, THE ISSUE IS WHAT DO YOU WANT TECHNOLOGY TO DO FOR YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE. A CEO’s blueprint

External User – Reader/Advertiser/Vendor/Partner The issue is NOT what technology to use, THE ISSUE IS WHAT DO YOU WANT TECHNOLOGY TO DO FOR YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE. A D DDD OO O O O AAA D AAAAA U U U UU External / Website You can have multiple websites too. Print Events Mobile A CEO’s BIGGER blueprint

What does the reader want? - If I use Google News RSS/XML feeds and mobile alerts, I don’t need any of you. Google even delivers all power- point presentation files, data files in xls, document files in pdf files that you would have stored in the open areas on your websites. Everything through “search”! - YES, AS A READER, I DON’T NEED ANYONE OF YOU. A reader like me is actually v. confused, let’s help: Provide content hot & crispScreen/filter what is delivered – value additionProvide in all formats, in all media optionsGo One Step Beyond Google - Use technology to the fullest

The Onus is on the CEO The buck CERTAINLY stops here. ‣ In traditional print publishing business, A CEO didn’t expect paper supplier to understand what readers wanted; How can you expect your IT professional to understand what your readers / advertisers want today? Your IT professional is your internal customer whom you sell your company’s business plan. A CEO could just touch paper and say what is its quality; could smell paper and even ink and say a lot about the MEDIUM. We could understand the language spoken on the shop floor of the press. Today, the MEDIUM IS TECHNOLOGY.

The Onus is on the CEO The buck CERTAINLY stops here. A CEO needs to learn technology, do hands-on development, to understand Front-end, back-end, multi-tier technology, languages, databasesWhat goes behind CMS, CRM, ERP solutions Speak the language the people from Venus, IT Professionals, speak. DO NOT EXPECT IT professionals to come mid-way and understand your needs/readers needs/company’s goals. You go the full-length.

A check-list for CEOs

Our own case study: IndianBusinessObserver.com group of 16 B2B news and biz networking websites: - I became a software developer; I don’t expect you all to become one. Just learn and understand the jargon.Google is content aggregator, I am filterer of aggregated contentContent has shifted to Internet, even business networking (at the cost of events) is shifting to Internet. Networking costs brought down from US$ 1200 to US 25 per eventTarget audience spends 30 minutes with print, 1 hour with television, but at least 8 hours with computers/Internet. Most engaging medium. Provide more tools to play around with.The new omni-present medium is mobile. Still exploring.Regular newsletters – the biggest tools to drive traffic to websites.No.1 requirement of online target audience is jobs, 2 is jobs, 3 is content.Business networking is for jobs and content (gossip).

Our own case study: IndianBusinessObserver.com group of 16 B2B news and biz networking websites: Sectoral blogs and community forums cut out the crap; provide more avenues of “reader engagement”.Several more applications/solutions are under development.We claim, in our USP, “You don’t need anything else!”Once we own these communities through technology, my company takes a huge lead ahead of all possible competitors. Once such an engaged audience is built, advertisers/competitors will queue up to Observer websites.

‣ Bhupesh Trivedi CEO, Chronosphere, publishing consultancy & servicesPublisher, 16 B2B news and biz networking websites Mobile: Thank you!