The Need of the Hour: Collaboration, Innovation and Openness

We’re fast approaching the end of the year – a period when everyone needs to take some time to reflect what we’ve accomplished, where we want to go and how we plan on getting there.

With the entire globe going through one economic crisis after another, there is a great deal of pressure on IT department heads to figure out what the best strategies are. Optimize resources and decrease overheads to stay afloat. We asked a lot of people on our Facebook and LinkedIn communities to comment on some strategies they felt would help to ease the pressure on the local economy and the responses were, for the most part, very similar. Each one of the companies feels the bottom line crunch, and the majority of responses felt that we need to just make our belts tighter and work a little harder.

Based on our last month’s cover story on the Balancing Act, and the impact inflation and rising prices were having on technology planning, most people were of the opinion that once the inflation stopped, the market forces would automatically re-align everything. But importing and logistics planning has become an extremely difficult task. To top everything off, the September 20th blast seems to have shaken all of Pakistan’s foundations though it seems to have mobilized the IT industry into action. Better planning, better management and better strategies to manage the continuity of businesses. The story is truly an amazing one!

It is this business continuity that we’re highlighting in November’s issue. We have some great stories of strong people who have stood up in the face of a challenge of not just restoring their businesses quickly, but also rekindling their faith in the opportunity that Pakistan offers. How did Pakistan’s IT industry bounce back from the uncertainty and keep its businesses going? The recipe, amongst other things, includes a lot of collaboration and a great deal of innovation taking place in a facilitating and open environment.

And we’re pushing this CIO environment wherever we can to better support the industry. We’re announcing the CSO Round Table event in December 2008 and CIO Year Ahead Conference in January 2009.

There is a lot to be done, and we’re doing it.

Until the next issue,
Signing out!
Rabia Garib, Editor-in Chief
rabia.garib@ciopakistan.com