Rajeepan Raguneethan\u2019s (Director- Asia Region, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd.) keynote presentation at ReTechCon 2013 on \u201cDriving the Pace of Change in Retail\u201d was focused and bristled with facts. Sample this:<\/p>\n
While these statistics are from the overseas markets, since India tends to \u201cleap generations\u201d \u2013 there is little doubt that this is the shape of things to come in this market as well.<\/p>\n
For the CIO in a retail company \u2013 the fundamental, raison d\u2019\u00eatre has changed.\u00a0 In 2002 it was \u201cHow will technology help control costs?\u201d. Ten years later it has changed to \u201cHow will technology support growth?\u201d.<\/p>\n
This shift forces CIO\u2019s to be more strategic in their thinking and has also meant that questions of business strategy and organization structure now need technology input.<\/p>\n
A multi-channel strategy also increases the complexity of what the CIO deals with \u2013 giving rise to the need to integrate technology across Mobility, Social & Online e-commerce platforms.<\/p>\n