CIOs Must Blend Tech Expertise, Leadership, and Communication: Rajeev Batra, BCCL

Updating technology infrastructure that can accommodate millions of users is generally considered a challenging task for any organisation. More so for an organisation that is over a century old. In an interview with FE CIO, Rajeev Batra, CIO, BCCL (Bennett Coleman & Co), talks about his experience on how to make technology upgrades, dealing with the risks of new inventions like AI and blockchain, deciding on investments that are strategic, and the skillls needed by technology decision makers in today's times. (Edited excerpts)

Upgrading your technology infrastructure to accommodate millions of users can be very challenging especially when it is a legacy organization. What kind of challenges did you face in this project?

There was no problem at all. The infrastructure on the cloud can be scaled up without any problem on-demand and then there are good CDNs available so that the access experience is good across the world for whatever the size or scale of the users is there. There are no issues with scaling the infrastructure. While the digital is growing, the print side of the business brings in more revenues. Print is more credible than digital, and this reflects in the trust factor.

On the print side of business, technologies are far more complex because in print, you have to manage the circulation business. In digital that circulation is just you blast through CDNs.

How do you approach risk management when it comes to newer technologies that have not yet been proven?

VMware has jacked up its prices by three times. Yes, but there exist alternative new-age tech in the market that are capable of replacing VMware. However, they remain untested. So, the ideal approach is to start implementing the new technology on some small data set through a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) and if it goes well then you can increase the workload. Considering the fact that our business is quite sensitive and at the same time, we need to keep the budget under control, we adopt this approach of modular steps through PoC as against going for a full-blown implementation.

But there are several new technologies in the market today – AI, blockchain, quantum computing. How do you decide which technology to invest in first?

We can't just randomly pick a tech and implement it. The first question that comes into mind is definitely, "Do we need this to serve our business?" And if the answer is "yes," then we will decide how long we are going to keep it in our portfolio. We determine the total cost of ownership involved in using the technology and plan a five to seven-year investment management schedule. After meeting all the tasks, it is verified for compatibility with the organisation's architecture review board. The implementation of the technology occurs only if the enterprise architecture guidelines are complied with; otherwise, even though a good solution, it gets rejected.

You are among the few IT leaders in India who have deployed Agentic AI. In terms of technology, what's next?

Now we are pondering on how to use MCP i.e. Model Context Protocol, which standardises the way an application provides context to large language models (LLMs). We are also thinking what the governance guardrails and security provision be for the AI components that we would like to get into our system.

However, there is a great number of CIOs who still have the fear of AI adoption or resistance to change. What is the reason for that?

It's more because of their exposure. For example, consider a CIO of a manufacturing company, he may not have realized that here the AI can be utilized and in what way. Moreover, there are also some legacy organizations which are not willing to change. The technology leaders in such companies are like those who are stonewalled by the management and end up toeing the line of the organization.

How, in such a case, a CIO can persuade the management that AI implementation is the right choice?

It is essential for a CIO to be persistent and consistent. Apart from that, the management has to be accepting of the idea and have faith in their CIO. The basics of any tech introduction are still the same. Along with having the knowledge of how he is executing it, a CIO should be able to answer such questions as in what ways the new solution will affect the business? Is it consistent with the organization's overall vision and mission? Is it cost-saving? Is it making the work more efficient? In the same manner, if AI is introducing these benefits to the organization, the CIO should be able to demonstrate.

What is your opinion on the changing role of the CIO, and which technology trends do you think will dominate the future?

The business of today requires outcomes at a fast pace. So speed, agility, and pace will be the most important trends.

The CIOs should be targeting to give the customers gratification at the point of consumption by fulfilling their requirements in the shortest time possible. To be successful, CIOs must pursue learning perpetually, not only about technology but also about the strategic business impact. They cannot remain passive or delegate the tasks anymore. Being in touch with the core business and clearly technology aligning with business goals is necessary.

Today, a lot of people in an organization may offer various solutions with the help of ChatGPT or other AI, but these situations always come from a narrow perspective. The CIO’s role is to check whether these ideas are compatible with the whole system and make sure the integration happens without creating a problem for other functions. Controlling different opinions powered by generative AI is a big issue. CIOs must build a good relationship with others by being reasonable when they check and talk about the ideas that cannot be fulfilled.

CIOs are not only dealing with technology, but they also have to be able to manage the people because people get emotionally attached to decisions and therefore, they may not be objective. The CIO identity will be shaped by their ability to combine their technical skills and leadership skills and communication in the coming years.