BackDigital alone won’t suffice, you need to differentiate
SAP SE's Ingrid-Helen Arnold speaks about trends in technology, the need to have more women in leadership positions, and how digital technologies and changing customer expectations have affected the role of chief information officer
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Mumbai: One of the handful of women to serve on the boards of a global technology company, Ingrid-Helen Arnold is chief information officer (CIO) and chief process officer (CPO) of the $21 billion German enterprise application software company, SAP SE. A member of the company’s board since May 2014, Arnold began her career in the finance department at Lafarge, Canada, before joining SAP in 1996. In an interview in Mumbai, she spoke about trends in technology, the need to have more women in leadership positions, and how digital technologies and changing customer expectations have affected the role of the CIO. Edited excerpts:
What is your role as CPO?
Technology always serves a business process. It is always outcome-based. Over the last 43 years of the company’s existence, processes at SAP are getting very complicated, and this our biggest challenge. Hence, my roles of ensuring process excellence (as CPO) and using technology (as CIO) for the same have a natural meeting point. You start with process design, then you challenge the process, and then you look at redefining the processes. Here’s where technology supports business change. For me, the I in the CIO stands for innovation and integration and not so much for information. So when you look at digital transformation, it is very much the enabling core of you company strategy. Hence the difference between the roles of a CPO, CIO and chief strategy officer (CSO) would be more on the execution part.
Digital has dramatically changed the role of the CIO.
It’s the biggest effect that you can imagine. Traditionally, the CIO was primarily responsible for keeping the lights on, and making sure that businesses had the tools to just get the job done. Today, it’s a completely different endeavour. It’s you (the CIO) leading the innovation, you making sure that you tap the potential of every digital strategy of your company. The chief digital officer (CDO) at SAP has a P/L (profit and loss) responsibility and I’m enabling and supporting all of this. A CDO’s or CMO’s (chief marketing officer) role is complementary to that of a CIO.
At SAP, the biggest disruptor at SAP is cloud, not as a deployment model but as a business model. It has changed the way you design your software, the way you sell your software, and the way you service your customer. In my own capacity, it’s also how I as CIO serve our 75,600 employees. There’s tremendous need for speed and making your workplace a modern one. Expectations have soared since people have mobile devices, and we have to support that.
Please provide some examples.
Cloud helps us to adopt innovations at lighting speed. Nowadays hardware is rented, and most of my systems are operated in the cloud by delivery teams so that I can concentrate on the innovation part. At SAP earlier, for example, the release cycles for the delivery of our software extended from every 10 months to even a year. Now, because of the cloud, we can deliver every two weeks with applications that play a major part in driving efficiency in the organisation.
Also, consider our Digital Boardroom solution (SAP’s digital approach that aims to contextualize and simplify performance reporting across all areas of business in real time). It’s about bringing about boardroom transparency because you’re operating on data rather than powerpoint (presentations).
Even the way we interact has changed with digital—for example, (look at) crowdsourcing. Also, business functions can operate software today since all the complexity of the software is hidden from users. We also took out the entire analytics function of the different business units to create a global analytics unit because it helps us best support our business units, providing the skill sets and competency to get the work done.
Have clients understood the importance of cloud?
Customers need to clearly understand their digital strategy, and the differentiator of their business. Therefore, the CIO needs to have a clear understanding of the commoditized part of the business and the cloud strategy for the same. Then comes the differentiating part—what kind of applications you can put out there to help your customers engage better.
Are companies doing enough to make sense of Big Data?
We are clearly at a starting point when you consider data-driven business models. Data is really like the oil of our century. We have the technology now to benefit from these data models.
SAP’s operating principle is Run Simple. But today’s business environment can be pretty complex.
Complexity is indeed the biggest challenge. The old systems at SAP, for instance, cannot meet the demand of today’s businesses since they were designed much earlier. Hence, I’m always looking at ways to simplify—it’s much more than technology transformation. It is about agility and business transformation. Sometimes, you have to take bold decisions and even go greenfield to ensure that we have the processes that can keep pace with today’s business.
From a digital economy point of view, it’s about the huge data footprint that is being generated. It is about understanding your customer much better than before. The new generation uses the social media, and engages in a very different manner. You have a much better community to interact with for product innovation. You can reach out to your customers even before you have your product or service. We are already digital in every aspect of our lives. But digital alone is not sufficient. It is how you differentiate.
You have a background in economics. How did you fall in love with technology?
SAP was very close to my university. As a student, I was looking out for an assignment and felt SAP was cool. I did economics but I was always very curious about other areas. At SAP, I started my career in development. The company supported me and I took a lot of courses. So it’s more because of my personal curiosity that I ended up here (as CIO and CPO).
SAP’s own goal is to fill 25% of leadership positions with a woman. Which positions do women typically occupy in technology companies?
We are currently at 23% and hope to reach our target soon. A woman once told me in a conversation that most women typically occupy pinky areas like human resources (HR), marketing areas in technology companies. I countered that this was not true. The limit is the sky.
Why is it so difficult for women to assume leadership positions, especially in technology companies?
Traditionally, technology roles have not been very attractive for women but I don’t know why. What we know from research, though, is that women like to code if it’s for a specific purpose. So if you give women a purpose, you get amazing results. And I’m driving many such programmes where I invite women for hackathons. Technology provides flexibility—you can work from anywhere.
So you support the idea of working from home?
My style is one of collaboration and trust. It’s about outcome. I’m not a fan of one or two rising stars but it’s rather about team work. Technology offers so many diverse jobs that I hope more women pick it up.
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