Bob Mansfield shares his insights into the future of business technology at IMC Communications event

A group of 50 CEO’s and CIO’s from some of Australia’s largest organisations, heard from Bob Mansfield as he shared his extensive knowledge & experience gained from leading iconic Australian businesses such as Telstra, Optus Communications, McDonald’s Australia, John Fairfax and Wormald International.

The audience was captivated by Mr Mansfield’s analysis of the continually changing technological landscape, difficult economic times and the resulting opportunities and challenges present for Australia business.

Speaking about the impact today’s rapidly changing technology landscape has on Australian business, Mr Mansfield explained;

“The difference today is the waves of change are getting closer and closer together, and the impact of them is more severe. This means there is going to be more change, more often – which requires a different management approach to deal with it.”

“It is not a question of whether technological shifts will or will not impact your business, they will, and the key is to figuring out how. There is risk in adopting new technologies, but more risk by failing to do so. If you are not deliberately moving forward, you’re moving backwards.”

Mr Mansfield expressed his views on the changing role of the CIO within organisations.

“The CIO role is absolutely critical. I think some future CEO’s will come out of the CIO role because today’s CIO is at the heart of the business. They are no longer just a technician providing a service to other areas of the business, they are central to the business doing its work. CIO’s of today, need the technical knowledge, but also the aptitude of a manager.”

Referring to the challenges and opportunities for today’s business, Mr Mansfield said that some things haven’t altered.

“The basics of business have not changed, and won’t change. What has and will change are the level of competitiveness, and who your actual competitors are. In order for businesses to adapt and move forward, IT Managers and CIOs should not be fearful of suggesting change that may mean their responsibilities alter or diminish.”

Mr Mansfield called for good leadership and said that what businesses need first and foremost is leadership, in their boards and in management.

After Mr Mansfield’s presentation, the conversation expanded to the audience on topics from the NBN and the Cloud, to the best way for CIO’s to gain capital from the board for IT initiatives.

Michael Harte, CIO Commonwealth Bank handled questions from the audience, providing an interesting insight into the thoughts of the man responsible for all of the technology platforms for Australia’ largest bank.

In addition, Dr Catriona Wallace, Managing Director Fifth Quadrant, the largest specialised contact centre researcher in Australia, spoke about the role of technology in customer contact and the innovation that was occurring in this space across Australia. Dr Wallace named the top three technologies gaining efficiencies in this area; Knowledge Management, Workforce Optimisation and Customer Relationship Management.

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IMC Communicationsspecialises in the provision of managed IT services, IT consulting, technology procurement and Knowledge Management for customer contact. Since 1994, IMC Communications have been supplying some of the largest and most well known companies in Australia with technological solutions and hardware. For more information please visit www.imc.net.au.