Ten years ago, tech leaders and their teams largely focused on maintaining physical infrastructure, and success was measured by operational stability. In recent years, however, the tech department has been moving from the background to the core of business operations. To align with these changes, Annet Nanungi, head of IT at JCRC, Sulaiman Mugalasi, CIO at Airtel Money Uganda, and Ivas Kwikiriza, head of business technology at Tropical Bank Uganda, believe that the CIO of the future must also be a business leader.
At the Uganda CIO of the Future Summit held in August, panelists discussed the changing role of the CIO and what the future looks like. Sulaiman Mugalasi, CIO at Airtel Money Uganda, reflected on the changing responsibilities of CIOs, noting that executive leadership teams no longer evaluate technology leaders based solely on infrastructure maintenance or network availability. Rather, the mandate has shifted to demonstrating direct commercial impact.
“Most times when you're having conversations today with the CEOs, they don't want to hear about your servers,” Sulaiman said. “They want to understand whatever you bring in. They don't want to see you as a support function or a cost center. Instead, they want to understand what value you are adding to the business.”
The shift in responsibilities is also reflected in new titles that have come up in recent times, as Ivas Kwikiriza, head of business technology at Tropical Bank Uganda, noted.
“Back then, IT leaders were a support function,” Ivas said. “We have now become transformers, and more or less like seekers of business. We are no longer the guys who are expecting the organisation we work with to bring business. We are now the ones looking for the business through technology, and that would explain why the role has moved from the chief technology officer or head of information technology to a head of business technology.”
Embracing technology and innovation
Beyond a shift in responsibilities, technological evolution has also brought a demand on CIOs to innovate constantly. Modern technology leaders must look beyond basic operational stability to seek out new growth mechanisms.
“You know when you just sit back because now the systems are stable. You're hosting them on the cloud, and all is said and done. I think you need to innovate,” Annet Nanungi, head of IT at JCRC, said.
She further advised tech leaders to focus on solutions that target actual operational friction while ensuring those tools are genuinely embraced by the workforce.
“Many times IT people want to be behind the servers. We don't want to go out there to understand the business, to understand what the end user is going to face, and we want to push across all our solutions to them. And I've realized that many times you will really work very hard, and then you give the solution, and they can't adapt to it,” she said.
The skills of tomorrow's CIO
To function effectively in the future, Sulaiman emphasised that tech leaders must understand the business. This shift requires tech leadership to connect infrastructure stability directly to corporate risk and loss. He also advised participants to consider pursuing higher education in business.
“Adding an MBA onto your master's in technology would actually position you as a CIO of the future,” Sulaiman said.
On his part, Ivas believes that future technology executives must develop internal talent continuously rather than relying on constant replacement.
“Technology is changing so fast that you no longer can afford to say, 'I will replace so and so,' but you must build them to understand the technology that's coming, so that you then become that guy who is looking for the money,” he said.
