The Future of Technology Leadership in Banks of Bangladesh

Mohammed Anisur Rahman, Senior Executive Vice President (SEVP) & Chief Information Officer (CIO), NCC Bank Limited, Bangladesh

The global pandemic has been a test of the resilience and adaptability and that the task ahead is to make sure those two attributes apply to both to IT teams and to the services by developing a sustainable roadmap for evolving digital footprint, focusing on agility, resilience, collaboration and critical thinking.

Businesses will emerge from the current crisis with a greater reliance on digital technology and with heightened expectations of IT. CIOs have a unique opportunity to use their enhanced status to accelerate the path towards digitization. Their core task is to bring together people with very different specializations and to direct their efforts towards a common strategic goal. CIOs need to listen carefully to stakeholders to understand their needs, focus on delivering value and remain agile, offering continuous improvements and changing course as market conditions change.

Every individual has a piece of the technology solution in their mind, but the challenge is how to leverage all of the potential towards one goal. IT needs to get away from being seen solely as an infrastructure provider and be understood as enabling and leading digital transformation.

The onset of Covid -19 and the lockdowns that followed across the world had a profoundly disruptive effect on every business. The combined impact of a health crisis and temporary economic shutdown would have been a devastating blow a decade ago, but in 2020 most businesses were in a position to make the rapid adjustments necessary to continue operations, despite the wholesale closure of offices and other work locations.

IT departments around the world rose to the challenge of ensuring business continuity where there is no option for failure; responding to the sudden crisis with speed and agility. Digital transformation programs expected to play out over years were compressed into a few intense weeks as organizations shifted to remote working practically overnight and all business transactions took place virtually or online. Under normal circumstances such a transition would have been incredibly hard to implement, but as CIO perspective, “Pure necessity is a stronger driver than a clear vision.”

The speed with which IT teams addressed operational challenges, such as rapidly increasing network bandwidth, upgrading security, introducing new platforms and ensuring the robustness of systems - won them many friends and new champions within the team.

Employees and leadership teams became convinced of the critical contribution made by IT teams who demonstrated flexibility and responsiveness in rising to the occasion.