Information Chief's Role Changes --- Google Cloud executive says CEOs seek expertise in software engineering

"Thomas Kurian, chief executive of Alphabet Inc.'s Google Cloud, says the role of the chief information officer has changed materially as technology has grown more important to business. Increasingly, CEOs view technology as a differentiator and look to the CIO for expertise, he said.

Mr. Kurian has been CEO of Google Cloud since 2019. Google has taken equity stakes in companies including Univision Communications Inc. and CME Group Inc. and received commitments to its cloud service from those companies valued at $1 billion or more.. As of late 2021,

Google claimed 6% of the cloud market, up 1 percentage point from a year earlier, though lagging behind Amazon.com Inc.'s 41% share and Microsoft Corp.'s 20%.

Previously, Mr. Kurian was president of software company Oracle Corp., where he worked for more than two decades.

Here are edited highlights of the conversation with Mr. Kurian.

WSJ: How has the relationship between business and technology changed during the last 10 years?

Mr. Kurian: If you look at what has really fundamentally changed in technology, I would say it is the pervasiveness and speed with which new technology has been predominant. Part of it is the ease with which technology can now be adopted with many things being delivered, from computing as a service. . .Today everyone in the organization is a digital worker. Fifteen years ago, before smartphones, people would not have said that.

Nurses all have digital tools.

Airports, every staff member has a digital tool. With cloud computing, every company is becoming a technology company.

Automotive companies are increasingly computerized. Banks, insurance companies, everyone, is doing what retailers did 15 years ago, opening up their front door to a digital medium.

Data is becoming a very important asset. Once you make the adoption of technology materially more convenient, you see a rapid pickup in the adoption of that technology.

WSJ: How have the roles of CIO and technology leader evolved?

Mr. Kurian: I think we're in a period where CEOs in particular. . .see technology as a source of differentiation.

If you talk to financial institutions, they really want to serve customers better. They're adopting AI in a number of places to streamline operations, and it's in these circumstances you see a business leader like the head of consumer banking working with the CIO to define what that experience could be.

If you look at the supply-chain crisis globally, many organizations are adopting new solutions to understand where the bottlenecks are.

Again, that's a joint effort between the technology team or the CIO's team and the business.

And so it's a great opportunity for CIOs. Technology adoption is becoming much easier, so they can show value more quickly.

The pandemic made it even more clear that technology is critical to differentiating how an organization [engages with] customers. And so the role of the CIO has changed materially.

CIOs are not just managing a portfolio of applications. . .they are also building competency in software engineering, in areas like cybersecurity, which is becoming a big risk for organizations.

CEOs see that being a technology-enabled organization requires them to have some core competencies, and one of them is software development. And so we see CIOs also needing to build that long-term core competency and people capability." [1]

1. Information Chief's Role Changes --- Google Cloud executive says CEOs seek expertise in software engineering
Rosenbush, Steven.
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 26 Apr 2022: B.4.