Going back in history, when the first computers arrived in companies, back in the 90’s, everything began to be easier: the arrival of Office, Email, the Internet . Apparently these tools helped companies to carry out their processes more quickly. It was the beginning of the digital age.

Then comes the Internet era and companies begin to realize that their PCs from the 80’s / 90’s are not enough with the amount of information that is handled and in addition to that at the time it represented a security problem for the value it had information, and that is why the famous “Client-Server” has emerged.

Entrepreneurs of the time perhaps thought that their information and software, running on a PC, was not enough to streamline the processes of their company and at that moment, the market began to offer servers (or mini data centers), where Companies begin to host not only data but to install software so that several collaborators can connect to said server and be able to make their processes more Agile using collaboration tools.

But of course, they did not realize that that famous Server and the “cabler” could not manage itself, it needed an administrator and that is when a new department began to emerge in companies that today we call IT (information technologies) . A department that today, entrepreneurs know that they must invest a considerable amount of money and which always gives them those “head problems”, complaints such as: “it does not connect me”, “I got an error”, burned the server ”, are some of the common problems that the IT Manager and his department come to solve. And I clarify, the fault is not theirs, they were the first technologies of the moment and being the first they were very rigid.

Unfortunately, in Costa Rica, companies are still stuck in following the client-server path, while in other companies that decided to be more competitive, looking to the future, they begin to think about a new key piece in their company, the CIO (Chief Information Officer), as well as the so-called Cloud or Cloud technologies.

Today’s technology is advancing exponentially and it is no longer about blowing up servers, connecting cables, formatting machines and so on, that is a thing of the past. That’s what cloud technologies take care of. Today it is about giving value to the information that is handled in our company, to measure the data, to quantify it, to project my company based on the quality of information that is handled in the company, of which only the CIO (the new IT manager), knows how to get that value out of it.

Gartner says that 40% of CIOs are leading digital transformation in companies. With this key piece, we come to deliver customer satisfaction levels and innovative products like never before. The new IT department (if we want to tropicalize it a bit), comes to:

1. Be a changing agent. What is there now and what can we do better tomorrow?

2. Be an innovator. What applications can we develop to improve the flows and / or processes of our teams. Forgetting the technical complexities?

3. An Agile Champion. The Modern IT Manager (CIO) must make communications between the work team and its clients more efficient.

4. A data facilitator. It must provide each of the departments with valuable information to know how to make the best decisions.
And the list goes on…

It is about time that in Costa Rica, companies turn their gaze towards this new approach. In order to be more competitive, more collaborative, more entrepreneurial and of course, provide customer service like never before in our country.

Is your company prepared for this change?