← CIO DesksCIO Career DeskReadiness Audit & Strategy
Strictly confidential
Are you ready for the bigger seat? And if not yet, what exactly stands in the way?
₹30,000, all-inclusive of GST.
Why one audit will not do
Can you run IT across many businesses, and hold the confidence of every business head in the group?
Can you run the business, and not only the systems it runs on?
Before you pay anything
For each of the ten, ask one thing: could I show this to someone who has never met me? Nothing you choose here is stored or sent.
One technology plan across the businesses, and deciding which business’s programme is funded first.
The usual gap A company CIO funds one plan. A Group CIO has to say no to a business head.
Retiring duplicate systems, licences and data centres, and running shared IT services the businesses accept.
The usual gap Shrinking an estate you own is hard. Doing it across businesses that resist is the real test.
One view of the group’s IT spend, run against change, with costs charged back fairly to each business.
The usual gap Most CIOs know their own run cost. Few have set the rules for a whole group’s.
One cyber and data-protection posture across every entity, including the regulated ones.
The usual gap Each entity has its own controls and its own auditor. Bringing them under one posture is new work.
Answering to several boards, audit committees and, in regulated entities, IT strategy committees.
The usual gap Most CIOs have answered to one audit committee. A group role tests you in front of several.
Group-wide contracts with system integrators, cloud providers and software vendors, negotiated once.
The usual gap Buying for one company is procurement. Buying for a group changes the terms you can ask for.
Bringing acquired companies onto group systems, and separating systems when a business is sold or demerged.
The usual gap Supporting one integration is not the same as running the group’s integrations and carve-outs.
Shared master data and one view of the customer and supplier across the businesses.
The usual gap Each business guards its own data. A group view needs authority as much as technology.
Leading business-unit CIOs who run their own estates and answer to their own business heads.
The usual gap Managing an IT team is different from leading people who are CIOs themselves.
Being the person the chair, the promoter and the business heads call first when systems and money are at stake.
The usual gap It is earned in private, so it rarely shows on a CV. It has to be shown another way.
Aligning technology investments to business outcomes — measuring IT success in revenue and margin impact, not uptime metrics.
The usual gap CIOs measure technology performance; CEOs measure business performance. The translation gap is often wider than CIOs realise.
Designing technology architectures that enable business agility, innovation, and competitive differentiation.
The usual gap CIOs build architectures; CEOs must articulate how technology creates competitive advantage in business terms.
Presenting technology strategy to boards and investors in business impact terms, not technical specifications.
The usual gap CIOs present technology updates; CEOs lead strategic discussions. The language must shift from technology to business value.
Owning revenue and profitability, not just technology cost centres and project budgets.
The usual gap CIOs manage cost centres; CEOs own P&Ls. Without commercial accountability, CEO candidacy remains theoretical.
Integrating cybersecurity and data governance as enterprise risk management — not just IT security.
The usual gap CIOs manage cyber risk; CEOs must frame it as enterprise risk and communicate it to boards and stakeholders.
Managing complex vendor relationships and technology ecosystems as strategic partnerships, not procurement exercises.
The usual gap CIOs manage vendors; CEOs must think in ecosystems. The shift from procurement to strategic partnership is key.
Building digital-fluent organisations and scaling talent strategy beyond the technology function.
The usual gap IT teams are specialist functions. CEOs must build enterprise-wide digital cultures across all functions and levels.
Leading enterprise-wide digital transformation — business model innovation, not just technology implementation.
The usual gap CIOs implement digital solutions; CEOs must envision how digital transforms the business model and competitive position.
Building reputation as a business transformation leader, not just a technology executive.
The usual gap CIOs are known in the technology community; CEOs must be recognised across all stakeholder groups.
Managing the demands of technology leadership while building the strategic perspective and stakeholder skills for the CEO role.
The usual gap Technology roles are operationally intensive. CEOs must be strategically focused. The personal shift requires deliberate design.
What you receive
Strictly confidential · Prepared for you alone
Readiness Audit
CIO to Group CIO
VerdictClose, with two gaps to fill
First moveBring the subsidiaries’ IT spend into one budget in the next cycle.
Illustrative layout
Your audit
All-inclusive of GST, for the audit and the strategy together. No account is needed.
Free, 3 minutes
You rate yourself and see where you think the gaps are.
Take the free self-check →One seat, your actual record
We read your record as the people deciding would, and show how to close what is missing.
All your moves
For when you have not settled on a seat: pathways, pay and global mobility.
See the Career Strategy →How it works
Group CIO, CEO, or both if you have not decided.
We contact you within one working day to take them in confidence.
Against all ten dimensions, as the people deciding would.
The audit and the strategy, together.
Why an executive search firm
Gladwin International has been an executive search firm since 2010. Its CIO practice, led by Anandh Shanmugaraj, has made 70+ CIO and IT Head placements across a decade-long practice. This audit gives you the reading a committee would not.
A board rarely tells you why you were passed over. We do, before they have the chance.
We do not contact your employer, and nothing is published.
Before you decide
You are ready when your record, not your own rating of it, answers what the people deciding will ask. For Group CIO that means running IT across many businesses, including estates you did not build. For CEO it means owning a P&L, customers and people. This audit reads your record against ten dimensions for that seat and gives a plain verdict.
₹30,000 for the audit and the strategy, all-inclusive of GST.
A CIO runs the systems, data and IT estate of one company. A Group CIO runs them across many: setting one technology plan, deciding which business’s programme is funded, retiring duplicate systems, holding one cyber posture across entities, and leading the business-unit CIOs.
Boards look for evidence that you can run the business and not only the systems it runs on: a P&L of your own, credit for growth as well as savings, leading change across functions, and being known outside the IT community.
The Ascent is a free three-minute audit in which you rate yourself. This audit reads your actual record as the people deciding would, covers Group CIO as well as CEO, and comes with a strategy.
Tell us. We read your record against both and say which one is closer.
Yes. If your record does not support the seat yet, the audit says so and shows what would change that.
We do not contact your employer and nothing is published.
No. It is separate from our retained searches: buying it does not put you on a shortlist, and not buying it does not keep you off one. No one can promise a role, and we do not.
₹30,000, all-inclusive of GST. A plain verdict, and the route to the seat.
The CIO Career Desk
Reads your record against the market and shows which moves are worth making.
OpenWhat a board or a search firm finds when they look you up, in your own words.
OpenReads the market against your own brief, in silence. Your name stays out of it.
OpenOne career, presented for the people who will read it first.
OpenReads your record against the seat you want next, and shows how to close each gap.
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