I recall a famous quote from Margaret Thatcher that went, “Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it."

In one line, it was a ‘Mission Accomplished.’ I am referring to the ‘mission’ that we set for ourselves. Part of the mission was to convince 25 senior IT leaders and CIOs from India and abroad to contribute their exclusive opinions for the two issues of December 2010. Despite the paucity of time, I am glad that the community didn’t disappoint at all. I and my team mates met or spoke to these CIOs to get their views on a set of topics at the heart of the transformation that their roles are surely undergoing.

Surprisingly some of the discussions went much beyond the scope of work. Sunil Mehta, CIO of JWT hosted lunch at his office for our meeting with him. Prashun Dutta, Senior Executive VP of IT at Reliance Energy surprised us by bringing along his CFO Madhukar Moolwaney, and touched off a fine discussion on how they work together.

Madhukar gave us a candid perspective on how finance and IT work at Reliance Energy. Sandeep Phanasgaonkar, Group CTO and President of Reliance Capital gave us valuable insights on how to be different in the crowded marketplace. (All of the above and many more are featured in this issue).

The second part of the mission was honestly tougher. We had set a goal to get a minimum of 200 qualified responses for our second annual CIO Survey which ran for nearly 16 days. In all, we got 235 duly filled responses and after weeding out the irrelevant ones, we reached 185 – close to the target (and much better than the 110 in 2009).

From the beginning to the end of the mission there were moments of limitless frustration. As Martin Luther King (Jr.) had said, “we must accept finite disappointment, but never lose the infinite hope.” We didn’t give up and the final outcome is heartening.

I want to use this opportunity to thank all the CIOs who devoted time to write for us and who trusted our ability to use them sanely. I am sure you’ll like the hard work put in by the team CTO Forum.

In the end, I would like to wish my friends and the entire community a very happy and meaningful 2011. Let’s keep the dialogue going.

RAHUL NEEL MANI | rahul.mani@9dot9.in