Hiring the Right IT People

As a result, we take every step available to ensure we understand and utilize the latest technologies available to protect information and remain vigilant. The second area that comes to mind is attracting, training and retaining the most talented and experienced associates. The complexity involved in new marketing technology is extremely high. We need our engineering leaders and technical people trained and empowered to tackle this challenge. Even with high unemployment in the US, qualified IT people are in very short supply.

Technology trends impacting business

Cloud, Mobile, Social and Software Defined Networks are a few technology trends that are impacting our business. These emerging areas are rapidly becoming mainstream in solution offerings. Marketers are experimenting with these technologies in concert with digital agencies. Better customer insights, individually tailored consumer interactions and real-time customer loyalty rewards are all possible now leveraging these technologies and they will continue to have a significant impact.

My role as a CIO

I’ve personally been charged with enabling revenue growth and cost efficiency through the use of technology more so than ever in my career— keeping things running smoothly and maintaining high services levels while optimizing cost is imperative. Many top CIOs have a mandate to grow a profitable business which requires innovation and leadership.

Advice to fellow CIOs

My advice is to always possess a technology vision coupled with detailed plans that are developed in concert with your key investors, executive team and stakeholders in the company. They should be socialized with this group regularly so we can stay aligned on the future technology direction in the firm. To me, the job of a CIO is to have an overarching view of how the business works, what enables sales growth and how technology can best be used to drive the strategy. The other lesson is that people and relationships are what push the business of technology forward. This requires the CIO to have stewardship for their team and create a workplace environment where everyone can succeed at their primary mission. It’s probably said best by the training and development firm Franklin Covey’s 4DX = “The Four Disciplines of Execution” methodology which refers to this as “creating a winnable game” for the CIO’s team and their stakeholders.