Very few chief information security officers have risen to the ranks of chief information officers. On the one hand, it would seem like a logical progression. CISOs historically have reported to CIOs. The importance of their roles has grown tremendously as the threat landscape has done the same. Also, as security has risen to a board-level concern, CISOs are often asked to speak before the executive team and board, underscoring the importance of the discipline, while also raising the profile of the executive.
So why has this not been a greater pathway? First, as CIOs must focus increasingly on innovation, which is about risk taking, CISOs manage or mitigate risk. That is not to say that there is not profound innovation that CISOs can undertake on behalf of their companies, but this focus has been a limiting factor to these executives’ rise, nevertheless. Additionally, security roles can be siloed relative to other roles in information technology, and the lack of leadership roles across IT can be viewed as another limiting factor.
Mac Connolly, Tiffany Jenkins, Nick Reasner, Yucca Reinecke, and Matthew Schmidt contributed to this article.
The COVID-19 pandemic spurred a wave of digital acceleration, drove a rapid shift to remote work, and underscored the critical nature of business continuity and resilience. As companies continue marching toward a new version of normal, technology leaders find themselves balancing a mandate to drive digital transformation efforts forward while enabling teams to thrive in a new world of work.
In the coming weeks, Metis Strategy will share its perspectives on five areas where CIOs are focused in the new year. Building on conversations with hundreds of technology executives in recent months, this series will highlight strategies and tactics to help organizations win during times of uncertainty and emerge from the crisis stronger than before.
COVID-19 will go down in history as a great digital catalyst. More than 70% of attendees at the Metis Strategy Digital Symposium noted that their digital transformation efforts accelerated as a result of the pandemic, with 42% noting a significant acceleration. Crisis response generated a boost in productivity and innovation at many firms as they experimented with new business models and transitioned to remote work forces. As we look to the year ahead, companies are figuring out how to sustain those efforts while navigating an uncertain economic landscape and adapting to new ways of working. This article will explore examples of pandemic-driven digital acceleration and discuss the ways in which firms that maintain investment in digital capabilities can emerge from the crisis in a position of strength.
In recent months, firms have expressed growing demand for a strategy that guides management and structure of data at enterprise scale. At Metis Strategy’s October conference, 25% of attendees said they were implementing a version of their data strategy, while 64% noted they were developing a strategy. Many executives we speak with say they are working to move beyond traditional descriptive analytics and toward predictive or cognitive capabilities that can further optimize decision making and automate business processes.
Getting to that stage requires a holistic view that ties data to business strategy, and requires a number of changes that impact people, processes, and technologies inside an organization. This article will explore how to assess your company’s data maturity and readiness to manage data and metadata at scale, and share critical first steps to crafting an effective data strategy.
Many companies have long been on a journey to the cloud, but the pandemic has sped up the process significantly. A major driver of cloud adoption is increased agility, which allows firms to pivot and respond quickly in the face of tremendous change, a critical asset as firms navigate the pandemic and improve their competitive positioning. Indeed, some companies now are embracing a cloud-first mentality to better compete with cloud-native firms. Research firm IDC also identified the shift to the cloud as the number one technology trend for 2021, noting that by the end of 2021, “80% of enterprises will put a mechanism in place to shift to cloud-centric infrastructure and applications twice as fast as before the pandemic.”
Yet for all the benefits cloud can provide, the journey is not a simple one and it continues to grow in complexity. This article will explore the primary benefits and key risks posed by cloud and discuss best practices for driving enterprise adoption.
Read the article.
Prior to the pandemic, the phrase “hybrid workforce” usually referred to companies with a handful of fully-remote employees and a somewhat flexible work from home policy. Now that roughly 40% of the working population has been working remotely full time, however, that definition has changed. Even after a vaccine is released and widely distributed, the world of work will not look the same as it did in February 2020. A Gartner survey finds that 82% of company leaders will allow their workforce to work remotely at least some of the time as employees return to the workplace, with 47% reporting that they would let employees work remotely full-time. Furthermore, employees say they want more flexibility in the post-pandemic working world.
This article will discuss specific steps companies can take to create outstanding employee experiences and sustain employee engagement in a new world of work. It will also explore the new tools and technologies that will enable teams to collaborate effectively in a hybrid environment and share key considerations for CIOs implementing these technologies across their organizations.
Cybersecurity has always been a priority for technology leaders, but increasingly sophisticated hackers and a broad shift to remote work has introduced security concerns on a much larger scale. On a recent episode of the Technovation podcast, Lenovo CISO and Motorola Mobile Business Group CIO Jason Ruger said the pandemic has spurred a 3X increase in cyberattacks against the company. As recently as a few weeks ago, news emerged of a monthslong cyberattack that hit a number of U.S. federal agencies and some of the world’s largest businesses, prompting greater scrutiny of software supply chains as organizations race to determine the extent of the fallout.
In this piece,we will address the new cybersecurity concerns that leaders have been forced to confront as more employees work from home and the security landscape becomes more complex. We will also provide a framework that allows leaders to assess their overall cybersecurity maturity and chart a path forward.
What’s the right approach? For that we caught up with Laszlo Bock, co-founder of Humu, whose technology combines machine learning with people science to “nudge” employees toward better work habits and unlock the potential of individuals, teams, and organizations.
Bock spent 11 years as Google’s senior vice president of people operations (equivalent to a chief human resources officer), is the author of the 2015 bestselling book Work Rules, and he had plenty to share about leading through crisis. Read on for his recommendations.
On January 13, 2020, Victor Koelsch was named Chief Digital Officer of Polaris, Inc. a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Polaris. The company is a $6.1 billion (as of 2018) revenue leader in powersports, founded in 1954. The CDO role was newly created for Koelsch. He will be responsible for digital strategy for the company and for accelerating Polaris’ development and integration of digital technologies into its products, services, and experiences, as well as leading the creation of new business solutions and digital offerings. Koelsch will dual report to Polaris Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Scott Wine and Polaris Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Mike Speetzen.
Wine noted, “We have been building industry-leading digital capabilities for several years and are excited for Vic to take our digital efforts to the next level and deliver more value to customers and shareholders. He has made a career of developing and implementing market-leading technology solutions, and we are excited for him to leverage that acumen to augment our existing initiatives and spearhead Polaris’ digital future. We continuously evolve how consumers experience our brands, and Vic’s leadership will significantly enhance and accelerate that process.”
When asked about the opportunity before him, Koelsch said, “I look forward to joining Polaris and leveraging my background in bringing innovative, digitally enabled business models and solutions to market that will drive significant transformation and impact across our business and deliver breakthrough value and new experiences for our customers.”
At NetApp, our mission is to help our customers change the world with data. As we kick off a new decade, it’s clear that data, and the technologies to manage it, are at an inflection point: AI is seeing real use-cases; the advent of 5G is poised to revolutionize edge computing; hybrid multicloud is giving organizations more control and flexibility over their data than ever before.
Kim Stevenson has been named General Manager of NetApp’s Foundational Data Services Business Unit, reporting to Brad Anderson, the Executive Vice President and General Manager of the NetApp Cloud Infrastructure and Storage, Systems, and Software business units.
This represents a continued climb for Stevenson, who was once the Chief Information Officer of Intel. While at Intel, she rose to become the Chief Operating Officer of the Client, IoT and System Architecture Group. Most recently, she was the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Data Center Products and Solutions at Lenovo.
Former Honeywell Aerospace Chief Digital and Information Officer, Sathish Muthukrishnan, has been named Chief Information, Data and Digital Officer of Ally Financial. Muthukrishnan will lead Ally’s technology, data and digital transformation teams, with a focus on advanced technical capabilities, including cyber security and infrastructure, as well as accelerating Ally’s growth as a leading digital financial services provider.
Ally’s Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey J. Brown said about Muthukrishnan, “Ally’s success is the direct result of a relentless focus on offering consumers the best digital platforms developed by some of the brightest and most talented resources in the financial services industry. Sathish’s track record for delivering industry-leading digital solutions within the financial services sector as well as other industries makes him ideally suited for this highly important and critical role as we look to enhance our technology vision to further cement our leadership position in the sector. I am excited to welcome him to the Ally team.”
Prior to Honeywell Aerospace, Muthukrishnan spent 10 years at American Express leading their digital transformation efforts.
Richard Cox, Jr. was recently named Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Cox Enterprises. In this role, he provides oversight and direction to corporate IT and business leaders on strategy, standards, and opportunities for data analytics and business intelligence, development and support, infrastructure, security and technical services. This is Cox’s first role as CIO of a company, though he had previously served as Chief Operations Officer of the City of Atlanta.
Dallas Clement, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Cox Enterprises noted when reflecting on Cox’s appointment, “Richard’s leadership skills and ability to build strong, productive relationships with corporate and technology partners will help us drive innovation and adapt to the evolving needs of our businesses. We’re thrilled to begin the next phase of our technology journey with Richard at the helm.”
There were many great technology books published in 2019, but here are ten that I found particularly insightful. If you are unfamiliar with these works, I suggest you give them a read.
Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age,
by Brad Smith and Carol Ann Browne
Microsoft President Brad Smith together with Carol Ann Browne provide a story of the evolution of technology from their vantage point at Microsoft. They highlight challenges that have arisen, including cybercrime and cyberwar, social media issues, moral issues related to artificial intelligence, and even the challenges to democracy. Smith provides interesting insights into the decisions Microsoft leadership, himself included, of course, have faced, and the broader implications for society at large.
Digital Transformation: Survive and Thrive in an Era of Mass Extinction
by Tom Siebel
Tom Siebel argues that the confluence of four technologies—elastic cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things —will change the way in which business and government operate going forward. As he also noted in my recent interview with him, there is a blueprint companies can follow in order to take full advantage of these four technologies and sustain competitive advantage in the process.
