How Merck's CIO/CDO is Driving IT Agility with a Product Mindset

July 15, 2021

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About the Guest

Dave Williams

Chief Information and Digital Officer, Merck

Dave Williams is the Chief Information and Digital Officer at Merck, a multinational pharmaceutical company focused on research aimed at preventing and treating human and animal diseases in areas such as oncology, vaccinology, infectious diseases, and Cardio-metabolic disorders. As CIO, Dave and his team are responsible for building an agile and innovative IT organization to leverage digital and data-driven solutions that will address unmet medical needs facing humankind and animals.

Episode Overview

576: In this interview, Dave gives his perspective on the similarities and differences between the CIO and CDO roles and the way they relate to driving business transformations. In this combined role, he explains the importance of cultivating great relationships with business partners, prioritizing high-value drivers, and learning to be agile in adapting to the rapidly changing technology landscape. Within Merck, Dave speaks to the insights arising from the company’s transition from a project-focused to product-focused model, the advantages from its investment in cloud technology, and the use of data analytics and AI/ML to make decisions and assess risks. Finally, we discuss the risk of companies losing focus and falling into “tech for tech’s sake”, learnings from the pandemic, and industry trends towards quantum computing.

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