660: Chris discusses the many facets of the company’s digital transformation. He begins with how he harnesses trends in digital innovation to create a competitive advantage and how he creates a curriculum that aims to upskill talent in both business and technology. Chris also shares the strategic imperatives LS & Co. is focused on in the years ahead, how the company’s data strategy has evolved, and the role the Eureka Innovation Lab plays in driving digital innovation. Finally, Chris shares how his role as CIO has been informed by his experiences in supply chain roles and the military.
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659: Raghu Sagi and Onyeka Nchege speak on the topic of how talent and culture enable enterprise agility. Both Raghu and Onyeka share remarkable stories of how the culture of their respective companies takes inspiration from constituents and members of their ecosystems, bringing the company values closer to the customers they serve. Onyeka discusses how these ecosystems influence culture and innovation. Raghu shares an impressive anecdote about evolving the in-person model of their restaurants during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
658: Teddy covers the digital transformation undergoing in the farm-to-fork agriculture supply chain. He begins with an overview of the cooperative and the two sides to his purview in traditional IT and digital transformation. Teddy discusses the process his team uses to foster innovation, bring actionable insights to farmers, and bridging the digital divide in agriculture. Finally, Teddy recounts his experience as a technologist as a part of the American Connection Project and BCBS of Minnesota board position, recalls the keys to his success, and looks ahead at the tech trends on his radar.
657: Gurmeet and Gary join Metis Strategy’s Mike Bertha on the topic of building resilient digital supply chains. Gurmeet provides his perspective on the role of data in supply chains and how ecosystems fit into making them more resilient. Gary describes what role the CIO plays and how the company is exploring new business models that could fundamentally change the way supply chains operate.
656: Raghu discusses thoughts on the future of multi-cloud strategy. Raghu recalls the lessons he learned during VMware’s cloud transformation and how it influenced the transformations VMware provides to its customers. He also described what he called “redefining the category” when it comes to innovating the multi-cloud strategy, broadening his ecosystem, and what it means for companies to be “cloud smart”. Finally, Raghu looks ahead at the future of cybersecurity preparedness and his recommendation for technology executives, the impacts of the pandemic on his business, and his perspectives on how it’s impacted his customer’s businesses, among other topics.
655: Gadi discusses the third wave of artificial intelligence and the development of cognitive AI. Gadi provides an overview of the Emergent Artificial Intelligence Research Lab at Intel and the multidisciplinary nature of his team. He speaks on the history of artificial intelligence’s development, where the current limitations exist, and how we can continue to safeguard artificial intelligence from bad actors, among other topics.
654: Charu and Sanjib discuss the topic of creating a world-class digital customer experience. Charu shares how Alaska Airlines is tackling the innovation cycle and Sanjib shares how Ingram Micro makes this innovation cycle a core ethos of the organization. Sanjib also covers the four ways he is approaching innovation and using that to drive scale. Finally, Charu discusses realizing tangible business value through innovation and how Alaska Airlines is using data to personalize the guest experience.
653: Fred covers the genesis of the Net Promoter Score and why customer-centricity should be every company’s focus. Fred talks about the lessons he learned when spending time with CEOs of customer-focused companies and how they relate to his metric for measuring customer lives enriched. He covers the common ways that NPS has been misused, practices that NPS has led to remarkable success, and how this holds true for even digital native companies. He also discusses the employee side of the equation as it relates to recruiting talent, enriching employee lives, and fostering greater degrees of customer-centricity across the organization. Finally, Fred hones in on why the nuance of enriching a customer’s life is an important distinction to enriching a company’s outputs.
652: Vince discusses how he is creating a digital thread throughout the conglomerate. Vince gives an overview of Raytheon Technologies, its merger with United Technologies, and the two sides of his purview. He describes what the digital thread at the company looks like and how it has accelerated the pace at which the company can create minimal viable products in the space. Vince also covers how he brings both unique and common solutions to the companies under the Raytheon umbrella, how he has curated his team at the company, and how he leverages an ecosystem of partners to accomplish the speed of innovation he seeks to achieve. Finally, Vince talks about his 70-20-10 philosophy behind investing in innovation, developing a sound data strategy, and the tech trends that he believes will change the aerospace industry down the road.
651: Raghu covers the way he is using digital to enhance the customer experience of the dine-in restaurants in the company’s portfolio of brands. Raghu discusses to what degree his team creates unique solutions across its brands and when these solutions become commonly adopted across all brands under the company’s umbrella as well as how franchisees play a role in the adoption of these solutions. He also talks about the recruiting practices the company follows to hire the right talent during its significant digital transformation, why he thinks of himself as a business leader first and technologist second, and how he inspires his team to think of themselves as both customers and colleagues. Finally, Raghu gives his perspective on tech trends that are on his radar and how he leverages these trends to innovate at the company.