393: Adobe CIO Cynthia Stoddard discusses how the company has modernized its technology stack. She notes that architecture needed to lead the company’s decisions and be in everything that it did going forward. Through this modernization, Adobe has switched to being cloud-enabled and it has enabled architecture and business capability changes without causing disruption along the way. We also discuss Cynthia’s take on immersive technologies, how Adobe is using AI to complement its workforce, how the company has transitioned from selling box software to becoming more customer-facing, among other topics.
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392: Ingram Micro CIO & CDO Tom Peck says that Ingram Micro is in race to win the customer experience. The speed in which IT is delivered has changed dramatically. In response, Ingram Micro has made massive changes around its IT team. These changes include shifting from a traditional waterfall approach to agile and scrum methodologies, changing its technology stack to be more reliant on microservices, getting people to collaborate in small teams, and showing businesses that a near-perfect product delivered in a short period of time is better than a perfect one in a long period of time. We also discuss Tom’s view on AI, IoT, and zero-trust architecture, why CIOs need to focus on strategy, ways in which the CIO role has remained the same over Tom’s several decades in the role, among other topics.
391: Washington Post Chief Product and Information Officer Shailesh Prakash describes the genesis story of Arc Publishing. Arc was initially built by the company to meet its own needs, but after realizing it had built one of the best media tech stacks in the industry, the company began selling it to other publishers. The Post now believes Arc Publishing has the ability to become a $100 million business. Shaliesh also shares his view on building technology in-house versus buying and integrating, his experience on the board of Blue Origin, how Jeff Bezos has helped the company further its technology abilities, and how the company partners with large tech organizations, such as Google, Apple, and Facebook, among other topics.
390: LinkedIn co-Founder Reid Hoffman argues that companies should value speed over efficiency. In the modern world of network effects, being the first to scale often provides significant first mover advantages in creating a transformative company. While second place can be a decent consolation prize, Reid believes that if you are third or worse, you failed. However, while speed is important, Reid warns against having a blind adhesion to size as companies also need to determine which components put them in the best possible position. We also discuss the lessons Reid took from SocialNet, a company he founded before LinkedIn, his experience as a founding board member at PayPal, how China is able to move at such an extraordinary pace, among other topics.
389: Nationwide CIO Jim Fowler shares what drew him to Nationwide after nearly two decades at GE. He also elaborates on his three pillars of focus as CIO. Jim is focused on modernizing the technology team itself, which involves becoming more agile, the modernization of all the underlying platforms, such as Nationwide’s policy management, claims, life insurance systems, and leveraging the first two pillars to create a set of customer journeys. We also discuss the evolution of the CIO role, Jim’s take on AI, digital twins, and quantum computing, among other topics.
388: Volvo CDO/CIO Atif Rafiq discusses Volvo’s evolution into a mobility company. While Volvo has been around since 1927, the company’s executives’ first order of business is to define the future state of the company, which allows them to understand the ambition they need to fulfill. If a company can put together a plan to move towards that higher ambition, it will gain momentum, which builds on itself. Atif claims that once a global company has clarity on this aspect, it will have the necessary resources to chase that. We also discuss Atif’s focus on the customer experience, Volvo’s partnership with Silicon Valley firms, the company’s value proposition to potential employees, among other topics.
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387: Schneider Electric CIO Elizabeth Hackenson provides details from her first 100 days as CIO when she made multiple trips around the world to speak with as many business peers, customers, and employees as possible. Early in her tenure, a key IT leader stepped down, resulting in Elizabeth being forced into the dual role of Global CIO and Head of IT for North America. Though more than she expected, the dual role allowed Elizabeth to immerse herself into some of the challenges that operations were facing, and she was exposed to new leaders, challenges, and opportunities in IT. We also discuss Elizabeth’s relationship with her predecessor and current Chief Digital Officer Herve Coureil, Schneider’s approach to eliminating technical debt, and Elizabeth’s take on the evolution of the CIO role.
386: Akamai CEO Tom Leighton details the private and public sector’s growing security concerns, which has led to the company’s pivot from its traditional internet offerings to a fast-growing security business. Today, there are billions of devices in homes and offices that are not adequately secured. Bad actors have the ability to wipe out any cloud data center, which can isolate many countries from the rest of the world. Tom believes that this damage is a fraction of what could be done in future attacks, and the only way to stop these attacks is to absorb it out at the edge. We also discuss Akamai’s founding story, how the company survived the difficult times following the dot.com crash, why Tom believes the firewall’s time has passed, among other topics.
385: Toyota (TMNA) CDO and Toyota Connected CEO Zack Hicks shares his vision for how technology will transform driving. As the CEO of Toyota Connected, Zack and his team use data to provide an enhanced and seamless driving experience. To do so, Zack is focused on removing friction points throughout the entire process by having 3rd party services integrate with Toyota’s technologies. He claims to be agnostic about who owns the experience, and that his only goal is to enable it. While he is focused on augmenting the driving experience, he asserts that full autonomy is still far in the future. We also discuss Zack’s experience as a board-level executive, his view on the future of autonomous vehicles, the benefits of containers and server-less technologies, among other topics.
384: Fortinet CISO Phil Quade argues that cybersecurity needs to act like a science in order to understand its core strategies and implement the complex elements that can be layered on top of that strategy. Phil believes that doing so starts with building a foundation based on speed, integration, and connectivity. Fortinet, which was built on these elements, is focused on making sure they provide the fastest possible cybersecurity solutions out there, as well as providing the ability to connect them together. We also discuss the differences between private and public sector cybersecurity, Phil’s approach to mitigating risk, the advantages of being an internal first user, among other topics.
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