458: TD Ameritrade CIO Vijay Sankaran discusses how TD Ameritrade approaches innovation. The company looks to apply a systematic design thinking process to innovation and seeks to understand the problem it is trying to solve. It then determines what the internal or external consumers pain points are , apply a disciplined discovery approach to understanding those pain points, experiment with what the best possible solution is for that pain point, and then experiment through a set of tests, develop a minimum viable product, and generate feedback to cultivate a solution that best addresses those pain points for the consumer. We also discuss the Discotech incubator, how Vijay used his experiences at a complex organization such as Ford to be successful in his new post at TD Ameritrade, how the company uses artificial intelligence, among other topics.
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457: Oshkosh CIO Anupam Khare outlines the company’s five strategic pillars, which are being people-first; running digital technology as a business; modernizing and innovating; building advanced capabilities in analytics and process automation, among other areas; and securing the organization in a way that reduces friction and makes experiences better for its employees, customers, and partners. We also discuss how the company has been able to recruit new employees, how the team has mixed retraining with bringing in new people externally, how the Information Technology function has rebranded to “Digital Technology” to change its perception internally and externally, among other topics.
454: Unity Technologies CIO Brian Hoyt discusses how as enterprise becomes more consumerized, employees gain autonomy and the nature of IT work changes. He cites his and his team’s focus on employee productivity. We also discuss the merging of business operations and IT, what it’s like being in a CIO within a tech-centric business, how to manage a fast-growing organization, among other topics.
452: Visteon CIO Raman Mehta discusses how IT has enhanced its role and gained the trust of the business. Historically, IT at Visteon has been great at solving problems it was presented with. However, IT was never given a voice in the company’s strategy or product roadmap. That has changed, and the board and executive committee now has great confidence in the capabilities of IT, which has enabled the organization to take on a more strategic role. We also discuss Raman’s take on 3D printing and autonomous driving, the tech landscape in Detroit, where Visteon is based, how the company is looking to turn its technology debt into a dividend, and a variety of other topics.
451: Dow CIO and CDO Melanie Kalmar recaps the merger with DuPont, subsequent executive shuffle, and ultimately the spinoff that resulted in Dow and two other publicly traded companies, Corteva and Dupont. The new Dow is a material science company that heavily invests in research and development and collaborating with customers to drive innovation. She notes that mergers present an opportunity to invest in future capabilities, and that Dow invested heavily in its digital transformation. We also discuss the expansion of her role to include the CDO title, the three anchors of Dow’s digital and IT strategy, her interest in artificial intelligence and Dow’s artificial intelligence competency center, and a variety of other topics.
449: In this interview, Julie discusses how the IT team has evolved its approach and positioned itself to mirror the business organization by embedding its people within the business units, Julie’s approach to creating new value streams, and how IT has grown in strategic importance inside the company. We also discuss the OnCommand intelligent vehicle platform and how Navistar uses insights from the platform to change internal processes, trends in telematics and connected vehicles, and a variety of other topics.
448: Johnson Controls Chief Customer and Digital Officer Mike Ellis discusses his experience joining the company after the recent merger with Tyco, the digital agenda that drives innovation across Johnson Controls’ multiple businesses, and his role as Chief Customer and Digital Officer. We also discuss the importance of the different customer personas that he must be aware and attuned to, the importance of internal partnerships, and the capabilities that drive innovation in the business, specifically data-edge capabilities, smart edge, IoT, and AI and machine learning. We end with Mike’s outlook on the growing importance of AI and machine learning.
Among the topics we discuss are
Nick Colisto discusses how Avery Dennison’s IT team shows its value to other functions by capturing, reporting, and then communicating how IT is contributing value to the company. This process starts by aligning IT’s goals with other functions and influencing how IT can help the company achieve its key strategic pillars over a five-year planning horizon. Moreover, the team has created an IT-value scorecard, which contains metrics regarding health, delivery, outcomes, and agility. Lastly, the team communicates the value it is providing through quarterly business reviews and a well written annual report that communicates the value across the spectrum. We also discuss the three parts of the company’s digital workplace strategy, the education program that the company has put in place, which has sent leaders to UC Berkeley and looks to improve digital literacy throughout the organization, Nick’s take on IoT, AI, and quantum computing, among other topics.
Tekion Founder & CEO Jay Vijayan provides an overview of the fragmented automotive industry, highlights the industry’s shortcomings, and describes how Tekoin is using advanced technology and their automotive retail cloud platform to create a win-win-win situation for the large OEMs [original equipment manufacturers], retailers, and consumers. Additionally, Jay discusses the importance of delivering a seamless customer experience, how his time as CIO of Tesla prepared him for his current role, Tekion’s global ambitions, among other topics.
432: In this episode Hunt Consolidated CIO/CDO Diane Schwarz and National Grid CIO/CDO Adriana Karaboutis explain how they are taking digital back in their respective positions. When they joined Hunt and National Grid, the CIDO’s met with board members to envision the future of digital in their organizations. Andi outlines the “North Star” that defines the direction of long term digital initiates that are developed in the NGDigital Labs. Meanwhile, Diane explains how Hunt’s Collaborative Resource Group is used to “frack for talent” that is motivated to be a part of digital initiatives. This panel also includes a discussion of AI and predictive analytics uses, the reasons digital strategies fail, and the challenge and utility of the two-in-one CIDO role.
