Podcast tags Archives: Big Data

In this interview, John Michelsen, Chief Technology Officer of CA Technologies, a $4.6 billion software and solutions company, discusses World Class IT principle two, Infrastructure, and principle four, IT and Business Partnerships, with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include:

• The internal and external facing role of the CTO in a tech company
• The need for speed in IT delivery
• Employing Agile principles to segment large projects into multiple manageable threads
• How IT should advise, rather than fight, business units that want to build their own applications
• Eye on the Trends: The exciting possibilities of the “Internet of Things,” and how cloud computing, mobile, big data, and consumerization of IT will be trailblazers in developing a fully interconnected world

In this interview, Jim Dubois, CIO of Microsoft, discusses World Class IT principle one, People, principle two, Infrastructure, and principle four, IT & Business Partnerships, with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include:

• His role and how he prepared for his role as an interim CIO
• How he drove progress during his initial time as CIO
• How he ensured that IT was on the same page with business units from a strategic standpoint
• The changes that are reflected in the way IT now does its work
• As CIO he acts as an initial customer to his organization, and how he can lend an empathetic ear to other customers of Microsoft
• Some of the ways that the IT organization is able to work across multiple levels of the organization
• The strategic roadmap for the future at Microsoft (including the ongoing integration with Nokia, as well as the move to a subscription basis for major Microsoft products)
• Advice on how to move from an interim CIO to a full time fit for the position
• Balancing innovation and security with his background as Chief Information Security Officer for Microsoft
• Eye on the Trends: Big Data, Machine learning, BYOD capabilities, Digitization

In this interview, Keith Collins, CIO of SAS Institute, discusses World Class IT Principle Two, Infrastructure and World Class IT Principle Four, IT and Business Partnerships. Some of the topics discussed include:

• Orienting IT towards value
• Differentiating IT within a company whose business is technology
• The transformation and evolution taking place in the data analytics space
• Perspectives on the cloud first strategy
• Being “Customer Zero”
• Internal and external security concerns
• Eye on the trends: sensor-enabled IoT; the continued use of data to provide a holistic view in order to improve companies’ forecasts and decision-making

In this interview, Manjit discussed World Class IT Principle One, People, and World Class IT Principle Four, IT and Business Partnerships. Among the topics discussed include:

• Clorox’s increasing focus on developing direct relationships with the end-customer, and the ways in which this is enabled such as enhanced understanding of the customer journey through digital marketing as well as direct shipping enabled through supply chain efficiencies
• The techniques Clorox uses to build consumer journey maps, and the ways in which their brands use the consumer journey maps to determine how and where to engage
• The ways in which IT immerses itself in the day-to-day operations of different groups so that they can better understand their challenges and thus better serve them
• Clorox’s focus on data and analytics, and the focus on helping groups find the right data sets rather than just analyzing as much data as possible
• How and why the IT team has gotten involved in new product innovation, especially in the early stages
• The skill mix changes required for Clorox to reach its goals, and the ways in which they bring in people with new skills or perspective
• Eye on the Trends: AI/ML, Agile, DevOps, IoT, Connectivity

In this interview, Scott McNealy, CEO of Wayin, talks with Peter High. Some of the topics discussed include:

• The inspiration behind Wayin, his digital marketing software company
• The disadvantages of locating a company in the San Francisco Bay Area
• The tremendous growth of Wayin and EngageSciences
• The sophistication and evolution of executives who have worked with Wayin’s offering
• How Wayin uses insights and real-time campaign tweaking to change the decisions it makes
• How his work at multiple times of the Internet’s growth will fuel his activities around new trends including cloud, mobile, and social
• The resources he uses to remain abreast of innovation and technology
• The future of the Chief Information Officer role
• Eye on the Trends: Big Data, and the intersection of new and old industries

In this interview, Mark Sunday, CIO of Oracle, discusses World Class IT principle one, People, principle two, Infrastructure, and principle four, IT & Business Partnerships, with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include:

• His role and the areas under his purview within Oracle
• The culture of being within a major technology company within the IT department
• The way in which he tests and integrates new solutions to give feedback to other parts of the organization
• As CIO how he acts as an initial customer to his organization, and how he can lend an empathetic ear to other customers of Oracle
• Strategic priorities for the future
• His service on the boards of a variety of other organizations
• The digital transformation and how the role of CIO should play a strategic role in this area
• Pushing the innovation agenda and how he has balanced security against innovative activities
• Eye on the Trends: Crowdsourcing, Crowdfunding, the Internet of Things, and Big Data

In this interview, Yvonne Wassenaar, CIO of New Relic, discusses World Class IT Principle Two, Infrastructure, and Principle Four, IT & Business Partnerships. Some of the topics discussed include:

• Being a CIO in a cloud based company
• The importance of CIOs having both a horizontal viewpoint and a technological mindset
• Taking intelligent risks
• IT departments as integrators and collaborators
• The role of CIOs on corporate boards
• The internal and external functions of a modern CIO

Diversity in STEM fields

In this interview, Barry discussed industry 4.0, how Lightspeed approaches investments, among other topics including:

• Industry 4.0 as the digitization of the manufacturing sector
• The core technology trends that are enabling Industry 4.0, such as connectivity and computational power, intelligence, human/machine interactions, and digital/physical conversions
• Barry’s timescale for the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies amongst large enterprises
• The degree to which established manufacturing companies understand and are responding to the threats and opportunities presented by Industry 4.0
• How Lightspeed, as a theme-oriented venture firm, approaches investing in the Industry 4.0 space
• How Lightspeed investigates technology themes and their applicability across sectors and industries
• How Barry thinks about the security implications of new technologies such as IoT
• The differentiating factors Barry looks for when making an investment, such as the management team and core technologies
• The genesis of Lightspeed Ventures, which Barry founded in 1999
• How the partners divide up themes and determine where each will focus

In this interview, Jay Ferro, Chief Information Officer of the American Cancer Society, a nationwide voluntary health organization, discusses World Class IT principle two, Infrastructure, and principle four, IT and Business Partnerships, with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include:

• The specifics of his CIO role at American Cancer Society
• The differences and similarities in managing IT at non-profit and the for-profit sectors
• The critical role of IT in enabling functionality of a volunteer based organization like American Cancer Society
• How Jay prepared and gathered his team around him to achieve early wins
• Eye on the Trends:The increased role of technology and platforms like CRMs, mobile devices, and big data to improve operational and research performance of organizations like American Cancer Society

In this interview, Steve Betts, SVP and CIO of Health Care Service Corporation, discusses World Class IT principle 1, People, and principle 3, Project and Portfolio Management, with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include:

• Healthcare Service Corporation and his role within the organization
• How he transitioned to a new industry and how that affected his initial plans on joining the organization
• How he organized his time to understand his new team and organization
• The strategy that came out of his initial time at the organization
• Some of the ways in which he has gauged success
• How he has contemplated change within the organization amongst its people
• Lessons as to how he has harnessed the power of Big Data
• Developing more member-centric capabilities