Podcast tags Archives: Organizational Model

In this interview, Mark Settle discusses all five principles of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include

• The transition from being the buyer from IT vendors to leading the IT operations for an IT vendor
• How BMC Software IT serves as a strategic partner with the business as Beta testers for product development, monitors of competition, enablers of R&D, and sales representatives with intimate experience using the company’s products
• The focus on recruiting IT leadership who will be able to play the role of a strategic partner whose focus is not only on managing IT, but also on working collaboratively with the business and capable of being involved in sales
• The green IT initiatives and achievements of BMC Software in energy savings and server utilization optimization
• The need for understanding the most appropriate use of collaboration technologies relative to different organizational dynamics
• The call to reassess very structured IT shops, whose traditionally rigid processes may be inhibiting agility

In this interview, Suren Gupta, EVP of Technology & Operations of Allstate Insurance Company, discusses World Class IT principle one, People, and principle four, IT-Business Partnerships, with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include:

• The innovative ways in which Allstate has structured its organization to most effective facilitate a significant business transformation, specifically the various mechanisms used to capture and fund innovative ideas from the ground up
• The various ways in which Stewart has built cross-functional capabilities to pull knowledge from the disparate functions of R&D, IT, and business, in a way that enables a greater understanding of the organization’s needs.
• The importance of sourcing technologists that are first and foremost businesspeople when building talent
• The challenges and opportunities Stewart identified when serving as the lead integrator of two merging companies with distinctive cultures and processes
• Suren’s hesitance, throughout his career, to focus on getting to that “next level” and his prescribed alternative
• The increasing importance of a flexible and effective organizational structure through which the key principles of operation, execution, enablement, development, innovation, and differentiation are supported
• Eye on the Trends: The societal changes and possibilities that will come with leveraging data for wisdom, Allstate’s “innovation councils” composed of senior technology and business leaders with the purpose of bringing new ideas to life

In this interview, Susan Swart, CIO of the International Monetary Fund, discusses World Class IT Principle One, People, Principle Four, IT and Business Partnerships, and Principle Five, External Partnerships. Some of the topics discussed include:

• Organization of the IT department given the broad purview of the IMF
• Sought-after skills and qualities of IT team members
• Creating a new ecosystem with the engagement of new partners
• Her path as an executive and advice for women in the field
• Mentoring programs and the importance of increasing the pool of potential female hires
• Eye on the trends: AI in surveillance and natural language processing, Fintech, block chain

In this interview, Mike Capone discusses three principles of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include

• The way in which ADP’s substantial data center consolidation has created savings on the bottom line and in their carbon footprint, improved processing speeds, and provided the opportunity for ADP to bolster their data security schemes
• A discussion of “Smart-Shoring” and how viewing his organization as “Global IT” has allowed ADP to get the most out of all geographies it operates in
• How ADP avoids the “rip and replace model” when approaching acquisitions and the accompanying IT integrations
• The power of Web 2.0 through corporate blogging and Social CRM, which can lead to organic ideas and improved collaboration
• How driving innovation through IT must be a process that marries the business leaders and technically talented innovators
• How ADP has been operating as a “cloud computing” provider long before it become a hot topic in IT

In this interview, Vicente Fox, former President of Mexico and Latin American business leader, discusses World Class IT principle one, People, and principle four, IT-Business Partnerships, with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include:

• The innovative ways in which President Fox has leveraged his business acumen and political knowledge to build Mexico and Latin America as hubs of Information Technology
• The decision behind President Fox’s move from the private to public sector, as well as the progression in experience and motivation that led him to the Presidency
• The importance, to President Fox, of setting ambitious goals and how they allowed him to achieve the ends that he sought to accomplish
• The important role that marketing and communications have played in President Fox’s accomplishments across both the public and private sectors
• The underlying philosophies, many of which stem from his Jesuit education, that drive Fox to success
• President Fox’s opinion on the future of Latin American economies as they become increasingly competitive in the global landscape

In this interview, Rob Alexander, CIO of Capital One, discusses World Class IT Principle One, People, Principle Two, Infrastructure, Principle Three, Project & Portfolio Management, and Principle Five, External Partnerships. Some of the topics discussed include:

• Rob’s preview as CIO of Capital One, and his untraditional IT background
• How the organization has adopted agile development, as well as the agile mindset
• The IT department’s implementation of Dev Ops, and how they measure its effectiveness
• Using technology and organizational best practices to facilitate collaboration
• The company’s digital transformation, and the importance of understanding and positioning for disruptive change
• Competing with as well as partnering with Fin Tech startups, tapping into innovation ecosystems, and how Capital One leverages the advantages of its scale
• Some of the forward-looking products Capital One is developing for its customers

In this interview, Mukul Kumar discusses three of the five principle of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include

• The next generation of opportunities for transformational change
• What makes effective senior leaders, in IT as well as the business
• The fundamental importance of culture, and its effect on employee engagement
• IT’s changing role in an economic downturn: IT’s primary responsibility is no longer internal cost cutting
• Infrastructure’s role as a company’s productivity toolkit

In this interview, Gopichand Katragadda, CTO of Tata Group, discusses World Class IT principle one, People, and principle four, IT & Business Partnerships, with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include:

• His role as the within Tata, and his mandate as the first CTO of the organization
• The ways in which he has pursued the goal of shifting the organization to become one of the 10 most technologically innovative companies in the world
• The structure he has set between members of his team at the group level and on a company-by-company level
• Areas of innovation that he has pursued
• The extent to which he has focused on the Indian market compared to the global market
• His role at General Electric India’s technology center, and how he has leveraged talent processes in India across the global reach of the company
• The rise of Indian education and his diverse set of hobbies including film, writing, and music development

In this interview, Shamim Mohammad, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of CarMax, discusses World Class IT Principle One, People, and Principle Four, IT and Business Partnerships. Some of the topics discussed include:

• Online finance and home delivery as examples of digital transformation at CarMax
• Co-location and product teams
• Dev Ops’ role in innovation and execution
• Product teams consist of individuals from across the company and are responsible for business outcomes
• Open houses to showcase product teams’ work and current projects
• Recruiting top IT talent for the digital transformation
• “cloud first, mobile first” strategy
• Key trends: block chain, machine learning, mobile, cloud

In this interview, Rob Dowler discusses three principles of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include

• How a federated IT structure allows the organization to act vertically within business units- or ministries- as well as horizontally across the government
• The mature strategic planning process the Government of Ontario employs in order to ensure the efficient use of tax-payer money
• How hosting an “internal consulting function” allows the organization to flexibly allocate permanent employees within the government based on project needs at “whole-sale” cost
• The importance of maintaining metrics in order to ensure the organization stays on course
• The shift in desired skills of future employees, and how those employees should be prepared to be “great enablers of public service delivery”