Podcast tags Archives: Organizational Model

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

• How the most important thing in defining a relationship between a CFO and CIO is the establishment of communication and transparency to build trust
• The four ways in which a CIO must demonstrate the value of a project
• The multiple resources models IT can employ when structuring its staff
• The important considerations when outsourcing
• The potential pros and cons of the various reporting relationships between the CIO and the CFO vs. the COO vs. the CEO
• The potential for the iPad and virtualization/cloud computing to provide agility to the workforce

In this interview, Aaron Levie, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Box, a leader in online file sharing and cloud content management, discusses World Class IT principle one, People, principle two, Infrastructure, and principle five, External Partnerships, with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include:

• Themes of the upcoming BoxWorks conference
• Box’s ability to attract and retain top talent from other IT firms
• Box’s focus on delivering enterprise IT solutions through a consumer IT approach
• Eye on the Trends: Yesterday’s competitors are becoming today’s partners in IT. As consumers and enterprises demand more flexibility, connectivity, and functionality often from the same device, different solutions providers have to collaborate

In this interview, Mike Heim, CIO of Whirlpool, discusses World Class IT principle one, People; principle three, Project and Portfolio Management; and principle four, IT & Business Partnerships, with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include:

• His responsibilities as CIO
• The benefits of being a product owner as well as a leader
• How dramatic change has allowed him and his team to become front office collaborators as well as back office support
• The future of IoT and its effects on home appliances
• How IT addresses security in an increasingly digital world
• A glimpse into how he managed to transform the workplace using Google Apps
• IT’s role in the collaboration and development of new ideas
• The governance and culture required to create an organization that is able to respond quickly
• Eye on the Trends: Cloud computing, 3D printing, Machine learning

In this interview, Greg Carmichael, discusses World Class IT Principle One, People; World Class Principle Four, IT & Business Partnerships; and World Class Principle Five, External Partnerships. Some of the topics discussed include:

• Why CIOs need to know each business within the enterprise
• Greg’s career path from CIO to CEO

In this interview, Greg Fell discusses principles three, Project & Portfolio Management, and four, IT & Business Partnerships, of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include

• The process through which Terex transformed itself from a holding to an operating company, and how IT was central in driving and enabling that change
• How, in this transformation, Greg essentially built the corporate IT function from the ground up
• The successful implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system by invoking heavy executive collaboration to make important strategic decisions
• The importance of an IT leader to establish, nurture, and enhance relationships with other executives in order to ensure that IT is delivering on the business vision (and not on its own distinct vision)
• The similarities and differences between leading IT at his previous post, Ford Motor Company, and Terex, a global manufacturer of large construction and other types of equipment
• How he manages a “strong federated model” for his global IT team, and how Terex approaches Merger and Acquisitions
• Eye on the trends: Consumer devices in the work place, mobility strategy, and allowing access to corporate data on personal devices

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, Yasir Anwar, Senior VP, Head of Digital, Macy’s, discusses World Class IT principle one, People, principle two, Infrastructure, and principle three, Project & Portfolio Management, with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include:

• Working across internal departments and with external partners to reach customer-centric goals
• Advantages Macy’s has as a long-standing brand vs. competition from digital native organizations
• Digital development to create the “omni customer” experience
• Restructuring of the organization based on the customer’s journey—the use of “domains”
• Macy’s Labs and the focus on entrepreneurship within the larger organization
• Talent attraction

In this interview, Andrew Moore, discusses World Class IT Principle One, People; World Class Principle Five, External Partnerships. Some of the topics discussed include:

• The genesis of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science
• The history of artificial intelligence
• Aspects of human intelligence that have been automated to date
• The impact of automation on jobs
• Automated personal assistants as the predictor for the future eminent AI company
• CMU’s strategies for retaining faculty talent
• The two distinct safety concerns of AI
• The supportive relationship between Pittsburgh’s government, universities, and tech and manufacturing companies

In this interview, Jay Brodsky discusses principle 4 of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include

• The unique dynamics of being a CIO at a media company
• How to structure an IT department responsible for similar sub-divisions with very different needs
• The way in which the role of CIO must straddle an IT position and a business position and the necessity of IT leaders to work with the business to translate their needs into IT reality
• The wealth of opportunities and challenges that the internet and social media have presented to a traditional magazine, which has needed to be agile in staying relevant
• The way in which Atlantic Media has tried to stay in touch with its customers amid a world of Google-filtered searches and other competition
• The excitement around cloud computing and the possibilities it holds for the future of IT

In this interview, Lee Congdon, Chief Information Officer of Red Hat, discusses World Class IT principle one, People, principle two, Infrastructure, and principle five, External Partnerships, with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include:

• The evolution of Lee’s responsibilities as a CIO within Red Hat, and the challenges of heading an engineer-dominant staff
• The significance and direction of innovation within the IT department at Red Hat
• How open-source, non-hierarchical organizations can flourish with the implementation of an Agile infrastructure
• Eye on the Trends: The ever-increasing importance of cloud-computing and consumer based collaboration solutions