808: Sumedh Mehta discusses the key elements of the company’s digital transformation and aligning the organization to the overall business strategy. Sumedh describes the methods behind this transformation, the ways in which he thinks about connecting the dots across the enterprise to engage multiple business units, and the role that technology plays in the company’s consumer products. He also shares how he approaches the transformation from a change management perspective and how trust and diversity are foundational components of the underlying culture. Finally, Sumedh reflects on the keys to his career success and looks ahead at the trends in technology such as blockchain and generative AI.
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799: Nitin discusses the customer-facing technology that he oversees and how his team remains innovative and up-to-date on trends despite the company’s massive size. He emphasizes the company’s push towards automation and personalization when it comes to the digital customer experience and how he drives cross-functional collaboration to align this experience with the overall business strategy. Nitin talks about his “fast follower” approach to experimenting and piloting emerging technologies, the cybersecurity implications that must be considered, and how he views the business from the customer’s perspective. Finally, Nitin explains the culture that brought him to the company, the secrets to success over the course of his career, and the technology trends that are on his radar for the future.
793: Jeff Sippel joins the broadcast to describe why he believes technology strategy should be viewed as a ‘peer’ to corporate strategy, focusing on client-centricity. He explains the importance of cybersecurity as a core capability and driver of trust within the financial services industry, the advantage of data as a key element in developing a perspective on customer experience, and the criticality of incorporating AI/ML for automation and productivity enhancement. Jeff also explains the modernization process at Northwestern Mutual, the culture that helps with the change management behind that modernization, and how his past roles in customer experience helped inform his view as CIO. Finally, Jeff looks ahead at the trends in technology on the horizon and reflects on the keys to his career success.
791: Damu sits down with our host Peter High to discuss the various ways he approaches innovation to drive growth, efficiency, and improvements to the digital customer experience. Damu explains the idea behind Berkadia’s Startup Accelerator program BeEngaged and its role in keeping his team on top of emerging trends, building innovative solutions, and integrating new platforms like Blue Suit AI into its ecosystem. Similarly, Damu shares his experience leading the redIQ software business at the company and the way the cloud-based platform leverages AI/ML to help clients visualize data. He also talks about balancing the priorities of both IT and the broader business, building a data strategy, and driving internal technology adoption. Finally, Damu reflects on the keys to his career success and looks ahead at the trends in technology that he is excited about.
783: Tracy joins the broadcast to discuss the company’s efforts in becoming digital-first and the new technology and innovations she is helping to drive. She highlights the introduction of Fargo, the company’s first customer-facing AI virtual assistant, and dives into the broader use of artificial intelligence to improve customer service and experiences. Tracy also emphasizes the criticality of data and the organization’s cloud strategy as well as the importance of empowering employees and creating a positive culture of collaboration. Finally, she looks ahead at other trends in technology and reflects on the keys to her career success.
780: Jared Cohen and George Lee, the Co-Heads of the Office of Applied Innovation at Goldman Sachs, delve into the intersections between global affairs, geopolitics, and cutting-edge technology such as generative AI. As leaders in the financial services industry and technology space, both executives provide valuable insights into the significance of geopolitical swing states and the current state of global affairs, as well as the rapid rise of generative AI, and the role government regulation plays in technological advancements.
775: Lori joins us for a conversation about how her team explores use cases for emerging technologies to add value to the business. She explains the process behind the company’s cloud-based core system modernization and also dives deep into the potential value-add coming from advancements in generative AI, quantum computing, augmented reality, and blockchain in banking. Lori also walks through the cycle of innovation within the company and how she partners with the rest of the business to bring these innovations to life and develop an internal ecosystem of sorts. Finally, Lori covers the progress she is helping to drive in improving the state of women in tech and STEM fields, reflects on her own career path and the keys to her success, and looks ahead at the trends in technology that are on the horizon for the company.
774: Steve talks about his remarkable journey as a renowned former CIO and head of technology across multiple companies and how the role has evolved over the course of his career. He discusses how he developed his IT department from scratch early in his career, carved out the purview for the modern-day CIO, and pioneered the convergence of technology and business. Steve gives insight into major learnings from his roles at Rockwell, USAA, and KeyBank as well as what that pathway into each role looked like. He also describes his pathway to board membership and the value he added as one of the first technologists to join a scaled company’s board. Finally, Steve discusses his plans for the future, and how he continues to stay up-to-date on emerging trends in technology, politics, economics, and more.
769: Our latest episode features a panel from our Metis Strategy Digital Symposium in May 2023 where Michael and Rob discuss the topic of design thinking in ecosystem business models. Michael explains how he brings design thinking into ArcBest as a mechanism to drive innovation and the role ArcBest Technologies plays in ArcBest’s innovation ecosystem. Rob details the innovation cycle within Broadridge and how he brings the customer’s voice into that cycle to ensure continuous value is getting delivered. Finally, both executives speak on driving centralized innovation within their ecosystems and deploying those innovations to internal and external customers.
768: Our latest episode features a panel from our Metis Strategy Digital Symposium in May 2023 where Kathy and Josh discuss the topic of sustaining a high-performance culture in times of change. Kathy describes the culture of Principal when she joined the company remotely during the pandemic, explains the necessity of leadership driving the cultural transformation, and speaks to the way she responds to misalignments in the culture of the company. Josh covers the elements of World Fuel’s cultural transformation, how he quantifies and measure culture, and how he communicates constructive feedback to his organization. Finally, both executives look ahead at how hybrid work environments, generative AI, and more will impact the practices around culture at their companies.
