Peter High
2-29-2016
Excerpt from the Article:
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) exists to improve people’s lives throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Since its foundation in 1959, the bank has been working with countries throughout the region to help them address their economic and social development challenges and provide them with solutions that are tailored for their own unique situations. In partnership with 26 borrowing member countries, the bank works to reduce poverty and inequality by not only providing financial resources to bring to life sustainable, practical and in some cases innovative solutions, but also conducting cutting-edge research across a wide range of development issues as well as providing policy advice.
Nuria Simo has been with the IDB for nearly two years, having joined the company after many experiences around the world in private industry. She was excited about the opportunity, but was curious if the pace of the organization would match that of AirBus and Cargill (two of the major companies she had worked with previously). Simo discusses with CIO Insight contributor Peter High how tech can improve lives, why adding connection points between IT and the business makes sense and what the future holds for CIOs.
CIO Insight: How large is your IT department, and what is within your purview as CIO?
Simo: Our IT department is almost 100 staff strong, plus an ecosystem of partners and contractors that complements the talents of our team. Together we work towards meeting the mission of the bank by providing infrastructure and business support to colleagues in 29 countries around the world.
Beyond the day-to-day services we provide to ensure our IT infrastructure is running smoothly to meet the needs of our staff, our team is charged with looking for new and innovative ways to facilitate the work of development. In these times, being an enabler of innovation and digitalization goes far beyond the IT department, so we have the responsibility to reach out outside our teams to find better solutions.
My job as CIO includes ensuring we recruit, retain and develop professionals who are not only specialists in their field, but who want to apply their skills to contribute to improving the quality of life of people in the region, but I’m also co-responsible for ensuring compliance with our institutional strategy, promote teamwork with other IDB leaders and employees, and support the management of organizational change.
CIO Insight: You have led a digital transformation at the bank. Can you describe what this has entailed and some of the value derived so far?
Simo: The IDB intends to become a digital leader in the development sector by evolving the way we think about the use technology and changing the way we work. We see digital innovation as a critical success factor to help Latin America and the Caribbean move forward in enhancing the quality of life of its citizens. But, we need to start inside the organization first.
Our digital transformation has included a bank-wide understanding of the importance and value that digitalization and the use of technology, such as open data or business intelligence, can have in identifying and shaping development opportunities.
To read the full article, please visit CIO Insight
