Metis Strategy

In this interview, Vic Bhagat, Chief Information Officer of General Electric's Global Growth and Operations Organization discusses principle one, People, principle four, IT-Business Partnerships, and principle five, External Partnerships, of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include: Vic's role and IT enabling growth at GE IT innovation at GE and the culture of innovation Sharing global best practices while maintaining local relevance The balance of innovation and security, risk management, and governance GE's "onshoring"/"smart-shoring" of IT domain knowledge The future of the IT leader IT metrics and the focus on business process improvement Eye on the trends: Omnipresent information and the capability of sending IT solutions to anywhere at any time, hyper-intelligence and how analytics can bring the decision support system to a whole new level, and the need to give ample attention to the entire user experience in order to ensure stickiness

In this interview, Ben Fried, Chief Information Officer of Google discusses principle two, Infrastructure, principle three, Project and Portfolio Management, and principle four, IT-Business Partnerships of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include: Role of IT at Google Ben's priorities for IT Google's "20% Time" and Open Source openness The “corporatization of consumer technologies” (or the consumerization of IT) Cloud computing's benefits and impact on IT The future IT worker Eye on the trends: The criticality of browser security and how it should not be an afterthought for CIOs, the rise of Android and tablets in the enterprise and the need for CIOs to proactively manage, rather than react to the change, and the emergence and potential of the Chrome Operating System to solve many of the challenges brought on by personal computing

In this interview, Jo-ann Olsovsky, Vice President and Chief Information Officer of BNSF Railway discusses principles two, Infrastructure, and four, IT-Business Partnerships of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include: Technology in the rail industry Need for collaboration and inter-operability Life after the Berkshire Hathaway acquisition Mindset of a CIO in a B2B Company Learning a new industry and company Eye on the trends: BNSF's use of mobile computing to help its customers track their freight, the challenges of the consumerization of IT, the evolution of the "always on" hand held device and information at the fingertips without the need to launch applications, the potential for video and imagery in rail, the digital storage boom and power of cloud computing and visualization

In this interview, Bill Chang discusses principles one, People, two, Infrastructure, four, IT-Business Partnerships, and five, External Partnerships, of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include: Best-in-class information communication technology The networked world IT financial management The importance of the Value Chain Cloud computing security Eye on the trends: The inevitability of cloud computing adoption, the scalability of mobile computing, the potential of a networked “M to M” mobile world, the power of analytics, and the challenges that the consumerization of IT creates for a CIO

In this interview, Piyush Singh, Chief Information Officer of Great American Insurance, discusses principle one, People, and principle four, IT-Business Partnerships, of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include: How he lead a complete revamp of the application architecture in order to leave all legacy systems in the past His priorities around leveraging Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) in order to enable data to flow “automagically” throughout Great American’s systems and therefore streamline business processes His “Big Five” guidelines for CIOs, which include: The need to flip the ratio of 80% spend on maintenance and 20% on new development The need to avoid correlation between age, tenure, and risk aversion The importance of the CIO’s physical proximity to business executives in determining how strategic IT can be The need to differentiate between creating a solution vs. an automation How grading IT based on “on-time and on-budget” are the wrong signs of success Eye on the trends: How the consumerization of IT has bled into business partner expectations and demand for IT

In this interview, Joe AbiDaoud, Chief Information Officer of HudBay Minerals, discusses principle two, Infrastructure, principle three Project and Portfolio Management and principle four, IT-Business Partnerships, of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include: A description of HudBay Minerals’ metals mining business and the impactful role technology plays in enabling the company’s push for growth His priorities for the near term around perfecting their newly rolled out ERP, leveraging geological survey and discovery technology, as well as improving wireless communication for their many disparate operations How, as a CIO in a new industry, Joe utilized a company-wide survey to understand the true perception of IT across the organization The inclusive governance model that HudBay uses to ensure that all the right players are included in decision making HudBay’s organizational structure that has a central CIO function, central architecture, and shared services for IT infrastructure Eye on the trends: Technology that supports all mining operations, especially the geophysical exploration technology, growing ease and power of improved communications, and the further out potential for robotics to reduce costs amid rising fuel and labor costs

In this interview, Michael Del Priore, Global Chief Information Officer for Church and Dwight, discusses principles four, IT & Business Partnerships, and five, External Partnerships, of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include: How Church & Dwight organizes on a global basis and leverages expertise from the center with global platforms The importance of defining a multiyear strategy that can drive decision making in order to reach an optimal end state How effective governance, architecture planning, and demand management can help deliver on multiple, varying business needs The optimal balance between in-house IT staff and external powers, and how the latter should use the expertise to perform commodity functions in order to free up in-house capabilities to lead strategic initiatives The best practice of sharing one’s IT strategy with a core group of external partners in order to improve alignment and reap synergies Eye on the trends: The consumerization of IT and skepticism over the business case for some of it, cloud computing and the flexibility the private and public cloud options offer, and the huge opportunity that business intelligence has to make IT a difference maker

In this interview, Harvey Koeppel discusses principles three, Project & Portfolio Management, and four, IT & Business Partnerships, of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include How CIOs have increasingly taken on more diverse roles, transforming from a manager of a tactical IT cost center to a business savvy leader that needs to understand business strategy and processes, organization and growth, talent management, risk management, and how to capitalize on customer-related business intelligence The way in which CIOs remained innovative during the cost-cutting downturn by re-investing savings into innovation, focusing on core competencies, and helping diversify the business beyond local or regional dependencies How the differentiator between leading CIOs and average CIOs is the ability to earn a “voice at the table” beyond just a “seat at the table” by being able to communicate and contribute in business terms The disparity between the number of CIOs who have innovative ideas and those that actually get funded, and how that it driven by both communication abilities and getting the IT basics right How, while CIO of Citigroup’s Global Consumer Group, he and his team helped enhance the global customer experience by aligning IT delivery to business strategy Eye on the trends: The proliferation of broadband and mobile technology and how that enables the holy grail of technology: anything-anyplace-anytime; the consumerization of IT and the challenges a CIO faces by not being in full control of all technology; and the shifting dynamic of how data is no longer consider the output of an application, but rather applications are built specifically to handle large amounts of data

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, Hunter Muller discusses principle one, People, and principle four, IT & Business Partnerships, of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include His book, The Transformational CIO, and how he defines a truly “transformational” leader The logic behind the unique story-telling approach employed in the book that allows the voices of transformational CIOs to really come through His four-step model for CIOs: Define (a future state vision), Build (a world class team), Lead (by instilling confidence and demonstrating consistency and authenticity), and Change (by inspiring a culture of change that uplifts people to the future state vision) How CIOs can, and should, think like CEOs by capitalizing on their license to operate across the company to drive growth and identify efficiencies Eye on the trends: Cloud computing- its ability to enable innovation and the need for IT to deliver so that the business does not bypass IT to purchase capabilities externally, mobility- its ability to enable the mobile work force, and the opportunity CIOs have in this age of technological significance to be a transformational leader

In this interview, Larry Bonfante discusses principle four, IT & Business Partnerships, of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include His book called Lessons in IT Transformation and the importance of the “human side” of leadership: focusing on developing relationships, communicating effectively, marketing your ideas, supporting partners and clients, and leveraging the competitive advantage of your own people How the US Tennis Association leverages technology for operational improvement, constituent communication, and driving top line growth His priorities around minimizing utility costs in order to reinvest in IT an engine of innovation that drives revenue through their event management system, access control system, wireless kiosks, and licensing of USTA’s proprietary technology The need for CIOs to adopt the business strategy and corporate mission as their own strategy, as opposed to creating an IT-specific strategy in a vacuum Eye on the trends: The ability to un-tether the workforce from their desks and tap the consumer market through mobility, and everything as a service to free up capital for growth investment

In this interview, Lee Congdon discusses principles two, Infrastructure, and four, IT & Business Partnerships, of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include Red Hat IT’s priorities for the new fiscal year around business solution delivery, operations and process improvement, technology driven innovation, and capability growth The close partnership IT has with product development as heavy users and beta testers of Red Hat products The necessity of recognizing that IT is ultimately a service organization that should be business driven, and how establishing that culture earns trust from business partners How he has organized his IT team to focus on innovation, most recently around telephony, consumer services, business intelligence, mobile technology, and developing a community support model Eye on the trends:Consumerization of IT, rapid growth of mobile application and device capabilities, Software as a Service (SaaS) as a platform for faster and easier access to new technology, and the tremendous business opportunity for Red Hat in Cloud Computing and utility computing

In this interview, Amit Chatterjee discusses principles two, Infrastructure, and four, IT & Business Partnerships, of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include The mission of Hara to allow organizations to participate in the natural change around energy, water, and waste management in a meaningful way that did not compromise profitability How advanced technology, coupled with behavior modifications, can improve an organization’s energy and water “metabolism” in order to drive down costs The need to factor in energy sustainability when considering growth strategies The story behind this technology-led start-up’s own growth Practical advice for how CIOs can partner with executive colleagues in order to drive energy, and therefore cost, savings The need for companies to have more visibility into their energy use in order to establish accountability and reduce waste How governments can positively encourage advancement in the energy industry by molding the infrastructure that will help define the role of entrepreneurs and corporations Eye on the trends: The fusion of green practices and technology

In this interview, Jay Levine discusses principles one, People, two, Infrastructure, and four, IT & Business Partnerships, of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include Jay’s priorities of focusing in the near term on addressing government mandates while in the longer term preparing his company for the shift to a business to consumer environment The dramatic changes to the health insurance supply chain, and how regulatory measures are driving significant technology modernization and transformation How Blue Cross Blue Shield of MN is approaching the uncertainty of legal regulations in health reform, as well as the bets the company is making regardless of regulation How, when taking on a new CIO position, one must commit to obsessive learning about a new industry while also identifying parallels with other industry experience The necessity to run a non-profit like a for-profit business, while heavily appreciating the community-oriented mission of the company How the health insurance industry lags others in its adoption of commodity labor and software solution, and how this will be a necessary shift in approach in order to meet the increasing time to market demands of a business to consumer market Eye on the trends: Mobile devices’ ability to provide rich data anywhere, cloud computing playing a role in agility, and the ability for Software as a Service (SaaS) to enable transformational efforts in a shorter time period

In this interview, Jim Flyzik discusses principles one, two, three, and four of World Class IT with Metis Strategy. Some of the topics discussed include How IT is capable of addressing a number of the US government’s problems through cost cutting and improved customer service The steps taken to drive substantial streamlining efforts across government agencies The importance of approaching problem solving by framing an “Imagine if” scenario, and working backward from that to create actionable steps How to engender support for technology change amidst skeptics How to establish meaningful and productive relationships with business partners , and the need to structure the relationship such that he or she views IT as capable of solving his or her business problems His experience of working with the Secret Service, and recognizing the need to approach cyber security as proactive risk management as opposed to reactive break fixing Eye on the trends: enhanced visualization technology to improve the communication of ideas, wireless & mobility and the ability for the intersection of time and distance to approach zero, cloud computing, identity management, business intelligence, cyber security, and the potential for the "open source" trend to drive the proliferation of open architectures within IT departments