CIO Classified

Eric Johnson, CIO at PagerDuty, shares why today's most impactful CIOs are evolving into strategic business leaders. He explains how AI is driving a fundamental shift in how IT organizations operate—moving from reactive support functions to proactive, value-creating business enablers.About the Guest: Eric Johnson is the Chief Information Officer at PagerDuty, responsible for PagerDuty's critical IT infrastructure, data management and enterprise systems. Prior to joining PagerDuty, he was the CIO at SurveyMonkey, DocuSign and Talend. Before that, Eric spent 12 years at Informatica driving the information technology vision and strategy as the company scaled to a modern SaaS architecture. He is an active advisor and board member to several early-stage companies and a regular contributor to IT thought leadership.Timestamps:*(05:20) -  Embrace shadow IT and AI tools*(18:40) -  Changing role of the CIO*(30:00) -  Security and cybersecurity awareness*(33:35) -   Future of automation and AIGuest Highlights:“In the CIO org, they need to be business experts as much as the partners that they work with… because AI and the use of it and finding those high value use cases, it's gonna take folks in the CIO org to be a lot more knowledgeable about how the company operates and processes.”“Obviously, certain roles are going to change much more than others, but I think across the board, roles are going to change.”“As these changes come, how do you reorient the organization—the humans in the organization—to be able to find that higher value work?”Get Connected:Eric Johnson on LinkedInIan Faison on LinkedInResources:Learn more about PagerDuty: www.pagerduty.comHungry for more tech talk? Check out these past episodes:Ep 59 - CIO Leadership in AI Security and InnovationEp 58 - AI-Driven Workplace TransformationEp 57 - The CIO Roadmap to Executive LeadershipLearn more about Caspian Studios: caspianstudios.comCan't get enough AI? Check out The New Automation Mindset Podcast for more in-depth conversations about strategies leadership in AI, automation, and orchestration. Brought to you by the automation experts at Workato. Start Listening: www.workato.com/podcast

Siroui Mushegian, CIO at Barracuda, shares how she's building a smart, secure foundation for AI—-from setting up an AI council, to governing agents, and creating employee guidelines that protect innovation. She also shares how AI is transforming IT operations and unlocking new levels of productivity across the enterprise.About the Guest: Siroui Mushegian is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Barracuda. Siroui joined Barracuda most recently from BlackLine, where she was responsible for all aspects of BlackLine's internal corporate IT. Before BlackLine, she held executive IT leadership roles at PBS's WNET New York Public Media, the NBA, Ralph Lauren, and Time, Inc. Bringing more than 20 years of executive and IT leadership experience, Siroui has successfully built strong operational environments that eliminate technology silos, elevated the maturity and impact of technology within her enterprises and delivered measurable and scalable business outcomes. Siroui holds a Master of Business Administration in Management and Strategy from Fordham University's Gabelli School of Business and a bachelor's in mathematics and finance from University of Connecticut.Timestamps:*(04:10) -  Skills for Future CIOs*(07:00) -  Barracuda's AI and Automation Projects*(08:50) -  Tips for AI Security *(33:25) -   The Importance of Community and CollaborationGuest Highlights:“ A lot of people are worried they are going to work themselves right out of a job. It remains very important for us to keep our position as thought leaders to hold that mantle high.”“ Your partnerships with your colleagues and leaders across the enterprise will help you get more done than any AI agent will.”“ I love the concept of the education we're getting ready to roll out  in a curated way to people who are going to take these tools and come up with solutions that I could never in my life think of because I don't sit in their shoes every day.”Get Connected:Siroui Mushegian on LinkedInIan Faison on LinkedInResources:Learn more about Barracuda: barracuda.comHungry for more tech talk? Check out these past episodes:Ep 58 - AI-Driven Workplace TransformationEp 57 - The CIO Roadmap to Executive LeadershipEp 56 - Best Proactive Cybersecurity Strategies for CIOsLearn more about Caspian Studios: caspianstudios.comCan't get enough AI? Check out The New Automation Mindset Podcast for more in-depth conversations about strategies leadership in AI, automation, and orchestration. Brought to you by the automation experts at Workato. Start Listening: www.workato.com/podcast

Saket Srivastava is the Chief Information Officer at work management platform Asana. Saket oversees Asana's IT organization, including optimizing technology systems and processes, connecting technology strategy to overarching business strategy, and ensuring that technology infrastructure supports organizational goals. Previously, Saket held executive positions at Square, Guidewire Software, and other leading technology companies. Saket holds a Master of Computer Applications (MCA) from the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, and an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.Timestamps:*(01:30) -  Asana's Impact and Internal Operation*(08:15) -  AI and Employee Experience*(13:25) -  Collaboration and Cross-Departmental Partnership*(19:05) -  Future Trends and SkillsGuest Highlights:“When you add business understanding with technology understanding, that makes a deadly combination where you can serve and help move the needle for your business.”“The reality is we get sold all the time, every day. When you show up as a practitioner, as a peer, and you're ready to talk about the good, the bad, the ugly, there's a lot of power.”“ Good news is bad news being delivered early. It's so important to be able to create a healthy environment where you can talk about those risks.”Get Connected:Saket Srivastava on LinkedInIan Faison on LinkedInResources:Learn more about Asana: http://asana.com/Hungry for more tech talk? Check out these past episodes:Ep 57 - The CIO Roadmap to Executive LeadershipEp 56 - Best Proactive Cybersecurity Strategies for CIOsEp 55 - Engineering Leadership for Scale, Agility, and MomentumLearn more about Caspian Studios: caspianstudios.comCan't get enough AI? Check out The New Automation Mindset Podcast for more in-depth conversations about strategies leadership in AI, automation, and orchestration. Brought to you by the automation experts at Workato. Start Listening: www.workato.com/podcast

Rich Horwath, CEO of Strategic Thinking Institute and best-selling author, shares strategies that help CIOs to elevate their strategic thinking—providing a roadmap for transitioning from technical leaders to visionary business executives. Drawing from his advisory work with top-tier technology leaders, Horwoth breaks down the critical skills needed to move beyond operational management and position themselves as strong CEO candidates.About the Guest: Rich Horwath is the founder and CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute where he facilitates strategy workshops to help executive leadership teams think, plan, and act strategically to set direction, create advantage, and maximize their leadership performance. He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of eight books on strategic thinking, including his new book: STRATEGIC: The Skill to Set Direction, Create Advantage, and Achieve Executive Excellence. He's published two articles in the Harvard Business Review this past year and has helped more than one million leaders develop their strategic thinking and planning skills over the past two decades in pursuit of his vision to teach the world to be strategic.Timestamps:*(01:35) - The CIO to CEO Journey*(07:25) - Innovation and Competitive Strategy*(28:45) - Future State Thinking for CIOs*(44:05) - Transitioning from CIO to CEOGuest Highlights:“The great CIOs understand that it's not about copying. It's about creating and innovating by understanding the competition.”"If you're really being strategic, you're going to tick a lot of people off internally and externally."“What are we trying to achieve? And how are we going to do it? So planning can be too complex sometimes, but it boils down to those two questions.”Get Connected:Rich Horwath on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/richhorwathIan Faison on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ianfaisonResources:Learn more about the Strategic Thinking Institute: www.strategyskills.comHungry for more tech talk? Check out these past episodes:Ep 56 - Best Proactive Cybersecurity Strategies for CIOsEp 55 - Engineering Leadership for Scale, Agility, and MomentumEp 54 - AI Business Strategy for CIOsLearn more about Caspian Studios: www.caspianstudios.comCan't get enough AI? Check out The New Automation Mindset Podcast for more in-depth conversations about strategies leadership in AI, automation, and orchestration. Brought to you by the automation experts at Workato. Start Listening: www.workato.com/podcast

Carl Froggett, CIO at Deep Instinct, breaks down the AI-driven disruptions reshaping the cybersecurity landscape. From navigating complex security architectures to busting big data myths, Carl offers strategic advice for CIOs and CISOs on staying one step ahead in a rapidly evolving tech world.About the Guest: Carl Froggett, CIO of Deep Instinct, brings nearly 30 years of experience to the role. Previously, as Head of Global Infrastructure Defense and CISO Cybersecurity Services at Citi, he led risk reduction efforts across devices and networks in 100+ countries. Now, he oversees Deep Instinct's infrastructure growth, internal systems, security, and processes to support global expansion and strategic partnerships.Timestamps:*(08:10) - The Impact of AI on Cybersecurity*(25:45) - Rising IT Spending and Persistent Breaches*(28:00) - Challenges and Strategies for Modern CIOs and CISOs*(32:10) - The Future of Cybersecurity and Deep LearningGuest Highlights:“It takes a level of leadership to say, ‘Hey, our investment over here has been great for the last 5, 6, 7, or 10 years, but that is no longer good enough. We need to replace, we need to reinvest, and we need to retrain.'”“We need to be more aggressive on the front-foot as the defenders. Just protecting your endpoint is not enough—your endpoint's the last resort. If your endpoint fails, game over.”“When opportunity knocks, you say, ‘Come on in.' It doesn't matter if it's a role that you were hired to do and it's outside of that role, say yes and get involved. More experience leads to you knowing more people.”Get Connected:Carl Froggett on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/carlfroggettIan Faison on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ianfaisonResources:Learn more about Deep Instinct: www.deepinstinct.comHungry for more tech talk? Check out these past episodes:Ep 55 - Engineering Leadership for Scale, Agility, and MomentumEp 54 - AI Business Strategy for CIOsEp 53 - Business-First IT in the AI EraLearn more about Caspian Studios: www.caspianstudios.comCan't get enough AI? Check out The New Automation Mindset Podcast for more in-depth conversations about strategies leadership in AI, automation, and orchestration. Brought to you by the automation experts at Workato. Start Listening: www.workato.com/podcast

Jason LaFollette, CTO at Yext, shares his product-driven approach to leading agile teams, maintaining tech debt, and using a “top-down, bottom-up” style to keep productivity and momentum high.About the Guest: Jason LaFollette is Yext's Chief of Technology. Jason joined the company in 2014 and built out the enterprise consulting side of the business before moving over to product engineering and technology. Prior to joining Yext, Jason was CEO and co-founder of Citrrus, a professional services company specializing in mobile app development and wearable devices, which Yext acquired as the company's first acquisition. Timestamps:*(02:30) - Understanding Yext's Business Model*(04:55) - Leadership and Team Management Strategies*(14:20) - Scaling and Technical Debt Management*(24:00) - Adopting New Technologies and AIGuest Highlights:“What I'm looking for is momentum with the teams, momentum with the people, momentum with the systems. If you get fixated on the tactical parts... It's a false sense that you're doing something great, but you'll hit a ceiling quickly in terms of productivity.”“We only want process when it accelerates us… Once we've proven that we know how to do it manually by keeping smart and talented people in the loop and making good situational decisions is our secret sauce to scale with a lot less pain.”“If something is important to us, the company, or the management team and we aren't measuring and watching it, other people aren't going to value it either. I've come to adopt a mix of top-down and bottom-up leadership where we can't have all-of-one or all-of-the-other, or everything falls apart.”Get Connected:Jason LaFollette on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jasonlafolletteIan Faison on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ianfaisonResources:Learn more about Yext: www.yext.comHungry for more tech talk? Check out these past episodes:Ep 54 - AI Business Strategy for CIOsEp 53 - Business-First IT in the AI EraEp 52 - Empowering Citizen Developers and Reshaping Business with AILearn more about Caspian Studios: www.caspianstudios.comCan't get enough AI? Check out The New Automation Mindset Podcast for more in-depth conversations about strategies leadership in AI, automation, and orchestration. Brought to you by the automation experts at Workato. Start Listening: www.workato.com/podcast

Naveen Zutshi, CIO at Databricks, shares his strategies for successful AI implementation. This must-listen episode is perfect for tech leaders wanting to learn how to craft an effective AI strategy, bridge gaps in tech teams, and drive innovation in your organization.About the Guest: Naveen Zutshi is the CIO at Databricks, previously CIO at Palo Alto Networks where he managed analytics, applications, and infrastructure. Before that, he was SVP of Infrastructures & Ops at Gap and held roles at a SaaS startup and Cisco.Timestamps:*(04:40) - Cybersecurity and Data Privacy*(20:00) - Ensuring Data Quality and AI Strategy*(28:45) - Future Trends and Innovations in Tech*(31:35) - Advice for CIOs Guest Highlights:“There's a significant amount of pull from CEOs on the CIO to define the AI strategy for their company. As technology leaders… We have an opportunity to actually provide data and AI strategy, and then help influence that strategy towards ultimate business goals.”“Often, we want to move quickly into the AI world but then realize our data set is in bad shape… First and foremost, you need a clear data strategy and you need to execute on the strategy.”“Having business and users buy-in is key — making sure that you are solving for the right problem rather than looking for a problem because you now have a solution.”Get Connected:Naveen Zutshi on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nzutshiIan Faison on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ianfaisonResources:Learn more about Databricks: www.databricks.comRead Naveen's AI insights and more on Forbes: https://bit.ly/4frJ93tLearn more about Caspian Studios: www.caspianstudios.comCan't get enough AI? Check out The New Automation Mindset Podcast for more in-depth conversations about strategies leadership in AI, automation, and orchestration. Brought to you by the automation experts at Workato. Start Listening: www.workato.com/podcast

This episode features Cisco Sanchez, SVP and CIO at Qualcomm, who shares his business-first philosophy to technology cultivated over 25 years of IT experience. Sanchez emphasizes the importance of IT professionals loving both technology and the business, creating roadmaps that align with business goals, and utilizing frameworks like Charlie Feld's approach. About Cisco:Cisco Sanchez is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Qualcomm Incorporated. As the leader of Qualcomm's global IT organization, Cisco is responsible for leading the strategic direction for IT infrastructure, Information Security & Risk Management, Cyber Resiliency, Enterprise Applications, and End User Productivity solutions. Cisco is also responsible for driving large scale Pre-Silicon, Post Silicon and Enterprise-wide digital transformation initiatives improving Qualcomm's agility, leverage, efficiency and security. He collaborates with the executive and business unit leadership and focuses on enabling forward-looking innovative technology solutions to achieve Qualcomm's vision and deliver strategic value.Sanchez has more than 24 years of engineering and IT experience. Prior to Qualcomm, Sanchez spent over 15 years at FedEx Ground company. At FedEx Ground, Sanchez served as the SVP & CIO after having worked his way up the ranks, gaining expertise in architecture design, acquisition integration and enterprise IT systems. Throughout his career, Cisco has led many initiatives to ready FedEx for the next generation of business needs, processes, and data resources, including system upgrades, data center migrations, cyber security management and data analytics ecosystem development, to name a few. Cisco holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Colorado State University and a master's degree in management information systems from Colorado Technical University.Guest Quote:"We love technology. I love technology. I'm a developer, but we should also love the business and understand it thoroughly. So when I first came in, my goal was to not make drastic changes, but understand the business to the best ability possible. I use a framework that looks at the models and try to understand, here's what the business does, here's how it does it, the technology underneath, here's how the enablement activity works. And I think by doing that, it gives you a different, deeper perspective of how the business is interacting and what they do.”Timestamps:*(03:30) - The Role of AI in Modern IT*(09:10) - Frameworks for Business-First IT*(17:50) - Selling the Vision*(18:50) - AI Innovations at Qualcomm*(23:30) - The Convergence of IoT and AILinks:Connect with Ian Faison and Cisco Sanchez on LinkedInLearn more about QualcommReady for more conversations about strategic leadership in AI, automation, and orchestration? Check out The New Automation Mindset Podcast by Workato.

Carter Busse, CIO at Workato, explores how AI is reshaping business decisions and empowering citizen developers. With over 20 years of IT leadership experience, Carter shares real-world automation examples and advice on navigating point solution vendors. He also discusses orchestrating data across systems, democratizing automation, and future trends that will revolutionize the industry. About Carter:Carter Busse, CIO at Workato, is one of the leading innovators in IT/Business partnerships in automation. An accomplished IT executive, Carter brings a rich history in technology, including leading IT during three IPOs—Excite@Home, Salesforce.com, and MobileIron. Carter was hired by Marc Benioff personally as employee #70 at Salesforce. Over the years, he has developed a specialty in constructing highly effective, collaborative teams (90+), executing business strategies, and driving revenue growth while reducing operating costs. Carter is a sought-after advisor of IT leaders around the country, a Bay Area Orbie CIO Award winner, and listed on the Forbes CIO Next list of the top 50 CIOs in the United States.Guest Quote:“Architecture is key. Very key. So, you set up the right infrastructure in a secure place to let people iterate in a safe place—that takes a lot of architecture. You don't want stuff being put into production that these guys built and break. Who gets the first call? It's IT.  So, I really feel like our role is changing from doing more building and more enabling and more architecture.”Timestamps:*(00:00) - Impact of AI on business decisions*(04:15) - Empowering citizen developers*(07:20) - Real-world automation examples*(20:05) - Navigating point solution vendors*(23:35) - Democratizing automation with training and metrics*(31:15) - Future trends and CIO secretsLinks:Connect with Ian Faison and Carter Busse on LinkedInLearn more about Workato Catch up on past episodes featuring conversations between leading CIOs

In this episode, Sheila Anderson, CIO at Aflac, discusses how the company is using AI to modernize while handling legacy systems. Sheila highlights key initiatives such as digital claims processing, establishing an AI center of excellence, and transforming internal operations. She also emphasizes the importance of aligning business goals, maintaining ethical AI practices, and developing the workforce as Aflac integrates new technologies.About Shelia:Shelia Anderson is an information technology executive with extensive Fortune 100 CIO, services, and consulting experience, particularly in Financial Services and Insurance. Partnering with C-level stakeholders, she drives business change and digitally enables organizations through multi-million dollar technology strategies, agile development, and support initiatives for applications and infrastructure. She is well-versed in a range of technologies, from legacy systems to cloud, AI, and LLMs, focusing on maturing organizations through cloud migration, agile transformation, and digital enablement. With a significant passion and proven results in mentoring and developing talent in STEM, supporting women in technology, and building exceptional teams, Shelia has demonstrated organizational leadership over 2000+ employees across multiple global locations and managed budgets exceeding $600 million.Shelia has received multiple honors and recognitions for her leadership and contributions to the IT field, including the 2023 and 2024 Top 100 Women in FinTech, the 2021 Boston CIO of the Year SuperGlobal Orbie Award, the 2018 Elite Women in Insurance recognition, and the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award.Guest Quote:“[When it comes to AI] start with your business. Simple, really. Understand your business, your business challenges, and your business opportunities. Always start with ‘why' and anything that you deliver from there, the closer you can tie the work that you're doing to the business value, the more successful both you and your company will be at the end of the day.”Timestamps:*(01:40) - Aflac's AI Journey*(03:55) - AI at Scale: Transforming Aflac*(09:00) - Building Automation and Innovation into Culture *(26:15) - Leadership Insights and Advice*(31:15) - Future Trends and StrategiesLinks:Connect with Ian Faison and Shelia Anderson on LinkedInLearn more about Aflac's servicesCheck out the My Special Aflac Duck® mentioned in this episodeCatch up on past episodes featuring conversations between leading CIOsCan't get enough AI and automation content? Listen to The New Automation Mindset podcast presented by Workato.Our Sponsor:Workato® makes the creation and implementation of automations 10X faster than traditional platforms. As the leader in AI-powered enterprise automation, Workato enables enterprises to automate their business processes across the organization by integrating their applications, data, and experiences. Designed with best-in-class security and governance, scalability, performance, and availability, our low-code, no-code platform makes it easy for IT and business teams to integrate their applications and automate their processes, drawing from thousands of automation “recipes” built by the Workato community.With Workato's democratized approach to automation and integration, business technologists are empowered to fuel their organization's digital transformation. Workato® is trusted by over 17,000 of the world's top brands, including Broadcom, Intuit, and Box.

Just like the role of the CIO has transitioned from a back-office data manager to a business enabler, how CIOs build and maintain internal and external partnerships has also greatly evolved. In this episode, Madlin Sadler, COO of the International Rescue Committee, and Colleen Berube, CIO and SVP of Operations at Zendesk, draw insights from their own collaboration to talk about the many ways partnerships can be powerful—from bringing in new perspectives to providing resources and solutions—as well as share their advice on building strategic partnerships for today's CIO.---------Quotes“The need to have great partnerships with people who are helping us push our thinking has been more critical than ever… particularly for us, meaning that we transform and innovate in a way that I don't think we could if we didn't know what was out there and what the world was capable of achieving with us. Partnerships for us are really pushing us to the next level.” - Madlin Sadler, COO of the International Rescue Committee“Part of the value that you can bring as a technology leader is really not about the technology at all—it's about having the visibility to see what's happening in different parts of the business, and you can bring those things together and influence different thinking by looking more holistically at what could be happening in the company.” - Colleen Berube, CIO and SVP of Operations, Zendesk---------Time Stamps:* (1:46) Meet Madlin and Colleen, and learn about their roles* (6:38) How the role of CIO has evolved to include operations* (11:21) Emphasizing productivity in the hybrid workplace* (16:46) Why internal and external partnerships are important for success * (23:27) Secrets every CIO and exec should know* (24:53) Madlin and Colleen ask each other questions--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Ian on LinkedInConnect with Madlin on LinkedInConnect with Colleen on LinkedInLearn more about the International Rescue CommitteeLearn more about ZendeskLearn more about Caspian Studios

Spending money is easy when investment opportunities are everywhere, but it's harder to predict if something is worth the cost. In this episode, IT leaders from the public and private sectors tell us about the times their investments paid off—from new technology to the employee experience. You'll hear advice from Tim Chester, VP of IT and CIO at the University of Georgia, and Carrie Rasmussen, CIO at Ceridian, on how to keep pace with the increasing demand for digital transformation, and much more.---------Quotes“Frankly, it's time to invest… AI machine learning and science hires are key, and we're investing in our high-performance computing to support faculty in those important fields.” - Tim Chester, VP of IT, CIO, at the University of Georgia“We do have to put certain initiatives on the back burner, but more importantly, we are being asked how do we take inefficiencies and repurpose them so that it's not a budget cut, but a reallocation of funds through proper harvesting.” - Carrie Rasmussen, CIO at Ceridian---------Time Stamps:* (1:46) Meet Tim and Carrie, and learn about their roles* (5:35) How to priortize spending and when to reallocate funds* (20:54) Peer leadership advice for discussing budgets* (23:32) Investing in human capital with DEI efforts* (35:40) Tim and Carrie ask each other questions* (35:40) Secrets every CIO should know--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Ian on LinkedInConnect with Tim on LinkedInConnect with Carrie on LinkedInLearn more about the University of GeorgiaLearn more about CeridianLearn more about Caspian Studios

The competition to attract and retain talent remains fierce, and today's leading CIOs understand that creating an employee experience model should be just as high of a priority as technology and innovation. In this episode, we've compiled advice from CIOs and technology leaders who are creating employee-centric cultures at their companies, and examine strategies used by successful organizations—from VMware to the Boston Red Sox—that keep employees engaged, productive, and happy.---------Quotes“The key is to offload work that doesn't require synchronous co-creation to the machine. Find ways to make that work readable, visible, doable, and extensible by the machine.” - Wendy Pfeiffer, CIO, Nutanix “You need to have a defined workflow that is the map of how work gets done across the organizations. Then, have some monitoring on them to make sure that you're continually reflecting and speeding yourselves up.” - Alex Hood, CPO, Asana“We've done a few things to mix it up a bit in town halls. For example, we've had people on the team kick off the meeting. We've had some people singing—some people play the guitar. We've even had some people singing and playing guitar at the same time. We always try to mix it up and have something interesting upfront.” - David Vidoni, VP of IT, Pegasystems “There's a tendency to throw human capital at problems. We're looking at ways where we can bring a lot more automation and hopefully, a lot more efficiency to how their particular jobs operate. This way, people can be better informed and able to leverage data that they've never had before—really make decisions that otherwise were historically time-consuming.” - Brian Shield, SVP and CTO, Boston Redsox.“If we can fundamentally change the culture and get into a place where people feel genuinely and sincerely delighted, surprised, and amazed by the experience of using technology, they will be more productive. They will feel good about who they work with and what they're doing.” - Jason Conyard, SVP and CIO, VMWare“We've been really focused on the onboarding experience because so many people boarded during the pandemic. We've been trying to keep our game up by making it very simple and seamless, especially when you're doing it from a remote perspective.” - Ginna Raahauge, EVP and CIO, Zayo Group“We get employees involved in the decision-making process. We want them to have a say in which tool, vendor, and features they like… We believe technology is now a utility and everybody needs to participate in the decision-making process.” - Prasad Ramakrishnan, SVP of IT and CIO, Freshworks“We can't just assume people coming in know how to be a technologist, or know the basics of tackling technology. We have to create a great employee experience before they start, the day they start, and all the way through.” - Carter Busse, CIO, Workato“Continuously learning about new technologies or new ways of working… that creates a resilient culture by default.” - Apratim Purakayastha, CTO, SkillSoft and SumTotal“If your team is happy and productive, that customer experience will resonate and other people in the organization will look to IT to help solve their problems rather than a potential blocker to getting things done.” - Johan Dowdy, Global Head of IT, Asana---------Time Stamps:* (1:45) Why it's important to create less work about work* (8:05) Creative solutions to increase employee engagement* (11:50) Ideas for optimizing the employee onboarding process* (16:57) How to make employees feel like their voices are heard* (21:36) How to build resilience into the workplace culture --------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Ian on LinkedInLearn more about Caspian Studios

Key partnerships between CIOs and their internal departments are evolving rapidly, creating new ways of working and opening up new revenue streams. In this episode, we talk to Adam Glick, CISO at SimpliSafe, and Marc Linster, CTO at EDB, about where they see relationships with CIOs going in the future and ask them their secrets for success when it comes to cloud infrastructure, data security, and more. ---------Quotes“Where you're going to see a big separation between organizations is how they're wielding technology, so the CIO has a really large task. They're most successful when they're thinking about the needs of the business and the employee experience.” - Adam Glick, CISO, SimpliSafe“I see more and more the CIO becoming a facilitator of information. Yes, IT has to be managed in the right way securely, but it has to be accessible – it has to be usable.” - Marc Linster, CTO, EDB---------Time Stamps:* (1:47) Meet our guests, Marc & Adam* (6:40) How to strategize for creating cloud infrastructure * (9:30) Cloud security best practices for CIOs* (14:15) The CIOs role in strengthening data security* (18:35) How CIOs can help CTOs turn volumes of data into actionable insights* (20:42) What does the future role of the CIO look like?* (23:25) Working with other departments to improve the employee experience* (29:51)  Projects on the horizon for EDB and SimpliSafe* (33:06) Marc and Adam ask each other questions--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Adam on LinkedInConnect with Marc on LinkedInLearn more about SimpliSafeLearn more about EDB

The impact of today's economic climate is felt everywhere – even in the CIO's office. In this episode, we ask two leading CIOs how they save money on IT and talent while still producing results. You'll hear from Jason Conyard, CIO at VMware, and Ginna Raahauge, EVP & CIO of Digital Transformation at Zayo Group, who discuss how to keep attrition in check and streamline and optimize your organizational costs, plus much more.---------Quotes“We're seeing interest rate changes. There are concerns about the availability of fuel and the impact of the cost of power around the world. I think that's going to probably color the 2nd half of the year and almost certainly into next year as well. Now, some people of course will look at that and they'll be concerned… but I also recognize that this presents an opportunity for companies to cut some of the sandbags that have been weighing down the balloon as organizations have grown. They've probably focused on transforming and not necessarily turning things off, or optimizing business processes. As we see that challenge ahead, it also creates that opportunity for us to streamline and optimize.” - Jason Conyard, CIO at VMware“Just because I can technically solve your problem doesn't mean I should solve it with technology. I think this does go back to the old adage of systems, processes, and data. I think if we give more of our users, customers, and partners access to data insights, they can make different decisions around things. Then sometimes, you can even avoid some of the process of reengineering that takes a long time and a lot of energy, and it isn't even a system or a process that you need.” - Ginna Raahauge, EVP & CIO of Digital Transformation at Zayo Group---------Time Stamps:* (1:51) Meet our guests, Jason & Ginna* (4:07) New economic challenges facing CIOs in 2022* (11:04) Keeping attrition in check by improving the employee experience* (17:04) When should I use technology to improve employee productivity?* (21:53) Projects on the horizon for VMware and Zayo Group* (28:03) Secrets CIOs should know * (32:25) Lessons CIOs can learn from working in a startup  * (37:11) Jason and Ginna ask each other questions--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Jason on LinkedInConnect with Ginna on LinkedInLearn more about VMwareLearn more about Zayo Group

In this episode, Darren Person, Global CIO at The NPD Group, and Max Chan, CIO at Avnet, share their insights about the use of AI in enterprise industries and reveal how to reap its benefits without breaking the bank. They address knowing when it is time to introduce AI, how to approach boards about it, how to leverage AI to drive employee experience and expand your business, and much more.---------Quotes“You cannot do AI or machine learning without good data. Don't ever think that AI is this black box that magically is going to solve all your problems. You have to go through the hard work, the iterations, the training of the models, testing the algorithm. Don't forget the importance that data is for this journey because without it, there's really no way to be successful and scale for your organization.” - Max Chan, CIO at Avnet“Data tells a story. It's our job to figure out what story that data tells, and then how to make sure that we are telling the right story with it. Like anything in statistics, you can use data in a variety of different ways. It's about the quality of the data that really drives that story. All these tools will help you get there, but at the end of the day, you still need to make sure that the story that you tell is accurate, to the point, and it's understandable within the data as well.” - Darren Person, Global CIO at The NPD Group---------Time Stamps:* (1:53) Meet our guests, Max and Darren* (3:33) The current state of AI for enterprise B2B and B2C companies* (13:12) How to scale AI in your company* (21:40) The approach boards should take toward AI* (28:01) How to leverage AI to drive employee experience * (32:37) Secrets CIOs should know about data* (31:59) Max and Darren ask each other questions--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Max on LinkedInConnect with Darren on LinkedInLearn more about The NPD GroupLearn more about Avnet

Today's modern CIO is expected to do much more than just keep the lights on and make sure you can log in to your system. Join Sanjay Macwan, CIO and CISO at Vonage, and Harry Temkin, CIO at DriveWealth, as they discuss their evolving roles before revealing what makes an effective leadership model, including the main drivers behind employee productivity and retention.---------Quotes“CIOs should obsess about this every day: how do we make sure that our employees and company are able to do their job better? … So one of the things that I really obsess about is self-serve and automation. How do I create self-serve models through automation so that if you're a salesperson, he or she is able to get things done in a self-serve model and they don't have to ask for it on a regular basis?” - Sanjay Macwan, CIO and CISO at Vonage“From a retention standpoint, an employee that feels empowered and has the ability to make decisions and impact strategy is typically one that you keep for a very long time and feels very satisfied. They feel like they actually own something.” - Harry Temkin, CIO at DriveWealth ---------Time Stamps:* (2:01) Sanjay & Hary share more about their respective roles* (4:32) The next big projects coming out of Vonage and DriveWealth* (8:22) What drives employee retention (with examples) * (15:37) How automation can drive employee productivity* (22:17) How a customer-centric culture can influence innovation * (29:47) The evolving responsibilities of the modern CIO* (32:31) Sanjay and Harry ask each other questions* (38:40) Secrets more CIOs should know --------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Sanjay on LinkedInConnect with Harry on LinkedInLearn more about VonageLearn more about DriveWealth

The constantly shifting demands of digital users are forcing IT leaders to anticipate the next curveball -- that's why we talked to Brian Shield, SVP & CTO, Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Management, and David Vidoni, VP of IT at Pegasystems, about simplifying their IT departments in order to remain agile. In this episode, Brian & David reveal their secrets to providing a world-class experience that's constantly changing with consumer preferences, plus how they've accelerated the digital transformation journey, and much more.---------Quotes“The key thing for any organization, or any CIO, is that you have to get rid of a lot of your legacy. If you're so overwhelmed with legacy technologies, systems, and processes, it's very difficult to think strategically. When you do implement technologies, you need to implement ones that, if not future-proofed, at least give you a long runway so that you feel like you're not going to have to revisit these on a very regular basis.” - Brian Shield, SVP & CTO at Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Management“It all comes down to going back to basics. The simple things – do you have applications that create data with a high degree of quality upfront? Do you have people responsible for those systems that will maintain that data? Then behind the scenes, is the plumbing to bring that data from point A to point B simplified and straightforward?... When you get to the point where you need to do reporting or other analysis, a lot of the headaches and problems have already been dealt with.” - David Vidoni, VP of IT at Pegasystems---------Time Stamps:* (1:47) Brian & David share more about their respective roles* (5:15) Projects on the horizon for the Boston Red Sox and Pegasystems* (7:22) Simplifying the digital transformation journey * (12:35) Data literacy at the board level * (20:17) Making bets on new technologies * (23:16) Finding the right outside partnerships* (25:52) Secrets more CIOs should know * (31:59) Brian and David ask each other questions--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Brian on LinkedInConnect with David on LinkedInLearn more about Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports ManagementLearn more about the Pegasystems

Data is everywhere, in everything, but how do you know if your company is optimized for a data-driven future? A new term is emerging that might be the best way to tell: data intensity. You'll hear from Jay Upchurch, EVP and CIO at SAS, and Oliver Schabenberger, Chief Innovation Officer at SingleStore, as they define data intensity, share advice to improve data literacy, and discuss why curiosity is key for innovation, employee retention, and more.---------Quotes“I think to the traditionalist…the idea of citizen ‘anything' scares them, you know? It's just different. I think that's where companies, especially modern companies, lean into that uncomfortableness. They lean into it for scale and how to grow. They lean into it for curiosity. When you shy away from the idea of enabling the citizens, then that means you're not feeding fuel to the curiosity that propels us forward.” - Jay Upchurch, EVP and CIO, SAS“Data intensity is a manifestation of tech intensity. We ask ourselves, ‘What data resources do we have? What data resources do we need to become more data-driven, and what can we build with it?' It's recognizing that data intensity is increasing everywhere, and that is a good thing. There's more data and we have more uses for data. You want to go from a more descriptive, backward-looking, historical-looking approach to data to a more forward-looking, predictive approach.” - Oliver Schabenberger, Chief Innovation Officer, SingleStore---------Time Stamps:* (1:47) Meet Oliver & Jay, and learn about SAS and SingleStore* (6:45) What is data intensity? * (12:12) Why data intensity can become the new KPI * (15:03) Are CIOs responsible for employees' data literacy?* (22:36) How promoting curiosity can help employee retention * (26:42) What managers can do to improve the employee experience * (29:27) Secrets more CIOs should know * (32:50) Oliver and Jay ask each other questions--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Jay on LinkedInConnect with Oliver on LinkedInLearn more about SASLearn more about the SingleStore

In this episode, we talk to two executives at the opposite ends of the spectrum: Matthieu Houle, VP of IT and Digital Tech at ALDO Group, a half-century old retailer, and Pierre-Luc Bisaillon, CIO at AppDirect, a cloud-born tech company. Despite coming from different IT landscapes, Matthieu and Pierre-Luc share a similar approach to future-proofing their companies' IT. You'll hear insights into staying ahead of the curve, like how to leverage data, prioritize projects, and more.---------Quotes“If you look at the corporate employee, look at [IT] as a product… Where is the value? How much are we willing to invest? What are the usage metrics? The growth metrics? Where do we need to remove friction? A lot of IT is about removing friction.” - Matthieu Houle, VP of IT and Digital Tech at ALDO Group“The good news is that over the years we've been able to abstract more and more of the work that IT does and rely on cloud providers, whether they're infrastructure or software as a service. Meanwhile, the core of our efforts do not have to be managing the low-level anymore, and that allows us to be technology experts, but framed as ‘how does technology actually help business?' - Pierre-Luc Bisaillon, CIO at AppDirect---------Time Stamps:* (1:47) Matthieu's role at Aldo and Pierre-Luc's role at AppDirect* (5:09) The changing scope of the CIO's role across industries* (14:27) Matthieu's product approach to IT leadership* (18:15) What data-driven business alignment looks like at AppDirect* (20:12) Building agility and resilience into a tech stack * (23:32) Aldo and AppDirect's next big projects * (26:30) Matthieu and Pierre-Luc share their CIO secrets * (28:51) The future of digital IT and shadow IT--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Matthieu on LinkedInConnect with Pierre-Luc on LinkedInLearn more about TELUS InternationalLearn more about the ALDO Group

In this episode, Michael Ringman, CIO at TELUS International, and Sesh Tirumala, Chief Information & Data Officer at Anaplan, discuss how they're ensuring that their organizations are benefiting from strong data management strategies. Plus, they provide their perspectives on dealing with the “SaaS overload”, what they see as the future of the CIO role in cloud-based enterprises, and much more. ---------Quotes“We've got to be able to pull in a large amount of data in ways that our customers can see the value and better understand the trends of what's happening in their environments. But, there's also an element of being able to provide small data… Like, how long have they been a customer of this organization? Acknowledging those little pieces of very helpful information go a long way.” - Michael Ringman “Data management, data privacy - those are the fundamentals, but the more important thing is how do you manage the connectedness of this data? So, that way you can then answer a lot of the key business decisions and questions.”  - Sesh Tirumala---------Time Stamps:* (2:07) Michael and Sesh's backgrounds & current roles * (2:44) Avoiding SaaS bloat & how to recover* (6:31) Finding value in big data & converting into results * (17:36) Misconceptions about SaaS and data * (22:19) Using data to build a better employee experience* (28:37) Michael and Sesh ask each other questions* (31:52) Micahel and Sesh share their top CIO secrets --------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Michael on LinkedInConnect with Sesh on LinkedInLearn more about TELUS InternationalLearn more about the Anaplan

In this episode, Alex Hood, CPO at Asana, talks with Wendy Pfeiffer, CIO at Nutanix, about new challenges in the hybrid workplace model, and how they can be overcome with effective asynchronous collaboration. They also share advice on adapting to a generation of employees that has grown up with technology, from providing faster problem resolution to equipping digital-native employees with the right tools, and much more.---------Quotes“Most work actually gets done cross-functionally, so you need to have a defined workflow that is the map of how work gets done across the organizations, and then have some monitoring on them to make sure that you're continually reflecting and speeding yourselves up. Most of the folks who try Asama start because they say handoffs are very difficult, and they don't want things to fall through the cracks. That's some of the problems that we try to solve by just linking data, tools, and teams together for these handoffs and workflows, and then allowing for some monitoring reporting so that they can get better every time that they run it.” - Alex Hood, CPO at Asana“The very notion of hybrid work is supportive of people who prefer to work in many different modes. I think it's by shining a light and looking at places where we have an opportunity to improve where we ensure people don't get left behind… I do think that technology plays a big role in this as does our own openness in leadership to accept new viewpoints and to think differently.” - Wendy Pfeiffer, CIO at Nutanix---------Time Stamps:* (2:07) Alex and Wendy's background & current role * (3:00) Challenges in the hybrid workplace* (8:45) Optimizing asynchronous collaboration* (23:55) Organizing workflow structures * (26:08) Adapting to a digital native workforce* (43:14) Ensuring tenured employees are not left behind* (45:30) Alex and Wendy ask each other questions--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Alex on LinkedInConnect with Wendy on LinkedInLearn more about AsanaLearn more about the Nutanix

Changing workforces and new technologies are altering the talent pipeline, but how can companies adapt? In this episode, Dr. Hank Foley, President and CEO of New York Institute of Information Technology, and Santhosh Keshavan, EVP and CIO at Voya Financial, discuss how companies and academic institutions alike can ensure they're adapting to the workforce of tomorrow, address the pain points of today, and much more. ---------“A cornerstone of today, and for particular the kinds of students in technology, is that they want to be able to do everything through their smartphones…. It was incumbent upon us to get everything right from billing, to financial aid, to signing up for courses, to looking at your degree, to doing your degree audit, to registering, and eventually to graduation. If you want [students] to feel and have respect for the institutions, then you gotta be doing these things.” - Hank Foley, PhD“The appetite [for talent] is endless, and that's where the challenge forms. It's not just, ‘Boy, I'm sure every company is looking for such-and-such talent.' No, because tools and technology change so fast. We do not necessarily over-index on one tool or one technology itself. We want the basics, right? It's more about having the right attitude as well, wanting to be a team player and a willingness to learn newer technologies.” - Santhosh Keshavan---------Time Stamps:* (1:00) Dr. Foley and Santhosh's roles at NYIT and Voya Financial * (3:00) IT and Tech talent pipeline shortage * (8:45) Partnering with academic institutions * (13:15) Prioritizing talent acquisition and retention * (21:55) Keeping up with a rapid rate of change * (22:41) Designing an optimal student experience  * (27:00) Keeping skills sharp after graduation * (31:25) How to partner with NYIT and other institutions* (36:50) Dr. Foley and Santhosh ask each other questions--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Dr. Hank Foley on LinkedInLearn more about Voya FinancialLearn more about New York Institute of Technology

Developers are now responsible for implementing digital security policies in software, but few understand the fundamentals of cybersecurity. In this episode, Samir Sherif, CISO of Imperva, and Yonatan Eldar, CTO of Apiiro discuss ways to bridge the gap between security and development, as well as share best practices for cloud security and much more.---------“I think the talent that we're going to see evolving sooner than later is more technologists becoming better risk professionals, because cyber risk and information security challenges are not solved purely by security professionals. If we're going to continue to evolve and deal with this threat landscape, I think a change in industry from a talent perspective needs to be the adoption of risk capabilities.” - Samir Sherif“From the security perspective, the smart thing for companies to do now is to push some of the responsibilities, knowledge, and awareness to the developers… We need to do that from day one. We need to think about security this way.” - Yonatan Eldar---------Time Stamps:* (1:00) Samir and Yonatan's roles at Imperva and Apiiro* (3:00) Changing landscape of cybersecurity* (8:45) Securing funding for cybersecurity * (13:15) Key security roles needed in the future* (21:55) Maximizing security with the sacrifice  * (22:41) Benefits of using a multi-cloud infrastructure * (27:00) Lessons learned from past cyber attacks * (31:25) Security secrets not enough execs know * (36:50) Samir and Yonatan ask each other questions--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Samir on LinkedInConnect with Yonatan on LinkedInLearn more about ImpervaLearn more about Apiiro

Ravi Naik, EVP and CIO at Seagate, and Milind Wagle, CIO at Equinix, discuss the CIO's role in enabling business strategy, the future of multi-cloud infrastructure, and share valuable insights and best practices for a successful cloud migration, and much more.---------“IT is like oxygen - it's expected to always be there. If you take oxygen out, you know what happens. That's really how I view information technology of today. The future is where technology is ubiquitous. It is easy to use and it works, and no one knows that it even exists. That's really a good IT organization.” - Ravi Naik “Employee experience is about the ease of doing business - whether it's about collaboration technologies, manufacturing tools, or analytics to improve yields in manufacturing locations. The better the employee experience, the better the results for the enterprise, the better the results for business… The employee experience is not about creating the ‘wow' factor. It is about productivity gains and making the enterprise effective.” - Milind Wagle---------Time Stamps:* (3:04) Milind & Ravi's roles at Equinix and Seagate* (7:07) The future of IT Leadership * (8:15) Gauging employee experience on a mass scale* (10:17) Future of data analytics and cloud infrastructure* (16:55) Best practices for cloud migration* (22:41) Benefits of using a multi-cloud infrastrastructure * (38:24) Secrets not enough execs know * (37:50) Miliand and Ravi ask each other questions--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Ravi on LinkedInConnect with Milind on LinkedInLearn more about SeagateLearn more about Equinix

Prasad Ramakrishnan, CIO and SVP of IT at Freshworks, and Carter Busse, CIO at Workato, discuss how IT Leaders can play a vital role in the employee experience, getting ahead of pain points, their secrets to security and automation, and much more.---------“We get employees involved in the decision making process. We want them to have a say in terms of which tool they like, which vendor and features they like …We believe that the technology out there is now like a utility. Everybody has an opinion and everybody needs to participate in the process.” - Prasad Ramakrishnan“I look up to [CIOs] that are really passionate about understanding how the business works… They're not necessarily concerned about the technology, but how they can enable the business to go faster and with the right cost measures in it, and really understand the business.” - Carter Busse---------Time Stamps:* (2:22) Prasad & Carter's roles at Freshworks and Workato* (4:10) How they view the scope of the CIO's role* (6:10) Carter and Prasad's secrets to gauging results* (11:45) Getting ahead of pain points to create a great employee experience* (16:48) Building resiliency during uncertain times * (26:15) Maintaining while scaling * (29:55) The future of automation in the employee's security experience * (35:23) Secrets not enough executives know* (38:20) Prasad and Carter ask each other questions--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Prasad on LinkedInConnect with Carter on LinkedInLearn more about FreshworksLearn more about Workato

Jim Chilton, CIO at Cengage Group, and Rob Lee, CTO at Pure Storage discuss overcoming obstacles during a digital transformation, building infrastructure with ransomware in mind, and staying secure while scaling up quickly, and much more.---------“Over the last couple of decades, you've heard the CIO, or even the CTO, considered to be the CEO's mechanic or plumber… The reality is that technology is the enabler for nearly every company on the planet today – that means that the mechanic and plumber are now the architect. I would encourage executives to think differently about technology executives and the contribution they can make to the strategy of the company.”- Jim Chilton“When you're in a game of ‘build a better mouse trap', ‘build a better mouse', you can't just focus on the next mouse trap in front of you. [Security] has got to be an upfront consideration, in all of the product and process, in all the decisions that you make… for a performance system.”- Rob Lee---------Time Stamps:* (1:14) Impacts of the ‘overnight' shift to remote work * (6:21) Remember the basics when undergoing digital transformation  * (9:33) Predictions for the future of work in 2022* (14:26) Prioritize security when building infrastructure * (31:03) How to scale up quickly and securely * (26:08) What keeps Rob engaged and Jim's technology predictions--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Jim Chilton on LinkedInConnect with Rob Lee on LinkedInLearn more about Cengage GroupLearn more about Pure Storage

Johan Dowdy, Global Head of IT at Asana, and AP Purakayastha, Group CTO at Skillsoft and SumTotal, analyze the always-evolving job description of an IT leader, before sharing valuable insights on improving employee experience as well as engagement, and much more. ---------“There's the adage that the customer is always right, and that's very much as true today as it was 10 years ago. Now, that wasn't always the perception of folks in IT… but that is the north star of all great IT organizations. They are perceived as going the extra mile and providing outstanding customer service.”- Johan Dowdy“Employees, more and more, are looking for more than just a job. They're looking for growth. They're looking for a purpose… So, IT's role is to help employees grow continuously, to learn with whatever tools we have, and to do that naturally and seamlessly with the workflow.”- AP Purakayastha---------Time Stamps:* (1:42) IT's role in employee experience * (5:44) Must-have tools for productivity * (7:46) Using IT to increase employee engagement* (18:33) Building resilience into tech stacks and strategy * (21:46) Career secrets AP & Johan have learned * (24:06) Predictions for the future of work in 2022* (27:29) Biggest changes in tech from the past 20 years* (28:08) Making the case for automation* (30:44) Adopting a customer service mindset in IT--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Johan on LinkedinConnect with AP on LinkedinLearn more about AsanaLearn more about Skillsoft and SumTotal

Shivani Govil, Chief Product Officer at CCC Intelligent Solutions, and Seth Rachlin, Executive Vice President at Capgemini, discuss the ways digital technology is transforming the insurance industry, share advice on balancing internal innovation with external stability, and much more.---------“At the end, it's about streamlining towards the outcomes that you're trying to deliver. It's very important that as we think about this need for digital transformation, it's not an isolation of, ‘Oh, I want to go on this journey because everyone is doing it.' It's about how do you deliver those better outcomes as a business and as an organization?”- Shivani Govil“I think many who sit in the CIO and CTO seat, we are enamored of technology. We love technology. I think too many of us don't recognize that there needs to be a business imperative for technology to make a difference… The secret is figuring out how to make it relevant and meaningful, and how to make it resonate for customers, employees, and for stakeholders through the ecosystem, because otherwise it's just cool technology.”- Seth Rachlin---------Time Stamps:* (1:53) New tech's influence on consumer's expectations* (5:11) Balancing internal innovation and external stability * (8:22) How new tech and world events will impact insurance in 2022* (11:04) Reasons for digital transformation outside remote working * (17:10) Advice to legacy companies for digital transformation * (21:07) Innovating with a purpose and plan* (23:03) Shivani and Seth share what keeps them motivated--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Shivani on LinkedinConnect with Seth on LinkedinLearn more about CCC Intelligents SolutionsLearn more about Capgemini

Michael Oberlaender, CISO at LogMeIn, and Wayne Sadin, a Board IT Advisor at Via Group Partners, talk about today's biggest threats in cybersecurity, risk management responsibility, preparing for a sophisticated digital world, and much more.---------“Cybersecurity is not going away. You cannot ignore it, shortcut it, or under fund it, and the moment you do that - you pay the price later. What has changed is the sophistication on the attacker's side, and response and preparation needs to take this into account. That is why it's key to invest in threat intelligence, threat modeling, and similar subjects.” - Michael Oberlaender“We've got to be building the ability to deliver whatever services the business wants, which means breaking down the monolithic stacks and breaking down the mindset that we have to do it in house…We've got to adapt the IT department, and the company, to the idea that we set a data architecture, a security architecture, a delivery architecture, and then move to a modular IT environment where we would be the stewards of the work, and not necessarily arms and legs of all of them.”- Wayne Sadin---------Time Stamps:* (1:41) The current state of cybersecurity * (2:42) Ensuring cybersecurity improves employee experience * (6:43) Avoiding a false sense of proper security hygiene * (10:18) Risk management responsibility and third-party analysis * (16:15) Prepping technology stacks for the future of cloud-based work* (23:52) Predictions for 2022 & adapting IT to the future of remote work * (33:39) Michael and Wayne share secrets they wish more executives knew * (34:43) Advice on asking for funding for preventative security measures--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with Michael on LinkedinConnect with Wayne on LinkedinCheck out Michael's books:GLOBAL CISO - STRATEGY, TACTICS, & LEADERSHIP: How to Succeed in InfoSec and CyberSecurityC(I)SO - And Now What?: How to Successfully Build Security by DesignLearn more about LogMeIn and LastPassLearn  more about Via Group Partners

Adam Rasner, VP of Technology Operations at AutoNation, and Claire Hough, CTO at Carbon Health, discuss their experiences as Tech Leaders in historically analog-first industries, building infrastructure for the digital native customer, prioritizing the employee experience, and much more. ---------“If we're going to roll out all this new technology and innovation, we could have the best ideas, the best solutions, but if it's not robust, and if it's not resilient, and we don't have a good disaster recovery plan - it's only as good as the uptime that we're able to commit to.” - Adam Rasner“Technology itself doesn't solve any problems. It's how people are going to use it and leverage it to make their work much better... Partnership is super important and including those stakeholders as you're building, deploying, and supporting products, that holds the key to success together as a team.”- Claire Hough---------Time Stamps:* (2:24) Prioritizing the digital native customer in an “old school” industry * (4:15) Building infrastructure for a digital-first experience* (11:00) Making sure technology helps your employees * (15:40) Challenges faced while simplifying a multi-step customer transaction  * (18:00) Moving off the IT island and working closer with company leaders * (24:12) Why being proactive can help Tech Leaders stay resilient * (29:32) Adam and Claire share industry predictions for 2022* (32:42) Scaling Up - lessons learned and advice from Adam and Claire * (35:47) Advice for employee retention in a competitive job market * (43:20) Adam and Claire talk about their favorite bulldogs--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with AdamConnect with ClaireAutoNationCarbon Health

Brian Peterson, Co-Founder and CTO of Dialpad and Olivia Rose, CISO and VP of IT & Security of Amplitude, talk about increasing productivity, security in remote work, advice for going public, and much more.---------“We're never going back to regular work. No one's ever going back—it's too hard to go in reverse.” - Brian Peterson“As a company, security equals trust. Without trust, you don't have customers, stakeholders, or shareholders.” - Olivia Rose---------Time Stamps* (6:44) Technological innovation and its impact on workplace productivity  * (14:42) The role trust and transparency play in the employee experience* (27:18) How to prioritize security within your team * (41:41) Fidelity when going public--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with BrianConnect with OliviaDialpadAmplitude

Mike Kelly, CIO of Red Hat, and George Gerchow, Chief Security Officer at Sumo Logic, talk about how to build a culture of security and foster innovation in a secure environment, and why CIOs play a critical role in creating the employee experience.---------“Security is one of those things you can't compromise on. It's just too important.” - Mike Kelly“To be a security leader today you have to have three fundamental skill sets: 1) knowledge of the business, 2) technical breadth, and 3) you've got to be able to sell your program. You've got to sell it at a board level and you've got to sell it at a customer prospect level.” - George Gerchow---------Time Stamps* (4:51) How to build a culture of security in remote work* (17:27) The impact security has on innovation* (30:19) The CIO's impact on employee experience* (45:11) Mike and George's questions for each other--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksConnect with MikeConnect with GeorgeRed HatSumo Logic

Mark Settle, Seven-time CIO and Author, and Viral Bajaria, Co-Founder and CTO, 6sense, talk about what's going on in the startup scene, the different facets of digital transformation, mistakes to avoid when scaling your company, and much more.---------“At the executive level, you can't rest on your laurels because the criteria that are going to be used to measure your success change over time.” - Mark Settle“If you're vulnerable with your employees, and you accept your mistakes and faults. Many times it rubs off on your team and they will own up to their mistakes too and do it the right way next time.” - Viral Bajaria---------Time Stamps* (4:23) The science behind startups* (8:28) The overlap of digital transformation and being customer-centric* (24:27) How to talk digital transformation in the C-Suite* (30:30) How to scale your company* (38:22) Advice for fellow CIOs--------SponsorThis podcast is brought to you by Asana. Asana is a leading work management platform that empowers teams to orchestrate their work — from daily tasks to big strategic initiatives — all in one place. By enabling the world's teams to work together effortlessly, Asana helps organizations of all sizes and industries achieve their goals, faster. Learn more at Asana.com.--------LinksMark's book “Truth from the Valley: A Practical Primer on IT Management for the Next Decade”6sense.com

What is coming on season 3 of CIO Classified? In this episode, we give you a sneak peek.

In the Season 2 finale, we've put together the best advice we've received for CIOs trying to figure out how to navigate a post-covid work environment. Several of our most prominent CIO guests share how to lead the new hybrid workforce and how the role of CIO is changing because of it. You won't want to miss it!We'll see you soon for Season 3!---------“The hybrid worker requires radical flexibility, so we have to build that into everything that we do. And not just in technology, but into our policies or procedures.” - Gary Sorrentino, Global Deputy CIO, Zoom---------Time Stamps* (1:45) A return to work requires radical flexibility* (13:06) How the role of CIO is changing* (21:49) What should be in every CIO's toolbelt--------SponsorLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box,  Okta, Slack, and Zoom.

Paul Meller, Global Head of Engineering at EY, and Ash Fontana, Author of “The AI-First Company”, discuss the current and future state of AI, what role AI should be playing in your company, how to set yourself up for success when it comes to AI, and much more.---------“Part of the cultural change is how do you get people that haven't had to use data before to be open to using data and embrace data in their decisions that they're making? And then to have them take suggestions from AI and machine learning to support them in their work. ” - Paul Meller“If you're not developing AI, someone else will. And if you do start developing it now, then you start compounding your data assets and competitive advantage really quickly.” - Ash Fontana---------Time Stamps* (3:04) Welcome to the AI-first century* (7:07) Why you should be prioritizing AI* (9:33) How to become an AI-first company* (12:58) The data questions you need to be asking your business teams* (23:36) Common AI mistakes to avoid* (31:03) How to create a successful AI startup* (38:24) What are Paul and Ash dying to know about each other?--------SponsorLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best-of-breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom.--------LinksAsh's book “The AI-First Company”EY.com

Yousuf Khan, Partner at Ridge Ventures, and Cathy Southwick, CIO of Pure Storage share how they handled the transition from Cathy taking over the role of CIO from Yousuf. They discuss the secrets to making a transition successful, how to maintain a positive relationship with your predecessor, advice for CIOs to be more effective earlier in their role, and much more.---------“Take some time to reflect on your previous role and ask yourself: Are there things in my previous role that I would not want to repeat because I could have done a better job? And actually, be honest with yourself.” -Yousuf Khan“The biggest thing that all of us have to do coming into a role is you have to seek to understand first. You want to respect the past and respect the legacy so that you can help the organization move forward.”- Cathy Southwick---------Time Stamps* (1:46) Intro* (3:24) How to start CIO transition process* (6:47) Building a relationship with your predecessor * (21:14) How to choose a new CIO role* (23:55) Finding great talent* (30:51) Advice for CIOs during a transition* (41:45) Yousuf and Cathy ask each other their burning questions--------SponsorLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best-of-breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom.--------Linkshttps://ridge.vc/https://www.purestorage.com/

Paolo Negri, Co-founder and CTO of Contentful, and Martin Paton, CTO of Kin + Carta, discuss the importance of no-code and low-code tools, the benefits of headless CMS, the future of digital experiences, and much more. Key TakeawaysImplementing no code and low code tools empowers users.Going headless will make your employees’ lives easier and workflows more productive.The more agile you can make your content the more effective it will be.Key Quotes“As soon as the lifecycle of your content differs from the lifecycle of your presentation, or you have multiple and different presentations of your content, the benefit [of headless] becomes huge. You really understand that the life of your content and where the content comes from and goes to are all things that you want to manage explicitly and deliberately.” - Paolo“Last year we did some research that showed that up to 70% of content didn't get utilized. I think it's really clear that we need to create quite a tight feedback loop between the overall content production and the end-user. And what we believe passionately at Kin + Carta is: speed up the experimentation process to ensure that the content is landing. And you need to do that really quickly because content can almost be out of date the moment that it's published.”- Martin“The principle of low-code is really: How can we make available an environment where people can only write code specific to their business? So it's business logic that is absolutely custom to what they’re doing–it stays in the domain of knowledge for which they are solving.” - Paolo“What we try and encourage people to do is really slash and burn the content that you're producing, really focus on the core messages you want people to read. And we’re quite ruthless about that schedule and cycle that you go through when you're actually refreshing your content--the ‘you ain't gonna need it’ principle really does apply here.” - Martin Linkswww.contentful.com/https://www.kinandcarta.com/en-us/ Thanks to our friendsLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best-of-breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom.

Key TakeawaysThe best companies prioritize using the best software tools.Create communication flows that build your company’s culture and community.Having an advanced tech stack signals to your employees and potential hires that you are both forward-thinking and open to new ideas.Key Quotes“If you're going to adopt something horizontally, look for something where the internal champions are from a broad set of different teams that have to work cross-functionally by nature.” - Alex“Every company is becoming a technology company and, in fact, is going to become a software company, and developers are at the center of it.” - Abhinav"The intangibles really matter. They set up cultural norms where people feel like they can be productive and they feel like they're in a supportive atmosphere. If you only consider the outputs and the outcome, then you’ll burn people out." - Alex"When every year you hire a company's worth of people, you have to really think about ‘is this a new company or is this the same company?’ And you really have to put in the work to ensure it's the same company, and the culture is not getting diluted." - Abhinav LinksAlex Hood LinkedInAbhinav Asthana LinkedInAsanaPostman Thanks to our friendsLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom.

Key TakeawaysThe more diverse your teams the better your products and services will be.Women, especially women of color, have been disproportionally affected by the pandemic. Prioritize bringing more women into tech and leadership positions.Engineers are critical to the corporate ecosystem. Be sure to give them support to be creative and innovative.Key Quotes"There's huge value in bringing diversity around the table. Diversity not just in gender or race, but points of view and diverse opinions." - Rathi“Being deliberate is really important, looking around the table and seeing who isn't there, and then making an effort to get them there.” - Leyla“Disrupt yourself. Otherwise, someone else is going to disrupt you.” - Rathi"If we really want to be a country or a corporate America where people do have a fair shot, then we have to be deliberate. We have to make space for everyone. " - LeylaLinksRathi Murthy LinkedInLeyla Seka LinkedInVerizon MediaOperator Collective Thanks to our friendsLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom.

Key TakeawaysRemote work looks different for each employee. Ask them what would make them feel comfortable.Ensure your employees take care of their mental health while working from home to avoid burnout.Make sure leadership is ready to adapt to remote work, and not just the workers below them. They need to lead by example.Key Quotes“The hybrid worker requires radical flexibility.” - Gary"Don't assume everyone is comfortable coming back to the office. Make sure you're listening to their questions and concerns. Have that empathy." - Charlie"It needs to be labeled work from anywhere. It's not work from home. We should be prepared for people to work from wherever they're comfortable to be productive." - Gary“Your first team as the CIO is the executive team not the IT team. It's very important that the CIO makes friends with the executive team and becomes their go-to guy. ” - Charlie LinksGary Sorrentino LinkedInCharles Bonomo LinkedInZoomMSC Industrial Supply Thanks to our friendsLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom.

Key TakeawaysCIOs provide a unique and invaluable perspective for boards.CIOs need to be bold and seek out board seat opportunities. Even the most accomplished CIOs can't just wait for the right opportunities to find them.Manage your board portfolio in a realistic and exciting way that makes you excited to get to work.Key Quotes“As a CIO, we see everything. We are the people that are between the people trying to do their job and their ability to get their job done. We see everything from a change management perspective, which gives us an awful lot of experience to then weigh in at the board.” - Diana"To be a good board member, you have to be a good listener." - Yousuf"Regardless of the type of board you’re on there's an element of humility and what they want is not only where have you seen things that have worked, but where have you seen things that haven't worked." - Diana“The best board members are the ones who don’t just listen and provide advice. They are the ones who can actually follow up and actually get things done.” - Yousuf LinksDiana McKenzie LinkedInYousuf Khan LinkedInWorkdayRidge Ventures Thanks to our friendsLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom.

Key TakeawaysYou need to proactively analyze your systems and data to ensure they are secure.Make sure your employees networks are protected at home during remote work.Do not rely too heavily on black boxes. Key Quotes“Remote work has opened more windows and doors for the bad guys. And they'll just have a field day if we're not careful.” - Fleming"As the CIO, every single project you have needs to have a security component to it, period." - Raffy"Make sure high quality data and high ethics are being applied in your training models." - Fleming“There is a little bit of the danger in cybersecurity where they're building black boxes left and right. Nobody understands what they actually do and you make critical decisions based on them.” - Raffy LinksFleming Shi LinkedInRaffael Marty LinkedInBarracudaForcepoint Thanks to our friendsLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom.

Key TakeawaysHaving an excellent employee experience is the first step to having a great customer experience.You need proactive support. Don’t wait for a user to come to you with a problem.Figure out what’s best to build versus buy. Key Quotes“If you get the best talent in and you get bad tools, then there is no way you're going to be successful.” - KC"Start with the business problem and business value that you're creating and who is the beneficiary. Then work backwards to see what you need to do to achieve that business outcome." - Prakash"Remove any friction that's there that comes in the way of employees being at their best." - KC“The key to frictionless experience to the users is understanding the user and giving them what they need rather than overwhelming them with 300 different tools.” - Prakash LinksArvind KC LinkedInPrakash Kota LinkedInGoogleAutodesk Thanks to our friendsLearn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.comThis podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. .