Peter Girgis
With Digital Transformation now considered as catalyst for growth and relevant, in 2016, many organizations focused on rethinking their operations, solutions, services and how to support their customers and partners. Embracing external mindset and focusing on interoperability seems to be the key to a favorable and interdependent ecosystem where everyone thrives. What are CIOs thinking and planning to that end as part of their 2017 Agenda? What else in on their mind for the New Year?
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Transcript
Sanjog Aul [00:01:01]:
Hello, and, welcome to the segment on CTN. To all our listeners, happy new year 2017. To learn more about, our show and more details, go to ciotalknetwork.com. And as always, we invite you to join the discussion on Twitter and look for this show as hashtag leadership. The topic today is CIO Agenda 2017, and I have, with me Peter Girgis, who is the Chief Information Officer and Vice President for, IT at Dun Edwards Corporation. Hi, Peter. Happy New Year again to you.
Peter Girgis [00:01:33]:
Hello, Sanjog Aul. Happy New Year to you as well.
Sanjog Aul [00:01:36]:
So with all the positive vibes flowing, we thought it’s a good idea for us to see what happened. I mean, not exactly a recap, but essentially, what all did we accomplish in 2016 and how we’re gonna build upon that in, 2017, and where are we going with our organizations? External mindset in terms of outside in thinking is important for us. The partners are becoming more and more important to us. We spoke about IoT. We spoke about digital transformation, security, you name it. They were they were the ones, hot. They were the hot topics in 2016. So let’s talk 2017. But before that, how about talking a little bit more about the challenges and trends that you saw, which kept you up at night or gave you the thrill of lifetime?
Peter Girgis [00:02:28]:
Great. Yeah. I think you hit upon the major ones there. In addition to, AI and machine learning, which are certainly a big part of, how we need to think and how we need to prepare, top of mind, heading into or out of 2016 and into 2017 is, for us, is security. And it’s such a dynamic landscape. I mean, when you talk about, the existing technology and what you’ve got in place in terms of hardware and software, and the need to, across all of these technologies, understand it and how it’s changing, and, have an internal and external competency. So finding, the staff internally that has to get up to speed on it and the right partners is also a challenge. So working your way through all of these, this entire security landscape and that’s just one piece of it and when you talk about IoT and digital transformation, it’s the same concept. Essentially, you’re looking at an extremely fast moving pace of change, a resource pool that’s trying to keep up with it, a business that’s trying to keep up and get ahead of it. And you’re trying to learn all of this along the way. So it makes it quite challenging, certainly.
Sanjog Aul [00:03:48]:
So people say when you’re doing any kind of transformation that before it gets better, it’s gonna be ugly. So has the ugliness passed us and now we are in for the sunny days?
Peter Girgis [00:03:59]:
No. Not quite. At least from my perspective, I see that, certainly, the ugliness and, the thrill. Right? We’ve got to remember, hey. This is something that is really, from a technology perspective, quite exciting, right? I mean, we are getting the opportunity to, transform businesses through the work that we know and love, right? And that’s a very exciting thing. So by no means are we, kind of on the sunny side at this point. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us and hopefully a lot of investment as well.
Sanjog Aul [00:04:34]:
Now coming to the the overall organizational, changes, would you say or I’d say, that roles that we have introduced. You talk chief digital officer, chief data officer, of course, security officers, their technology officers there. So CIO definitely, it looks like, is being, understood not as as a one or like a Swiss army knife. So they understood that the person has a role to play or that role has a specific significance. And with this other peripheral I would not call them peripheral, but actually integral role to how you want to handle data and information. What now is the ask? First of all, is there a relief now for CIO because these roles have come or it has in fact created, complexity? And secondly, if at all it has given the relief or it’s divided the responsibility, What is the ask from the CIO now?
Peter Girgis [00:05:26]:
So it all, it depends on size of the organization. So it really varies. You know, certainly, if you’re in a large enterprise organization and there’s the need and the financial backing to have these various CX roles that’s great and that works. But in some cases, it’s not. And certainly in my organization, you can think of CIO still being more or less a Swiss Army knife and working with the various level heads of other functions, whether it’s CMO or COO, etcetera, to make it happen. In organizations where there is that need and they’ve created those roles, it adds a different level of complexity. In other words, yes, you have a further defined role or a very specific role as a CIO to ensure your infrastructure is there, the resources are there to work and support these initiatives. But then there’s the, in some cases, more politics at play in terms of, who’s running what, and how it’s being run, and when, and all of these other pieces, all of these things are still a work in progress, depending on where you sit and which organization you’re in. It just adds different levels of complexity that you have to deal with. But none of it being easy.
Sanjog Aul [00:06:52]:
And so would you be changing your mindset? Because as a leader, people look up to you. And as different situations come, they see how are you gonna react, and they are they are watching you. So, of course, 2016 introduced a few new trends. Or I would not say they were new in 2016, but they became mainstream. Like, you talk IoT, you talk about, digital transformation. And now going forward, there may be something new, as you said, like AI and machine learning or or working with machines side by side. So where is your mindset as a leader for you to be ready? I mean, have you been working out mentally in order for you to get ready for 2017? Because number 1, it’s gonna scale. And number 2, it will get ugly and or complex at places before it’s gonna get better.
Peter Girgis [00:07:39]:
Right. Yeah. I agree with all of that. And certainly from a leadership perspective, my mindset is to really understand, where our business should and needs to be. And in some cases, the business leaders don’t have that, solid of a vision. So it’s a matter of working with them and articulating with them. And I’ll give you an example. I mean, recently in one of our annual tactical meetings, it was suggested that we replicate a model that was being rolled out by another competitor or so. And when I saw that, it was clear to me, hey, this is something, this particular model, a platform was something I had brought to the table, or we as an IT organization, a year or 2 in advance. So in a lot of cases, the business is starting to catch up with technology. And it sounds strange, but in our technology role, we’ve seen a lot of these things coming. We’ve been talking about digital transformation for some time now, but it appears to me that in a lot of cases, the business leadership was not quite grasping it and now is, and now clamoring for it. So for me, my mindset in 2017 is the same as it has been historically, is I see where these technologies enable business. I see where our resources need to be positioned to enable it. And now I feel like I’m getting, much more support and recognition that this has to happen. So it’s a good thing, and in some cases, I say, our functional leaders are playing catch up.
Sanjog Aul [00:09:19]:
So this is a good news that you have the support, because typically, when you ask people about the barriers they may Mhmm. Perceived or they see as real in terms of, the challenges they would pose, to meet that agenda of growth and profitability and innovation. It seems like resources are made available. But then what other type of changes in the environment that you see may be happening or the approach that the solution provider vendors are taking or we are taking in terms of using technology, which could undermine your agenda, if you will?
Peter Girgis [00:09:58]:
Given that there is this kind of clamoring for technology in the organization, there is a danger in that various silos or functions within your organization start building up these shadow IT types of models. And that, to me, is something that’s not necessary it’s inevitable, right? I think we recognize that, technology is touching everyone now, and everyone feels as though they’re kind of a mini IT leader or something like this, even if you sit in sales or operations or so on. But I think from a CIO’s perspective in the IT organization, you have to recognize that that is reality. It is reality that there will be other tools brought into your organization. And you need to encourage it to the best of your ability to say, hey, if you’re going to leverage this for the benefit of the business, we’d like to understand it. So by encouraging it, you also partner with those various, let’s say, subject matter experts, to leverage technology and hopefully enhance your role in IT for the business. An example is, we’ve had someone recently in sales and operations planning outside of IT develop a reporting solution that was deployed to the sales force that was very well received. Now in that case, historically, an IT leader may be defensive and say you can’t do that, and this is shadow IT. But I think more and more, you have to encourage it and partner with these resources to make it effective for the organization.
Sanjog Aul [00:11:35]:
So as you were saying that, you know, the shadow IT risk is there because the use of IT or the intent to procure IT independently without really, talking to the central, so called supporting entity, which is the corporate IT, is going to increase risk. It also, is being justified because it increases the agility for a department to move forward. So this has been an age old battle, if you will. Every time when you talk to people, they say, yes. I want to stop rogue IT, but I don’t want to come across as no people. I wanna be able to say the right thing. So now this this is an age old battle. So would you say that given we are moving forward in this newer environment, are you going to fundamentally because New Year is a turning point. Like, even if it is perceived to be a turning point, how about you coming up with a way by which you say, okay. I accept you’re gonna go and do something and put this behind you and not think as a rogue IT and come up with something creative which will allow that agility to develop without, undermining what the predictability or stability that corporate IT brings. Can you think that 2017 can be a solution here for that age on problem?
Peter Girgis [00:12:52]:
Yes. That’s exactly what we would like to do, and that is our intent. Now, it has taken time to, especially within my own team, to convince them of this approach and not say, Oh, this individual or this group of individuals need to be a part of the IT team. But it’s, these folks have a direct access to their business partners. They understand a lot of the things and have relationships that we may not. And we need to establish those relationships with, let’s call it, the rogue or shadow IT group to effectively support the organization. And we have a success to support that, and we’ll continue that. Now as long as what we’ve done is call it out, call it what it is, in some cases shadow IT, you know, tongue in cheek in some sense, but over time more of a partnership. And this year in 2017, I have actually gone to the leader of that organization and said, hey, this is what we plan to do. I support this and let’s partner and make it work effectively together. So that’s absolutely our commitment. And I think across other organizations, it’s I agree with you that it’s historically been an age old challenge. But with the pace of technology and the access of technology, it’s becoming much more of an issue that needs to be effectively addressed.
Sanjog Aul [00:14:19]:
Let’s take a quick break, listeners. We’ll be right back, and let’s talk about 2 newer paradigms or megatrends that got introduced. 2 years ago, 2016 was a big year for IoT, which it came out of the labs and actually started getting some mainstream adoption. Yes. People have played with it. People are still playing with it or identifying use cases, but there’s quite a bit of moment there. Let’s talk when we come back about, as we go and move into, 2017, what are some of the ways different industry CIOs would be thinking of leveraging IoT in innovative and innovative ways and also find ways to improve what they currently have so that there is a value that is delivered from it versus it just being a cool thing to have. Please stay tuned, listeners. We’ll be right back.
Sanjog Aul [00:17:15]:
Welcome back. So IoT, it’s going mainstream a big way, and, you have different use cases and applications people are coming out with. That amazes us. What’s in store for you?
Peter Girgis [00:17:28]:
We agree that the technology is advanced and the cost is such that it allows for smaller deployments, even for small to midsize enterprise organizations to adopt. And so from our perspective, we spent a lot of 2016 identifying some use cases. 2 projects have been approved to proceed. And the technologies have been identified to leverage them. So we’re looking forward to 2017 to start executing on a couple of these projects and demonstrate the value, to the organization. And once again, it’s not we don’t look at it, from a standpoint of, hey, IoT and this is the cool thing to do. But it’s more a continuation of our transformation to more automation and leveraging technology to reduce manual intervention and increase efficiency. So a lot said there, Sanjog Aul, but that’s kind of where we’re headed in 2017.
Sanjog Aul [00:18:34]:
So, when you talk about digital, that is something which is essentially the underpinning for most organizations today, at least the way they started using digital. And when I say digital, not just taking something online, which has happened decades ago. But here, you’re fundamentally rethinking your business in a way that the digital side of connection with the customer, with the partners, or even internally is gonna fundamentally shift the way you executed on, a project or delivered a service. But also by the virtue of going digital, you’re able to identify some ways of doing business, which will even create new revenue streams. So when you look at that and look at your 2016 or prior years, in 2017, are you thinking of redefining or rediscovering the business areas which would bring you more revenue, or digital is another fad or something which is a tool which has been used to build just a better mousetrap?
Peter Girgis [00:19:44]:
No. More the former. And, the stretch will be to, you know, to increase revenue. I believe our primary focus, at least, is to improve customer satisfaction and make it easier to do business with our organization. And from that, you could make the statement that, yes, that will increase revenue. But our primary focus is to leverage the tools and the technologies to improve our business process such that we will, let’s say, notify a customer immediately upon order placement, upon the status of their orders, trigger a notification as to when we project it to be done, when it’s done, whether it’s a delivery or not a delivery all of these trigger points and alerts and interaction, and engagement with the customers where we’re focused. And we believe that’s going to improve the experience for the customer. Now ultimately, I agree with you, that should drive increased revenue over time as customers find it easier to do business with our organization versus our competitors. And we increase their efficiencies in their own businesses. That’s ultimately what we would like to see.
Sanjog Aul [00:21:01]:
And when you’re looking at your approach to the analytics, because I know analytics has been used forever. Now you have newer capabilities available. You can even do your whole analytics with virtually unlimited capability or capacity so you could have real time decisions and other things that are going on. Are you thinking of leveraging those even more or in different ways this year? Or is this something that’s already taken care of and then life is good?
Peter Girgis [00:21:34]:
No. This is a similar strategy. We have a lot to work on. We’re classic, and you’ll find most organizations today have reporting capabilities. And it’s different than this concept of analytics, where you’re able to find data and information that may not necessarily come out in a static report that data is uploaded nightly and reports are published daily. You know, that’s a classic reporting organization. So for us, we’re somewhere in that world and in the process of shifting and evaluating tools that get us to more of that analytics type of competency. And with that, similar to IoT and similar to security, comes a different skill and a different mindset and different partners. So analytics is a big thing for us that we’ve got budgeted in 2017. We’re evaluating a partner to help us with that and looking at identifying what exactly do you want to get out of it? Because that’s the big question. For organizations that are used to saying, okay, here’s my daily sales, but now you want to shift to here’s more of my hourly sales, and here’s the products that this particular customer in this particular city is buying, but not here, and not now, and why. These are the types of analytics that you want to get to. And that’s where I spoke to earlier around AI and machine learning, where you really find the right toolset and the right internal resources to help you build those technologies.
Sanjog Aul [00:23:16]:
With us connecting literally everything with each other through IoT, then we have digital that’s going on. And then you’re providing analytics, which in a way gives out some business secrets and put it out in the open or ways by which you can create your competitive strengths in the open. All of that also have a dark side, which is around security. You’re making your organization vulnerable, and you’re not trying to do it deliberately. Just as becoming like that because people, if they have appropriate analytics available, then they have a connection to a machine which if someone can hack into or other types of service delivery that you’re doing through digital. If that is compromised, guess what’s gonna happen to an organization? So while you go full throttle on these areas, what are you doing for security?
Peter Girgis [00:24:12]:
Yes. Security is also a parallel topic, and there are many facets of it, certainly. We’re heavily invested in managing and upgrading our security as we speak. Everything from endpoints to data center to network and everything in between is constantly under upgrade. So we’ve taken the approach of moving towards a more integrated end to end security model. We take a conservative approach in how both we architect, the solution and how we deliver, the data. So in this case, from a reporting perspective, we go to pretty great lengths to make sure that, one, the user has the right security on their device and is only able to access, very specific data to them and in a specific way, than probably most organizations. I think that we take it very seriously, and although being a mid sized company, recognize that, you know, we still have information that we want to retain. And it’s just a part of the culture of our organization to be very conservative in how we create and disseminate information. But I will say this, that, you know, as we all know, no organization is fully secure, especially with the changing landscape and the changing security technology. It’s just very difficult to keep pace. That’s all.
Sanjog Aul [00:25:54]:
So whatever you’ve done with security, have you created a benchmark, or is it something that you, played by the ear as the vulnerabilities show up and then you will react to it?
Peter Girgis [00:26:10]:
Somewhere in between. I can’t say that, you know, given our lean team and technology infrastructure that we’ve created those benchmarks. But in some cases, we, you know, given that we’re governed by PCI in a retail environment, we adhere to those policies. So those are kind of our benchmarks. And, we have a procedure where we report on it daily and weekly, and what’s going on to the best of our abilities. The challenge with our organization and others is really the tools that are in place, and the amount of alerts that you’re getting, and the milestones that you have, you have to have better exception reporting. And I think that’s where it comes down to, is, your resources can only monitor so much. So you know, we’re trying to figure out the best way to run these exception reports and build these baselines and manage to those, but we’re not there yet.
Sanjog Aul [00:27:14]:
So in terms of the mindset of the organization, they want you to grow, avenues where you could get revenue, but when it comes to security, it’s a lean team. What’s on your mind going forward, and what do you think people like yourself who are in similar position should be doing so that you know, of course, there’s a tendency of the management to say, okay. Show me the money, but also don’t make me lose money. Right. How do you make sure that both voices are equally heard? And so the question of resources is not a question when it comes to even security because you could have a zero sum game if on one hand you use all the digital and other type of transformation to bring revenue opportunities, but you more more than compromise the organization and does have undermining effect or cannibalizing effect because of security issues. What are you thinking and doing because related to that?
Peter Girgis [00:28:11]:
Well, you know, even from an IT perspective, let alone the business side, the digital transformation and all the other good stuff is a lot of fun. The security has got to happen. And I believe now more than others, similar to my previous comments around leadership, understanding technology more and clamoring for it more, that security is also top of mind and relevant. And I think these security firms have done a good job of emphasizing that, both internal to IT and external. So I don’t want to sound like, hey, we’ve undersold our security resourcing. But I will say that from my perspective and other IT leaders, the ideal would be to somehow, find good partners that will help your organization’s economically manage security. In other words, have the right skill sets and the right tools and monitoring such that you can have a hybrid internal external model that makes sense, both from a cost perspective and a managed service perspective. So I really do think this is a big area to focus on managed services, to build those partnerships for organizations that just, you know, don’t have the capability to hire and retain, you know, a team of, advanced security resources. It really has to be a hybrid model.
Sanjog Aul [00:29:43]:
Let’s take a quick break, listeners. We’ll be right back. And let’s talk people and culture. We have, or at least we are consciously or subconsciously developing a multigenerational, a global, a distributed workforce, which each segment of that based on generation or the location, they have their mindsets, their approaches, how they kinda want to handle work. And there is something we can do to make sure that while it is responsive locally, but it is more stable and more process oriented and more, I would say, unified globally. But if we are in that process and this is continuing to change in terms of new technologies being brought in or new approaches to doing business being brought in, what’s on the agenda to deal with these people? Because they are the ones who are going to realize or help realize a vision, whether it’s for IT or for the organization. Let’s stay tuned, listeners. We’ll be right back and explore.
Sanjog Aul [00:32:43]:
Welcome back. So while we are being very progressive and innovative in terms of adopting different technologies or computing paradigms or way you do business. But, frankly, we cannot be traditional in terms of handling our workforce because they themselves are not traditional anymore. They are globally distributed. They are multigenerational. They have different ways of thinking about work life balance. So what’s your definition which is gonna drive the type of culture which is conducive to moving forward versus, you know, undermining what you’re otherwise trying to do? Because they are the ones who deliver.
Peter Girgis [00:33:20]:
Yeah. I truly believe in this day and age, if you’re not getting up and excited about, the change in technology and you’re an IT professional, then something’s wrong. So really looking for resources who take it upon themselves to, not only expect education from the company and investment in their education, but take it upon themselves to build a network, to reach out and self educate. This is, I think, a very important criteria for today’s workforce. And not only in technology, but specifically in areas where we’re changing so frequently. And I’m not one of these leaders to say, I’m concerned with investing in my employees such that, hey, they’ll learn these new technologies and eventually leave us. I think if that’s the case, that’s fine. The company has certainly gained an investment from the employee and hopefully the employee has as well. So it’s very important for me to find that level of kind of ingenuity and innovation and resources and tap into those resources because of the nature and the demands that are placed on our organization.
Sanjog Aul [00:34:40]:
See, one is to find people, and another is to make sure that they coexist in a healthy fashion Mhmm. With the ones who already had. And then the same people who existed or the people who came in, they are working in a fashion where as you bring more into the organization in terms of variety, variety in terms of technology, variety in terms of the different processes or new ways you do business or new ways you serve customers, they should be ready to embrace that change and maybe give you ideas how to do it better because you cannot sit at the top in the ivory tower and make this happen yourself. So is that mindset going to just happen, Are you gonna do something or along with you and your cabinet or your reportees or lieutenants to create that mindset among the people who exist and the new people who you bring in?
Peter Girgis [00:35:34]:
Right. Very challenging. Probably the most challenging part of my job, is certainly that, is to build a cohesive team and continue to operate it with, you know, various degrees of both skill and desire. So, you take, you know, folks who are, let’s take that old issue with COBOL. And eventually, you know, COBOL programmers were dinosaurs, basically. But a few of them did not migrate to new technologies and found themselves obsolete. And so I see that in, you know, that whole kind of COBOL type of scenario playing out today, where all the COBOL programmers were replaced by SAP ABAP programmers. And today, you know, the SAP ABAP, although SAP is still very strong, find themselves in a similar position. I think where I’ve tried to, in this case, adjust is to give those programmers, let’s say, who have kind of older technology skills, the opportunity to train and learn newer skills. Now, and while explaining to them that this is an opportunity for you that you’ve got to take and that we as an organization need you to go after and make that leap with them. Now some can make it, and some just don’t get it, and will kind of hang on to the past. And in those scenarios, you really have a decision to make as a leader in terms of, hey, they’re impacting not only your ability to execute, but the perception on the team of, hey, we’ve got, you know, someone over here who’s just not getting on board. So you really have to come to that decision point. And unfortunately, I think in this day and age, there’s going to be a lot of that. You either accept this change in technology and get on board and learn it and grow, or you’ve got to find something else to do. And that’s really the approach we’ve taken to try to progress. And it’s really not easy, because they’re genuinely, you know, in large part good, but they need to support the organization as a priority. And if that’s not happening, you really have to do something.
Sanjog Aul [00:37:56]:
So, essentially, you know, you must have heard about that Ubuntu drive where they had a saying of I am because we are. Mhmm. And that is based on the idea that there is an interdependent existence with you and your partner ecosystem. And there has to be an external mindset where everyone works for benefit of others and then in that process, also benefit themselves. That is the reality today. So what is being done in your organization so that it starts becoming an outside in focused and also has an external focus towards the partners? So make sure and then make sure that at any given time, that ecosystem is healthy versus an organization alone is healthy.
Peter Girgis [00:38:46]:
Yeah. That’s, you know, I think at the core and when we talk partners, we’re referring to, business partners, let’s say, other functions. Right? Finance, sales, or are you talking
Sanjog Aul [00:38:57]:
Actually, I’m talking about outside outside of your organization. So suppose you have a supply chain partner or you have a product partner or you could have services partner. So you as an organization like, your organization exists because it has a supply chain. It has a value chain, and together in some form of fashion, you come across as effective to your customer. So think about your organization as a unit. Right. So how much of that is you’re playing within your turf versus saying, mister partner, come work with me. These are changes we are making leveraging digital transformation or keeping ourselves secure or IoT or analytics. What are you doing? How can we join hands, not internal functions, but external partners, to make sure that the value that we deliver individually and as a group is enhanced, and it exceeds the customer’s expectation because in that group success lies your individual success.
Peter Girgis [00:40:01]:
Very true. And so that’s clear to me, and it’s a very important part of what we do. I think if you have a true partner, the partner recognizes that your success is their success as well. Right? And that’s the best possible partner you can have. It’s not one who’s looking to, you know, cut that monthly invoice, although it’s important to them. But the primary importance is your success as an organization that ultimately drives theirs. And I pick up on that, and we as an organization pick up on that pretty quickly, and identify those that are with us for the long term and want to invest in us and we in them. So the best way to approach that is to do it very transparently. Here’s ultimately our objective over the next 1, 2, 3 years as an organization, both business and IT. Here’s where we think you fit in, but help us understand how we can work together to advance the ball. Where are you seeing opportunities for us that you’re doing in other companies? How can we leverage those technologies and bring those to us? Let’s have those conversations. So it’s really establishing a success together, an investment together. Now part of the challenge also is internally, in some cases, depending on the partner, there’s some animosity of, Hey, they’re taking over more of what I should do, or, They’re not a good partner because they don’t do this. And so you have to really get that on the table wherever, whenever, and there surely will be, there’s an issue, Oh, they didn’t alert us of this, or They caused this system to go down. You know, that’s an internal person talking about an external partner. You address it immediately, and you make it transparent. So you pull the people together that are having the problem, and you say, Hey, here’s the problem. And inevitably it may be miscommunication on something. And so you have to, when you identify a problem, make it transparent, address it immediately, and move on and get to the next one. And ultimately, that builds a stronger relationship, hopefully. And if it doesn’t and there is a problem with that partner, then you need to figure out another solution. Pichai
Sanjog Aul [00:42:20]:
Now let’s talk about resilience and agility. So one is to say, okay. We got ready for IoT, or we leveraged or embraced digital to get where we want to. You don’t know what’s around the corner. Something new might pop up, and then that might look so exciting. And or it will literally be a mandate that if you don’t embrace it, you’re going to be not relevant any longer. And this is just the nature of the beast or the nature of the world we live in where things the disruptions are happening in business models, in the approach we take to serving your customers and also in technology all the time, and they happen all over the place. What are you doing in the very core of your organization so that it stays nimble? It quickly bounces back from adversity and is flexible to take on yet another set of new types of IoTs or digital transformations or anything that you’re gonna see in coming years. Because the better you get at that, more your 2017 or the years beyond that would look promising.
Sanjog Aul [00:45:45]:
Welcome back. So, Peter, so disruptions are gonna happen in technology and business models, and they’re gonna happen very often, and they’ll be pervasive. So what do you think we should do to plan our so that our organizations are more resilient and more flexible to these changing conditions?
Peter Girgis [00:46:02]:
Yeah. I think that it’s really a change management issue. It’s a matter of trying to convince, and demonstrate to your IT organization that their, future, our future, is dependent on the growth of the organization. And the growth of the organization is dependent on it staying ahead of these changes and not becoming a blockbuster. It’s the classic example of, okay, the pace of change is accelerating. The competition is there. We either get ahead of that, stay with it, or become blockbuster. That’s one for the business. Now for the organization, the IT team needs to recognize that as well. And it’s really a very difficult task in some cases, especially when you talk about resilience in the sense of, hey, we need to understand that we can’t just depend on our own skills and knowledge and internal processes. We do have to leverage the right partners and grow with those partners effectively in order to be able to meet these needs. Otherwise, we will not be able to stay relevant as a team and as an organization. And I find that, you know, it has been extremely challenging, especially if you’re talking about an entrenched organization. It’s one you’ve got to continue almost selling and explaining. And then after demonstrating a couple of areas where it’s successful, then you can build on it. And that’s what we’ve had to do here.
Sanjog Aul [00:47:42]:
Now coming to your, own organization and when you are predicting the type of path ahead, do you think you can also predict the level of risks or the newer areas of risk that we should prepare ourselves for? Are you looking at risk as a forethought versus an afterthought when it comes to moving forward?
Peter Girgis [00:48:06]:
I think you have to. And I’m not saying we’re perfect at it, but we’re certainly trying. And understanding the risks are, we have a certain amount of budget and a certain amount of time and resources to make that happen. And so, you know, when you lay out, it’s important as a leadership team to have that vision and a strategy and an objective. And along that path, let’s say it’s a 2 year plan, 3 year plan, you have that vision and you know where you’re going, but there are going to be items and challenges that come up in there, whether it’s a loss of resources or it’s a change by a competitor or economic change outside of what you were anticipating. All of these things, a product issue, a security issue, all of these things are risks that you have to be prepared for at some level to deal with. And so as I look at it within our own organization, we’ve got that, let’s say, our marching orders over the next 2 to 3 years where we plan on getting and then being prepared to deal with those contingencies, and to the best of our ability. But we certainly have identified a few in what we would do. I mean, we go through, let’s say, a PCI security drill quarterly, and that’s a mandate for us. And so what do we do if this issue happens? How do we change the way we think? And so on and so forth.
Sanjog Aul [00:49:41]:
We have traditional leadership approaches and philosophies and recommendations, if you will, how to lead in a changing environment, etcetera. If you were to keep that aside for a bit and say, if I had to tackle 2017 in the best way possible, You, Peter, what would you change in your thinking, your approach, your mindset to be most effective for what you’re dealing with?
Peter Girgis [00:50:17]:
It would have to be coming down to transparency and openness and flexibility. I truly believe that the point we had mentioned earlier around shadow IT and engaging the entire organization at this point, and finding pockets of resources and mindsets that are with you. And establishing those partnerships and working with those groups collectively, internally and externally, is how you build that team. So you really want to gain momentum. You want to find the right people to help you push it forward. And it’s going to take more than you. And I think in this day and age, just the pace of change, you’ve got to establish and identify those partners around you to be successful. And that’s kind of the plan for 2017 and beyond.
Sanjog Aul [00:51:15]:
So what you just mentioned, would you call that falling under the management bucket or the leadership bucket? I’m trying to purposely separate the two out.
Peter Girgis [00:51:25]:
Leadership. It would ultimately be leadership from the standpoint of this is not just me thinking, hey, this is how we operate within the IT organization. Here’s how I’m going to manage my department and or projects. This is an entire thought process of here’s how we need to operate as an organization. We need to be better at collaborating. We need to be open to others’ ideas. We shouldn’t be threatened, you know, from different departments or different resources. So it really is, at the core, a leadership philosophy.
Sanjog Aul [00:52:00]:
What do you want from your people? Means the people who report to you, people who you influence. And what do you say to them, help me help you?
Peter Girgis [00:52:11]:
Trust and transparency. That’s certainly what I would want and what they should expect from me. And ultimately, that’s something that helps establish an effective collaboration and execution. When we talk about being able to trust someone else in a different organization to be thinking, I’m doing this for the overall organization, not just for me. And I’m not doing this to threaten anybody, but for the better of all. That’s ultimately what I would be looking for.
Sanjog Aul [00:52:45]:
And what do you want from people above you? Who are your stakeholders, who you report to, so that they allow you what you want so that you can deliver what they want?
Peter Girgis [00:52:58]:
Very much the same as as well as, you know, opportunities to fail. I think, you know, we should recognize that a lot of these moving parts and pieces and changes require, you know, a lot of pilots. And some will be successful and some won’t. So the recognition that we won’t always be successful, but we will always learn. So that’s something that needs to be recognized and, I guess, open to.
Sanjog Aul [00:53:32]:
David Bockstein On behalf of the show and our listeners, I’d really like to thank you, Peter, for sharing your insights about how we as leaders can build upon what we accomplished in 2016, what we can do to set expectations for the people who report to us or the ones who we influence, how we can handle the partnerships that we have so that they are all there with you as a team to serve the ones who matter. And how do we go about building our own leadership acumen and capabilities so that we bring 2017 as the year where we are most profitable, are able to handle disruption, and enrich the customers and serve them the best way possible. Thank you so much again, Peter.
Peter Girgis [00:54:23]:
Thank you very much. I’ve had a great time. Appreciate it.
Sanjog Aul [00:54:26]:
Thank you. And listeners, please like us on Facebook, join our LinkedIn community, and, of course, be sure to follow us on Twitter. Thank you again for listening to this segment on CIO Talk Network. This is Sanjog Aul, your talk show host. Till next week. Take care, and God bless.
