CEO Perspective on IT: April Event Recap
Author: Andy Hickey, Technology First
May 2010
On April 14, 2010, Technology First welcomed a CEO Panel of Richard Hearn, Crown Partners (an IT company); Gary Van Gundy, DRT Manufacturing; Jeff Golden, Elliott Tool Technologies and Rick Schwartz, WinWholesale. The panel was moderated by Steve Hangen, the CIO of WinWholesale.
After a well-received joke from Steve, the panel opened up by introducing themselves and describing their businesses. The panelists came from a diverse collection of companies but they were very united in their thinking about many of the questions.
The panel was strongly united that IT had to be involved in every part of the business and strategic initiatives. As Tom Gnau of the Dayton Daily News said in his recap of the event, “It’s a problem if their information technology chiefs aren’t at the table when business strategy is discussed.” http://www.daytondailynews.com/business/it-insight-is-crucial-to-strategy-say-ceos-653782.html?cxtype=rss_business_57560. Gary said that at DRT, the IT people must have a head for business so that they can understand how best to support the business.
The panel next addressed innovation. Gary said that while IT does not innovate products, IT should innovate on how DRT touches their customers. Jeff said that at Elliot Tool, delivery time and sales determine IT compensation. Richard was the most pessimistic on the question; he said that IT does not innovate; it automates. Rick was the most optimistic on the question; he said that Business Intelligence is a leading innovation avenue for IT.
Mike Gutman from Miller-Valentine asked the panelists if IT has a responsibility to learn the business, does not the rest of the business have the obligation to learn IT. Gary said that he relies on his CIO and trusts him. The CIO then has the obligation to precisely communicate the decision back to the CIO. Rick says that his background in IT makes him sympathetic to IT. He believes that all executives should understand IT.
The panel finished with the question on how IT can better position themselves inside their company. Richard said that IT needs to understand how newer technology leads to innovation. Rick believes that IT should not wait for direction but empower their employees. Jeff said that at Elliot Tool, IT needs to understand strategy and their bottlenecks.
Technology First thanks the CEO Panelists, Steve Hangen for moderating and the Monthly Events Committee for programming the event. Our next luncheon is June 17 where we will be discussing PCI compliance.
