Our final CIO Insight Summit of the year was not only robust, informative, and bursting with an incredible lineup of speakers and presenters – it was an amazing opportunity for our audience to interact, learn, and share over a truly incredible 3-day span. Let’s have a look at each day, the themes, the speakers, and the key takeaways!
DAY 1
The Speakers:
- Matthew Versaggi – Sr. Director of AI and Cognitive Technology at United Health Group
- Bashir Agboola – CTO at HSS
- Mark Slater – VP and Platform Information Officer, Business Services at Walgreens
- Babu Kesavan – VP of Enterprise Architecture at DocuSign
- John Donahue – VP of Information Services at Penn Medicine
- Dave Macnee – Director of Relationship Management for Future Forum at Slack
- Linda Tai – SVP and Chief Technology Officer at Fannie Mae
The Conversations and Takeaways:
While the overall Summit might have been looking at everything digital, there was an ongoing eye on how these transformations and innovations are being utilized in the healthcare industry. This was kicked off with a riveting presentation on the role of Quantum Computing (QC) in healthcare and how the future of streamlining organizational processes is closer than we think, all while putting skeptics’ concerns to rest.
Shortly thereafter, we had an insightful panel discussion around how to use digital acceleration to shape organization transformation. In essence, this came down to how advances in digital and automation are helping to optimize the employee experience which, in turn creates a better customer/patient experience.
We then broke into our daily roundtable discussions – but I’ll have more on that a little later.
From there, we had a showstopping Masterclass about how to redesign work to be more flexible, inclusive, and connected. While this built upon the earlier panel discussion, the focus was on how leaders can reimagine the digital-first future through data and dialogue, and how executives need to “lead with purpose, to manage and measure differently, and to believe that, by letting go, they’ll get more back.”
Not to be outdone, our closing keynote shifted gears a bit and took a long hard look at how Fannie Mae, a “too-big-to-fail” financial institution, handled their digital transformation. Oddly enough it quickly became apparent that, regardless of an organization’s size, the journey and accompanying challenges are eerily similar. It essentially came down to an all-in approach from the C-suite with a keen eye on people, process, and technology – something that everyone from Fortune 500 to hometown startup can relate to.
DAY 2
The Speakers:
- Wes Beaumont – AVP of Digital Transformation at AECOM
- Sadia Janjua – Chief of Project Controls, VDS, and Digital Transformation at The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
- Karthik Chakkarapani – Chief Digital & Information Officer at Signify
- Tatiana Zander – Director of Disruptive Technologies at Ericsson
- Dion Hinchcliffe – VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research
- Shawn Sheely – Director of UX Technology & Platform Interfaces at US Bank
- Rohit Jain – VP of Technology, Applications, and Analytics at iRhythm Technologies
- John P. Kelly – Chief Strategy Officer at Sauce Labs
The Conversations and Takeaways:
We began Day 2 by essentially picking up where Day 1 left off: with an inside look at a massive digital transformation effort. This time, however, we had the honor learning about it from a joint effort between the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and their transformation guides at AECOM. Now, it’s one thing to imagine the herculean efforts this embodied. However, when you take into consideration that the Port Authority oversees, at the very least, the likes of JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark Liberty Airports, there is a LOT to be learned. And yet, much like with Fannie Mae, it all came down to People, Process, and Technology – but with the endgame of “connecting the sum of its parts to not just deliver world class service but reimagine the workplace of the future.”
Fittingly, our subsequent panel discussion was titled “Driving Responsiveness and Customer-Centricity through Design and Platform Thinking,” and featured four incredible and diverse minds to drive the conversation. At the end of the day, the key component to it all was how to “deliver experience” to the customer, and how infrastructure and composability are at the epicenter of driving engagement, holistically. Also worth noting: if “composability” isn’t a buzzword in your daily vernacular yet, it will be in 2023.
After roundtable discussions (again, more on that later), our audience reconvened for an innovation exchange which centered on the phenomenon known as “Quiet Quitting,” and how the blend of mentorship and a drive to excite over technology can help overcome this new issue in order to help those employees who are only doing the bare minimum to keep their jobs. The key takeaway from this session was that leaders need to inspire the otherwise disengaged employees and bring happiness and fulfillment to their jobs.
Last but certainly not least for Day 2, we closed out with a captivating presentation around the unsung hero of digital transformation: Testing. Whilst many organizations find testing to be a roadblock in their transformation journeys, our audience learned that, through a DevOps toolchain lens, testing can, in fact, not only accelerate the journey but open up a litany of new opportunities.
DAY 3
The Speakers:
- The Honorable John Sherman – CIO for the United States Department of Defense
- Rosetta Jones – VP of Data, Privacy Strategy, And Global Strategic Initiatives at Visa
- Art Thompson – CIO for the City of Detroit
- Carlos Cong – Director of Enterprise Cyber and Information Security at Paychex
- Bhargavi Sunkara, Head of Corporate Technology at BNY Mellon
- Bill Schrier – CTO of the City of Seattle
- Anna Schoenbaum – VP of Applications and Digital Health for Penn Medicine
- Ganapathy V – VP & Head of Global Advanced Analytics CoE at Holcim
The Conversations and Takeaways:
Day 3 kicked our collective conversations into the stratosphere with an unbelievable discussion with the CIO for the United States Department of Defense about his handling of continuous transformation in one of the most dynamic environments in the world. After learning about efforts and insights from some incredible heavy hitters in days 1 and 2, our esteemed audience had the privilege of getting an inside look as to how the U.S. DoD approached and continues to approach their own transformation – particularly in the realm of cybersecurity. Fortunately, for our audience, the “hacking of weaponry” is one thing they could rest easy on.
However, in keeping with security, our final panel of the Summit was all about creating security-first digital products. Our dynamic group of speakers came from all levels ranging from finance to city heads, which gave our audience the unique look at how their customers and citizens have come to expect digital interactions to not only be seamless, but secure – especially considering the amount of sensitive data is transferred. With that came an inside look at how the traditional collaboration model between IT and Security teams has had to take an innovative shift in the growing arena of DevSecOps.
We then had the opportunity to delve into our roundtable discussion from the previous two days, so let’s get caught up on their tracks, conversations, and takeaways:
Roundtable Hosts and Moderators:
- TOPIC: Balancing Act: Automation & Reskilling
Host: Diana Caplinger – Former EVP and Head of Enterprise Enablement & Intelligent Automation at Truist - TOPIC: Virtual Insanity: Preparing for the Metaverse
Host: Vanitha Preston, Digital Experience and Enablement Head at CSL Behring - TOPIC: Data-driven Transformation
Host: John Petty, SVP of Security Analytics and Innovation Director at Huntington National Bank
After two days of conference over each of these subjects, the first day of which addressed challenges and the second day about prospect solutions, our thought leaders convened for the first time to discuss what their conversations entailed and, in turn, tell the other participants about what issues and insights they might have missed. The discussion, however, went from a holistic tie-in of previously covered topics into what turned out to be the great unknown: the Metaverse and virtual world, as a whole – and all three hosts were eager to get involved. What it all boiled down to is that the “Metaverse” is a powerful entity which is very much being utilized today (to the tune of hundreds of millions of users as you read this), but its misnomer is not user-friendly to the masses and is rather misleading. Therefore, in order for this virtual world to become mainstream, it needs a very simple revamp. The term itself should be self-explanatory but, for those of a certain age, it never will be. And, sadly, when it comes to billions of online users, that revamp isn’t so simple. Regardless, we also learned that the virtual world presents myriad opportunities in every industry, globally, and should be on every transformational roadmap moving forward (if it isn’t already, vis a vis everything from telehealth to talent onboarding).
Before closing out our Summit, we circled back to one of our key themes on the balance of automation and upskilling, machine vs. man. And, to do so, we had the honor and privilege of being joined by the CTO of Seattle and one of the heads of digital health for Penn Medicine, which lead us on the journey of what happens from the 911 call all the way to the hospital. The key takeaway from this is how to differentiate and decide between when automation should be in charge and when humans should take the wheel. Why? The same reason the human element can never truly be eliminated: Empathy. We learned about how not only a major city is battling this conundrum, but how hospitals are, as well. It was a complicated conversation, to say the least, but our audience was able to take an incredibly unique perspective as to how everyone from cities to caretakers are battling this dichotomy, and an equally unique glimpse into the future of the balance of man and machine.
And, finally, to bring our three days together home, we took a deep dive into something that, surprisingly, hadn’t really entered the conversation: data monetization. To do so, our speaker gave a brilliant look at how his organization has been able to cater to local, diverse market needs across different dynamics – all through a very specific strategy.
In Closing
Obviously, SO many lessons were learned over these truly incredible three days. However, we can’t give them all away – you’ll just have to join us for the Summit of your choice and get the insights and connections you need to take yourself, your team, and your organization to the next level.
GDS Summits are tailored 3-day virtual event conferences that bring together business leaders and solution providers to accelerate sales cycles, industry conversations and outcomes. Regarding the CIO Summits 88% of Delegates said the overall experience of Digital Summit they attended was either Above Average or Excellent whilst 92% of Delegates said the Digital Summit provided them with actionable outcomes to support their current initiatives.
For more, click here to hear from attendees on how GDS has helped them to achieve their business outcomes.
Continue the debate at GDS’ CIO Summits where we bring together senior IT executives who are actively seeking to share, learn, engage, and find the best solutions.
