MercuryWorks Discusses What’s Ahead in Tech with CIO Panel

MercuryWorks Partner, Christopher Karlo, recently moderated a CIO panel at the Tampa Bay Tech Virtual Summit 2020. 

The CIOs of three fast growing organizations with a strong Tampa Bay presence shared their insights regarding how they’ve adapted to the rapid pace of change in 2020 along with what they see on the horizon for 2021. 

The panelists included:

• Clare DeBoef, Chief Information Officer, AgileThought
• Adam Kreuger, CIO, CSI Tech
• Walt Walker, Chief Cloud and Innovation Officer, Vology

The CIO Panel was part of a two-day, interactive tech conference highlighting the most innovative tech thought leaders and companies in Tampa Bay and beyond with global leaders from Microsoft, Accenture, Zoom, Jabil, Tech Data, Nielsen and more. 

Some notable takeaways from the conversation include:

• When COVID stopped the world, getting information out to support rapid decision making was crucial.  In addition, it was a challenge to maintain relationships across the organization and with clients amid the turmoil.
• There’s been a big bounce back post-COVID in key technology roles, including: Development, Product Management and Business Analysis.   
• The cloud imperative is real and enterprises need to ensure they are optimally utilizing their cloud environments to drive the most business value.
• We need to reskill and build new interpersonal skills for technology team members for improved communication across remote channels.  This is best accomplished by bringing learning to where your users are, rather than forcing them to come to a platform they may not be comfortable with already.
• Focusing on the culture of the organization remains key as the organizations continue to grow.  Sustaining the organizational culture and tending to the emotional needs of your team is critical.   
• Crowdsource ideas from your team to identify ways in which your team wants to work in a manner that works well for your organization.
• Data is the key.  If you don’t have your foundational block of data perfect, things like artificial intelligence and machine learning really aren’t going to do anything for you.  So focus on your data first.