A new decade has arrived, bringing a fast, hard paradigm shift from the start of the last one, and the role of technology leaders is virtually unrecognizable. Whether you’re an IT director or a chief information officer, you’re no longer on the periphery after the dialogue around digital transformation and the cloud reached a fever pitch in recent years. Instead, roles that were more operational and tactical in nature in the early two thousands as a cost of doing business are now at the center of organizational strategies to refine and reimagine how we do business.
And technology leaders across the enterprise are poised to take on some aggressive goals in the new year. In fact, according to Gartner, 40% of organizations are now reporting they’re at scale for digital initiatives.
There’s been a palpable shift from preparing for digital transformation as an abstract to embarking on transformation initiatives that change organizational approaches and touch every department. In the wake of disruption, technology leaders wield more power and influence, while facing more uncertainty.
So, we asked these technology leaders what their resolutions are this year:
Measure positive change.
“In 2020, we will continue to tailor our technology to drive results for our end users. It’s not enough just to implement something new and shiny. We’re focused on technology solutions that deliver measurable, positive change—whether it’s adapting new systems or just repurposing existing assets. Helping users work smarter by streamlining operational tasks with technology saves time and creates great growth opportunities. For us, 2020 will be a year of refinement, pushing our process to new heights in the new decade.”
–Paul Green, chief development officer, Angel MedFlight Worldwide Air Ambulance
Keep building trust.
“Resolutions have always seemed to a bit hollow to me. We should be focusing on building good habits, continuous improvement in our skills and work culture. Continue building trust and improve cross team collaboration. Continue improving our baseline service goals through standardization, process improvements and automation. Further adoption of cloud technologies to help deliver value for our businesses. Improve our focus to get priorities done faster.”
–Jason Simpson, vice president, engineering at Choice Hotels
Empower more transformation.
“At MicroAge we see opportunity in disruption. In the next five years, 80% of enterprises will move away from traditional data centers—our experts and partners are laser-focused on the latest cloud platforms and services to empower the modern workplace. We are committed to making more possible for our clients in guiding them through their transformative initiatives, while helping them future-proof their organizations with intelligent security strategies. We’re excited to support more businesses moving into a new decade at cloud speed.”
–Larry Fulop, vice president, marketing and technology, MicroAge
Make ideas real.
“In 2020, the Founders Workshop will continue our mission of helping Founders turn their big idea into an app. We will incorporate emerging technologies like Voice Tech, VR (virtual reality)/AR (augmented reality), and Machine Learning into solutions where it provides the founder a strategic advantage. We believe the convergence of traditional tech, like web apps and mobile apps, with emerging tech will create unprecedented opportunities for forward-thinking founders.”
–Vincent Serpico, chief executive officer, Founders Workshop, (formerly SerpicoDev)
Keep asking questions.
“First, Security—how do I better secure my environment to keep up with the continual threats of Cyber Criminals? Next, communication—how can I improve my communication technology/processes to allow for the quick and reliable exchange of information to enhance collaboration throughout my business? Lastly, data management—how do I take advantage of the data being stored by my company to better optimize my business efficiency today while driving additional revenue streams for tomorrow?”
–Kevin Sauer, partner, Fortium Partners
Elevate User Experience.
“I resolve to elevate the role of user experience on our cross functional teams. Technology is only useful if its usable, and that goes beyond simply looking good. UX is part of our process, but we need to go further and spend more time ensuring that the value we deliver is actually accessible to our partners.”
–Mike Bovich, chief technology officer, Strong Mind
Bring leaders together.
“The last decade was a tough one for IT and security practitioners. In some ways, instead of being the disruptors, they were the ones being disrupted. They were dealing with new governance, regulatory and compliance (GRC) issues and reacting to business units moving to cloud-based SaaS applications and users demanding to bring their own devices (BYOD) and work from anywhere. The Internet itself is not the disruptive force it was it 2010, but digital transformation is far from over, and the next wave of innovation will require the integration of several advanced technologies, which is good news for the techies. So, in the 2020’s, I’m on a mission to bring together the business leaders and the IT/security leaders and help them create enterprise architectures that can deliver game-changing experiences for their workforce and their customers.”
Curt Cornum, vice president, business transformation, Secure Auth Corporation
