“Sadin on Digital” episodes explore the fast-changing and high-stakes world of digital business. Wayne Sadin and I focus in particular on what CEOs and boards must do to lead their companies successfully into the Digital Age. Today, Wayne shares his thoughts on the all-important relationships between CEOs, CIOs and boards of directors at large firms, particularly in the era of rapid change and tech innovation that we’re in today. Plus, a reminder about Qualified Technology Experts (QTE).
Episode 30
The Big Themes:
- IBM support is a differentiator: Upstart cloud vendors are in an IaaS arms race. Legacy enterprise IT clients have been with IBM clients for 50+ years.
- Board of duty of care: The board’s overarching mandate is to protect shareholders over the long term. Boards have two main fiduciary duties: Loyalty and care.
- Cybersecurity and obsolescence risk: What is the age of IT components vs. current – years matter less than generations.
- The right CIO: The CEO gets the CIO they settle for. And CEOs should lobby for QTE—qualified technology expert—on the board.
The Big Quote:
- “We can’t get people. We can’t get stuff. We can’t get network capabilities added because everybody’s out of everything.”
- “We are now 20 months into a pandemic where we sent the office workers home. Microsoft just the other day said, ‘We’re not coming back for a while.’ “
- “So you can be a higher margin, higher stickiness, higher customer satisfaction in a company and survive for the long run.”
You can also stream this episode in audio-only format:
This episode is brought to you by BMC Software.
