Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom A Peek Inside the World of the CIO

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom A Peek Inside the World of the CIO At Intuit QuickBase’s recent #EMPOWER2015 conference, product marketing manager John Carione convened a panel of customer CIOs to discuss how cloud-basedlow-code platforms and citizen development are transforming the way IT is executed. We heard fromIsaac Sacolick, CIO of financial consulting firm Greenwich Associates;Francois Tricot, CIO of veterinary medical supply company Ceva Sante Animale; andWill Weider, CIOof hospital network Ministry Healthcare. How has the role of the CIO evolved? Will: I have been a CIO for 20 years and it has changed for the better. My role has lessened somewhat because more people know how to leverage technology. I suppose my key question now is: how can we deliver more reliably and less expensively? Isaac: I view myself as the technology steward for the business and I spend my time trying to grow revenue through the use of new technologies. In the last 4-5 years, I’ve asked myself: how can we make the organizationmore data-driven? How can we scale oureffective platformsand how can we upgrade software quickly? How can wehelp non-IT employees develop the appsthey need to grow their businesses? Francois: The most important thing for a CIO today is to have a strong return on investment, and my strategy is:go beyond the cloud. Why would you choose a low-code platform? Isaac: It’s simple. Low code means we deliver faster and require less skilled labor. Once they’ve uncovered a need, business unit personneldeveloping an appcan get 70 percent of the way on their own and then IT may step in. In particular, we assist with sandboxing, or testing out an app before it goes live to make sure the right information is encrypted and everything is backed up properly. It’s a partnership. Francois: Self-service wins. The learning curve is short, the user interface is friendly, and you can get a live application in an hour. Everyone achieves their goals andthe company saves a lot of money. For the rest of the interview, head over to the full post at Intuits Fast Track blog.And, to learn more about EMPOWER2016, check outwww.empower2016.com.