Michael Chill, HBM’s VP of Information Technology, led a discussion on the evolving role of IT professionals in today’s disruptive business environment at the St. Louis CIO Inner Circle dinner.
Several times a year, the St. Louis CIO Inner Circle hosts dinners where they invite St. Louis technology leaders to participate in discussions on various topics affecting the industry. In April, the conversation focused on how IT executives are approaching disruptions within their companies and offering innovative ways to guide change leadership efforts to reduce uncertainty for their organizations.
Michael Chill led the April discussion with an esteemed panel of St. Louis technology leaders including Mary Heger, SVP & CIO at Ameren Corporation, David Meyer, CIO & VP IT at Graybar and Shri Ramachandran, CIO at Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals at last quarter’s dinner.
The conversation began with a lively discussion on how constant technology changes in today’s environment is making traditional change management techniques obsolete. IT professionals are challenged to manage executive expectations and digital initiatives at the pace the evolving marketplace (and customers) necessitate. All panelists agreed a new approach must be taken to adapt their teams and businesses to today’s disruptive environment.
IT leaders find themselves in the precarious position of leading the charge on creating a culture of adaptation. They need to be able to offer innovative solutions to ensure operational efficiencies while also exceeding the needs of their clients and business partners – staying ahead of the curve in many ways. Implementing this change takes finesse as executives are abandoning the traditional “drinking water from a firehose” approach where businesses adapt to change when a crisis arises to one now that is designed to anticipate change.
All panelists welcome this business mindset reset and embrace the challenge of adaptation across their respective organizations. “With disruption comes innovation and that is a positive thing for business,” commented Michael Chill.