CIOs Take Center Stage

George Llado, SVP & CIO at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, and Phil Fasano, CEO of Gigster, discuss the essential role CIOs play in this moment, and trace their influence in digital transformation. As two heralded CIOs, George and Phil share the lessons they’ve learned in their careers and look to the future of the CIO. 

Key Takeaways

• CIOs need literal and figurative investment from the executive team of their company in order to be able to drive digital innovation and invest in their ideas. Investing in the future can give companies a tremendous competitive advantage down the road. 
• The pace of innovation has changed. Companies can’t afford to build every single piece of infrastructure they need. To move fast, they have to leverage world-class third party services — from adopting a new API suite, to integrating with a new cloud service. 
• CIOs have to keep growing their skill set and use those new skills to remain competitive in their field, and in their company. In order to avoid being relegated to the back seat of the C-suite, CIOs have to be on the lookout for the next wave of technology that can push their business forward.  

Key Quotes

• “We’re the lifeline. Digital, technology, and CIOs have become lifelines for corporations now. Because frankly, they’re not able to do business without what we either have and they never used, or with what we can bring to bear they’re very, very quickly.” – George 
• “We’ve quickly evolved from the role of provider, to the enabler, to innovator, which I think a number of us are taking advantage of.”  – George
• “There isn’t a transformation on the planet that’s a straight line. In fact, a lot of transformations fail or attempts at them fail before you get to the point you actually executed it well.” – Phil
  
• “Now, you can create a great customer experience. And, you can do it in days. What a difference, what a phenomenal difference it is. And it’s a shame if we don’t take advantage of this opportunity.” – Phil 

Links

• George Llado LinkedIn
• Phil Fasano LinkedIn
• Gigster
• Alexion Pharmaceuticals 

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