Making IT a Competitive Differentiator with Srini Tanikella, Vice President of IT at SMART Global Holdings and Vipin Arora, previous Head of IT at Hilmar Cheese Company

Srini Tanikella, Vice President of IT at SMART Global Holdings and Vipin Arora, previous Head of IT at Hilmar Cheese Company discuss how to personalize your company’s IT, how to keep your IT competitive, and what CIOs need to know going into 2021.

Key Takeaways

• Having a fear of failure inhibits innovation.
• Ask your employees how you can best fit their IT needs, because some employees will be too shy to ask for help or assistance for more seemingly basic questions.
• Be proactive in approaching your users—don’t wait for them to come to you.

Key Quotes

“People who are playing a role of a CIO now are more business centric and less technology centric.” – Vipin

“The CIO may not be the most technical talent in the company. What’s very important is that they understand the business aspect of it or can relate to it. They can partner with the business side to provide solutions.” – Srini

“The CIO role is evolving as the technology is evolving.” – Vipin

“Invest in people. Invest in productivity tools. Invest in good white boarding tools. Invest in good collaboration software.” – Srini

Vipin Arora LinkedIn

Srini Tanikella LinkedIn

Hilmar Cheese

SMART Global Holdings

—

Thanks to our friends 

Learn more about CIO Classified and find other episodes at CIOpod.com

This podcast is brought to you by Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom. Modern employees demand the best tools at work. If your company wants to embrace the modern work environment, you need best of breed tools like Box, Okta, Slack, and Zoom.