Ask any CIO today, and he or she will probably tell you one of the hardest things about the job is staying on top of all of the changes in technology. That’s especially true when technology disrupts the typical processes in the workplace.
In this video, Shane Schick of Canadian CIO TV introduces Rita Lazar-Tippe, business technology director for Northlands, a public events organization in Edmonton.
For Northlands, mobility is pretty much one of the organization’s highest priorities, Lazar-Tippe says. At Northlands’ convention centre, there’s a heavy demand for audio, video, mobile app use, and Internet services during events. That becomes more of a strain for the convention centre’s wireless capabilities, so her team has started to revamp the whole system, she says.
Video is another driving force, Lazar-Tippe says, as especially as people attending a conference and using its Wi-Fi expect to be able to share their experiences as they happen.
What’s important for CIOs to remember is that they need to first set some goals ahead of time and try to define what problems they’re solving. For example, that might mean drilling down into statistics through data analytics to find out what trends are emerging within a CIO’s particular field.
Once CIOs nail down their objectives, they should do their research and pick the right vendors to solve those problems, Lazar-Tippe adds. They should also be prepared to check and recheck their data and redefine their goals as necessary. It can be difficult, as some of those demands can be “moving targets” that change all the time, but it helps, she says.
“It’s not something that you can somewhat define and re-evaluate on a yearly or an annual basis,” she says. “You have to do it on-going.”
Schick agrees, adding the easiest way to keep on top of the changes in wireless is to think of it as a “constant work in progress.”
“Start thinking about the vendor relationships you have in place today, so they can adapt with you tomorrow,” he says. “And keep in mind emerging forms of shareable content, like video.”
Watch the video for more.