Steven C. Michaels is one of the many high-caliber IT Executives who will be facilitating group discussions at NCS Madison’s Virtual CIO & CISO Strategy Meeting on June 9, 2020 for executives in Charlotte, NC and its surrounding areas.
Steven, the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at SCL Health, will be leading a thought-provoking group discussion on CIO Leadership: Responding to COVID-19. Here is a preview of what will be discussed on June 9, 2020.
“Nothing could have prepared you for this, but everything you ever did, prepared you for how to deal with it. You want to develop a new disaster recovery plan, sure, just remember, how you came together in a moment’s notice to pull together a plan. In other words don’t overthink it or over plan it.”
What leadership capabilities does the CIO need during COVID-19 to guide their organizations from crisis to recovery?
The biggest capability is to determine the goal of exactly what recovery means for your organization. Reduced expenses, more associates working remotely full-time, a different desktop delivery option? The CIO is critical to leading an organization into recovery and beyond, but now more than ever, you need to be at the table where business success is being discussed.
What roles does the CIO play in maintaining the organizational purpose? Can you share an example from your organization?
The pandemic moved the purpose of the CIO to the forefront of business strategy, and if you were not there before, it happened overnight. To maintain their purpose, organizations adapted quickly to deliver their services through the use of technology. Healthcare virtual visits went from a pet project to the center of the organization.
Restaurants without a virtual ordering process (GrubHub, DoorDash), were scrambling to find one. Churches that traditionally, were all about being together physically, found themselves developing a technology solution.
What are the lessons learned by CIOs from this unprecedented pandemic? How has this crisis impacted their IT modernization?
If you didn’t plan for sudden expansion, then you probably found yourself in a very uncomfortable situation. We were fortunate at SCL Health to be on the leading edge of supporting remote work and prepared for disaster situations, which allowed us to cope with new demands. Even so, we found opportunities to improve our Incident Command processes and procedures.
What will recovery look-like, and how will the CIO lead their organizational recovery?
Recovery will be developing and executing a new normal, whatever that is for your organization. The CIO will need to take the lead with their peers in the organization to develop how to execute the new normal.
What is one thing you would like the attendees of your discussion group to leave knowing?
Nothing could have prepared you for this, but everything you ever did, prepared you for how to deal with it. You want to develop a new disaster recovery plan, sure, just remember, how you came together in a moments notice to pull together a plan. In other words, don’t overthink it or over plan it.
Why have you decided to join us at the 2020 Virtual Charlotte CIO and CISO Strategy Meeting?
We will recover as a community, and sharing is the best thing we can do at this point.
We have limited spots available for this Virtual CIO and CISO Strategy Meeting for IT Executives in and around Charlotte, NC. If you are interested in joining the conversation on CIO Leadership: Responding to COVID-19 or any of the other great discussion groups available register here: https://www.tfaforms.com/4802612 or contact Jason Walter at jwalter@ncsmadison.com for more information.