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IBIT News

A post pandemic outlook

Business and industry as we once knew it has changed. What was their “normal” is likely not coming back either.

As we move past the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s imperative that the many affected industries find a way to move forward too. But how do they do that?

That’s the question explored in “An industry perspective on major post-pandemic issues,” a new article that was recently published in MIS Quarterly Executive. The piece outlines seven practical recommendations for industry to consider in the wake of the pandemic.

The co-authors include Dinesh Desai, executive chairman and founder of Emtec, Inc., an IT consultancy firm; Linda Descano, executive vice president at Red Havas; Larry Dignan, editor in chief of ZDNet and editorial director of ZDNet’s sister site TechRepublic; Chris Kearns, senior vice president in Operations and Technology at NBCUniversal; Raghu Sankaran, chief information officer (CIO) and chief information security officer (CISO) at Scholastic, and IBIT executive director and Fox School Professor, Munir Mandviwalla.

The recommendations include:

  1. Digital transformation must remain a priority
  2. Business valuation of IT must shift assumptions
  3. Data is now even more central to business models
  4. Business continuity and operations planning require a fresh approach
  5. Remote work is a reality but management and tech need improvement
  6. Workforce recruitment and development face new challenges and requirements
  7. IT must play a central role in enabling societal and local responsibilities

The recommendations made in the article are far reaching. For instance, the co-authors argue that remote work should now be used as a recruiting tool and note that this could be especially impactful when it comes to acquiring and retaining IT talent. They also suggest that productivity and innovation could be increased by sharing critical performance data regularly with all employees.

“A lot of these topics came from our Digital Fireside Chats, which IBIT has been hosting since the pandemic started, Mandviwalla says.

“There are several things that make this article unique,” Mandviwalla says. “First, the recommendations reflect the experience and expertise of my co-authors. Typically, industry avoids getting involved in academic knowledge creation, yet this group was willing to take the leap. Second, the speed at which this article was completed and published was just not normal. Typically, these types of things take multiple years, but we all worked on it rapidly including the editor-in-chief and reviewers. The article was fast tracked for publication, going from conception to publication in less than 3 months. Lightning had to strike multiple times for this to work, and it did.”

Since its launch in March 2021, the article is one of the most-downloaded at MIS Quarterly Executive.

Raghu Sankaran joins IBIT Advisory Board

Scholastic Inc. CIO and CISO Raghu Sankaran joins IBIT Advisory Board.

Raghu Sankaran is passionate about using technology to improve business outcomes. He brings this energy to the dual roles of Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at Scholastic Inc., where he’s held executive and leadership roles for more than six years. He came into Scholastic with 20 years of industry experience under his belt.

Now, he brings the full range of his expertise to the IBIT Advisory Board as its newest member. Sankaran joins a board made up of 14 other industry leaders across a diverse range of fields, including technology, finance, entertainment, healthcare, and retail commerce. Sankaran is most looking forward to mentoring students.

I can give them a sense of what it’s like in the real world and prepare them to join the workforce when they’re done with school, he says. He also anticipates the benefits of these relationships flowing both ways.

As board members, we can share actual business challenges with them. Students can be much savvier with some of the latest and greatest technology. They bring fresh thinking to challenges that might be steeped in legacy technology, he says. He even imagines students might tackle some of these problems in their projects.

Scholastic Inc., is a venerable multinational publishing, media, and education firm. It’s the largest publisher of children’s books in the world. Sankaran’s work there centers on shaping the vision for the future of technology at the company.

My focus is to bring technology solutions that serve the needs of the business, solutions that scale and perform. I make sure the technology delivers on the business objectives. Otherwise, technology is just a research project, says Sankaran.

Before his arrival at Scholastic, Sankaran was in charge of the Healthcare Enterprise Platform team at Siemens Healthcare. Other past roles include Director of Technology at Sapient and leader of Intuit’s Enterprise Commerce Platform and Enterprise Order System Middleware groups.

Sankaran graduated with his BS in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He earned his Master’s degree in engineering from the University of Maryland.

Jeff Hamilton’s 10th anniversary as an IBIT advisory board member

2021 marks Jeff Hamilton’s 10th anniversary as an IBIT advisory board member. Now Senior Vice-President for Pfizer Digital, Hamilton leverages his digital expertise to help the firm achieve its strategic goals. He leads Pfizer’s Center for Digital Innovation as well as the digital activity involved with the company’s acquisitions, collaborations, and divestitures. His work helps Pfizer Digital deliver patient-centric digital solutions, customer engagement, and better patient health outcomes.

As a board member, Hamilton helps students make the connection between the academic concepts they study in the classroom and the real-world work of applying that knowledge.

For example, as more businesses are moving to Agile ways of working, AI-driven algorithms, a customer-experience culture, and product-focused offerings, it’s important that these concepts are not only built into the curriculum but that we also provide actual examples of how these concepts are being used to make a material impact in companies, he says. This helps students see the art of the possible and make a real-life connection to what they’re learning.

His years of experience enrich the perspective he’s able to share with the community. Before coming to Pfizer in 2009, Hamilton held leadership roles at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), where he spearheaded large digital-enabled transformation programs for Fortune 500 companies.

Looking ahead, he’s enthusiastic to return to gathering through career events, classroom discussions, mentoring, and student presentations to the board.

I’m always impressed with the caliber of the students’ thinking and ideas, the breadth and depth of their questions, and their willingness to challenge concepts with a thoughtful point of view. I find it thought-provoking and inspiring to engage with our next generation of leaders.

He’s equally looking forward to engaging with other members of the advisory board.

The board is comprised of accomplished leaders from various industries with a rich diversity of experience and I always learn something new from each of our meetings,” says Hamilton. I’m proud and honored to serve on the board with such a dedicated and talented group of leaders who are committed to a common purpose—the success of Temple students.