IBIT News

During the pandemic, with in-person events on hold, connecting Temple students and faculty with industry thought leaders presented a challenge. To bridge the divide, IBIT launched a new series of webinars: the Digital Leader Fireside Chat series.

It comprised 12 thought-provoking webinars on hot topics in the business world, led by notable executives. For about 45 minutes over lunch, speakers offered concise yet in-depth perspectives on topics within the overarching theme of digital leadership’s challenges and opportunities.

During these thought-provoking Zoom sessions, participants were encouraged to ask questions, giving participants the opportunity to interact with industry leaders. Attendance was capped and the discussions were moderated to allow for meaningful conversation and learning. Over the run of the series, a total of 83 industry executives joined the participants, in addition to 378 students and 36 faculty and staff.  An average of 47 people logged on to each of the chats.

George Llado, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Alexion, kicked off the series with his talk in September. He shared his insights on a topic top of mind for everyone during the pandemic: “The Future of Work.” As someone with 30 years of industry experience in pharma and IT, Llado’s perspective on what comes next is informed by his time with industry giants including Merck and Citibank.

In his November chat, Chris Kearns tackled the provocative question, “Is digital transformation in the end all about the customer experience?” Senior Vice President in Operations and Technology at NBCUniversal, he is in charge of workplace experience and solutions giving him an authoritative take on customer experience. In his past role as Global Head for Hosting Services for the Vanguard Group, his work supported 20 million clients.

Mark Spykerman, Chief Information Officer of AmerisourceBergen Corporation, addressed the topic “The Purpose of Work” in December. It was another salient issue during a year that prompted big questions about life and careers. Before serving as CIO, Spykerman was Senior Vice President, Transformation. In that role, he bolstered the company culture at AmerisourceBergen while enhancing its effectiveness and efficiency.

Other speakers included Linda Descano of Red Havas, Dinesh Desai of Emtec, Inc., Larry Dignan of ZDNet, Cindy Leavitt of Temple University, Stacy Greiner of Dun & Bradstreet, Ron Kim of Merck, Vince Ford of the Curtis Institute of Music, Steve DeLuca of Comcast, and Luke Olenoski of Main Line Health.

Engagement with industry leaders who can share deep insights is a cornerstone of IBIT. During a year that threatened to isolate academia, the Digital Fireside Chat series made it possible for this kind of engagement to go on.

When the pandemic-related shutdowns started last spring, many small businesses feared the worst. Without the know-how to take their business online, they couldn’t see a way to generate revenue from behind a locked storefront.

It was during this fraught moment when the Institute of Business and Information Technology (IBIT) had a big award winning idea. These struggling firms could undergo a digital transformation that allowed them to survive and even thrive through the pandemic. In April 2020, the Small Business and Non-Profit Digital Transformation program launched with a small group of companies. To date, more than 65 businesses and non-profits have been transformed across industries as diverse as food service, fitness, and fashion.

For example, fitness trainer Saul Benamy, owner of Best Bodies Inc., needed to pivot to an online model. Even as people transition back to in-person fitness, Best Bodies continues to benefit from the tech upgrades Benamy got through the program.

These changes will make an impact going forward by enabling me to use the tools of blogging and social media to drive customers toward my new website, says Benamy.

Eileen Teti, owner of Hair Way to Beauty, needed a way to stay connected to her clients during the pandemic. Temple students swooped in to create a new website for her that’s easy to navigate.

My social media now includes an Instagram presence and a nicer-looking Facebook page, says Teti. These marketing channels will continue drawing new customers to her salon.

Small businesses like Best Bodies and Hair Way to Beauty are vital to the local economy. They also make an important social impact: Of the companies helped so far by the Small Business and Non-Profit Digital Transformation project, 74% have been woman-owned or led and 46% are led or owned by people of color.

Over time, the process has been refined into a 2-week agile-sprint model. A pair of students whose interests align with the selected firm work with an advisor on a bespoke digital transformation, including website development, ecommerce, search engine optimization (SEO), advertising, and in some cases, new digital business models.

By helping companies transform to meet today’s needs, the Small Business and Non-Profit Digital Transformation program offers a low-risk way for businesses to accelerate their post-pandemic economic recovery. The program is no less necessary today than when it launched. Given the way the crisis accelerated digitization across the board, it’s more needed by small businesses than ever.

In June 2021, the program received the Fox School’s IMPACT award for community engagement.

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.