Insigniam Quarterly Winter 2014 - Transformational Technology

VO L U M E 2 , I S S U E 4 | Wi n te r 2 015
TECHNOLOGY
TRANSFORMING
CORPORATE CULTURE
BRIDGING THE GAP
Intel’s Cheng Gang Bian
spurred a turnaround
by tapping into the
Generation Y workforce.
Q&A WITH
ROBERT WISEMAN
The former Angie’s List
CTO addresses the
future of technology
transformations.
IS YOUR COMPANY POSITIONED
FOR THE CUTTING EDGE?
™
EMBRACING
TECHNOLOGY
Dell Services
President Suresh
Vaswani preaches
technology-led
transformations.

We live in an era where we have the
unique opportunity to transform the world
of business and the practice of management
and leadership, unleashing the power of
inspired human performance while catalyzing
breakthrough results and remarkable value.
— NATHAN ROSENBERG AND SHIDEH SEDGH BINA
FOUNDING PARTNERS, INSIGNIAM

LETTER
INSIGNIAM QUARTERLY 1
O
THE POWER OF TECHNOLOGY
TO TRANSFORM
Our mission at Insigniam is to transform the world of business and the
practice of management and leadership, unleashing the power of inspired human
performancewhilecatalyzingbreakthroughresultsandremarkablevalue.Themethods
we utilize include breakthrough performance, cultural change, transformational
leadership, and innovation within organizations — one way to do this swiftly and
effectively can be by the adoption of well-conceived technology strategies. It’s also
true that the ability to leverage these emerging technologies can be vitally dependent
on how they are embraced by an organization’s culture.
Withrapidlyevolvingtechnologiesprovidinganewclimateforpotentorganizational
change,thisissueofInsigniamQuarterlyfocusesonmethodstomeetthesechallengesand
fundamentally alter the way business is done.The power of technology to transform
can be realized in a number of areas that directly impact key organizational goals.
• Change brought about through technology requires you to think and behave
differently,resulting in a big impact on a company’s manner of operating.
• Strong leadership is a prerequisite for a technology-driven transformation.
• Updates and changes in technology are essential for maintaining an
organization’s effectiveness.
• Disruptiveleadershipcangivewaytotransformativetechnologyinitiatives,but
if not implemented properly,they can become disruptive in the wrong way.
• Relatingbacktothepowerofwordsandhowpeoplecommunicate,companies
often overestimate technologies while underestimating the network of
conversations and relationships in their enterprises.
In this issue,we share stories of success and innovative thinking,starting with our
cover story on SureshVaswani and his efforts as president of Dell Services to drive
technology-led transformations both for clients and within Dell. Hint: It’s all about
merging the leadership of business strategy and corporate technology.The former
CTOatgrowingonlinemarketplaceAngie’sList,RobertWisemanprovidesindustry-
leading insights on how businesses either evolve or die from technology strategies.
Articles on Health 2.0 and the rapid implementation of mobile health care
technology reveal opportunities for massive growth in that space.And on the subject
of transformative change, we discuss the role of leaders in shaping the conversation
around change so that employees can view it as a powerful opportunity.
Whileseizingthisopportunityfortransformationisfrequentlynecessarytosurvive
and thrive,not every emerging technology will prove to be a game changer.The key
is continuing to look ahead — falling behind isn’t an option.
WINTER 2015
Shideh Sedgh Bina
Founding Partner, Insigniam

WINTER 20152 INSIGNIAM QUARTERLY
18
MIT’S ENERGY INITIATIVE INTENDS
TO CHANGE THE WORLD
Geoff Williams
The efforts of the MITEI program and its wide array
of energy-related business partners are aimed at
transforming the earth’s energy systems.
32
Q&A WITH ROBERT WISEMAN
Scott Beckett, Insigniam
Entering a technology transformation? The former
CTO of Angie’s List talks about challenges,
strategies, and the effect it can have on your
company’s culture.
46
THE HEALTH 2.0 REVOLUTION
Chris Warren
Harnessing the power of web-based technologies
is the next step to engaging and improving health
care for both patients and practitioners.
54
BUSINESS RESULTS DEPEND ON MANAGING THE
NETWORK OF CONVERSATIONS
Katerin Le Folcalvez, Christine Flouton, and
Shideh Sedgh Bina
How can you create a business environment and
a corporate culture primed for success? It’s time
to talk.
FEATURES
TECHNOLOGY
TRANSFORMATION
EQUALS CULTURAL
CHANGE
Joe Guinto
As president of Dell
Services, Suresh Vaswani
has seen the ability of
technology to drive a top-
to-bottom transformation
both internally and for
their customers.
COVER
STORY
38
TABLEOFCONTENTS

WINTER 2015 INSIGNIAM QUARTERLY 3
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Shideh Sedgh Bina
shidehbinaIQ@insigniam.com
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Nathan O. Rosenberg
nrosenberg@insigniam.com
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Ralph Gotto
DIRECTOR OF WORLDWIDE Karen Turner
CLIENT SERVICES kturner@insigniam.com
DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL PROJECTS Alexes Fath

GENERAL MANAGER Jas Robertson
PRESIDENT Paul Buckley
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Amy Robinson
amy.robinson@dcustom.com
MANAGING EDITOR Brian Keagy
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kyle Phelps
kyle.phelps@dcustom.com

ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Emily Slack
PRODUCTION MANAGER Pedro Armstrong
IMAGING SPECIALIST John Gay
ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Cory Davies
EDITORIAL QUERIES
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Insigniam Quarterly is published by D Custom, 750 Saint Paul Street, Ste. 2100, Dallas, Texas 75201.
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Quarterly c/o D Custom, 750 Saint Paul Street, Ste. 2100, Dallas, Texas 75201. No part of this
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Q U A R T E R LY
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 4 | WINTER 2014
“Transformation efforts are driven by the need to survive in
a world where old models no longer endure.”
— SURESH VASWANI, DELL SERVICES
THE TICKER
Innovation, engagement, and data deployment.
TOP LINE
Technology by the numbers.
BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS
Embracing the culture of a Generation Y workforce
produces breakthrough results.
FROM THE BOARDROOM
Is your company adequately prepared to defend itself
against cyber crimes?
IQ BOOST
Breaking through can mean starting from the future.
04
08
10
14
68
22
28
52
60
DEPARTMENTS
On the cover
Dell Services President
Suresh Vaswani
VO L U M E 2 , I S S U E 4 | Wi n te r 2 015
TECHNOLOGY
TRANSFORMING
CORPORATE CULTURE
BRIDGING THE GAP
Intel’s Cheng Gang Bian
spurred a turnaround
by tapping into the
Generation Y workforce.
Q&A WITH
ROBERT WISEMAN
The former Angie’s List
CTO addresses the
future of technology
transformations.
IS YOUR COMPANY POSITIONED
FOR THE CUTTING EDGE?
™
EMBRACING
TECHNOLOGY
Dell Services
President Suresh
Vaswani preaches
technology-led
transformations.
Insigniam and its publisher, D Custom, distribute
this editorial magazine to share the opinions
and insights of companies and their leaders on
impactful global business issues. Insigniam
Quarterly’s inclusion of a company or individual
does not indicate that they are a client of Insigniam.
Remuneration is not provided for editorial
coverage. Individuals appearing in Insigniam
Quarterly have done so with direct consent, or
provided consent by a designated authorized agent
in addition to being disclosed on the magazine’s
audience and purpose.
MINI-FEATURES
™
THE MOVEMENT TO MOBILE
The future of health care is being shaped by advances
in mobile technology.
TAKING BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE TO HEART
Teamwork, innovation, and breakthrough thinking drove
AstraZeneca’s rollout of a massive clinical trial.
COMMUNICATION TRANSFORMATION
Cone Health is leading the charge to provide better
care for patients through the integration of powerful
medical records systems.
THE FOUR WAYS OF BEING THAT CREATE THE
FOUNDATION FOR GREAT LEADERSHIP, A GREAT
ORGANIZATION & A GREAT PERSONAL LIFE

THE TICKER
The world has an unquenchable thirst for energy,which
is the primary reason why Coca-Cola has plunged in with
both feet. Late last summer, the soft drink giant announced it
would soak up a 16.7 percent stake in Monster Beverage Corp.
for a net cash payment of $2.15 billion.As part of the deal,
Coke is transferring its energy drinks NOS and Burn over to
Monster, which is kicking its non-energy beverages over to
Coke,including its popular Hansen’s Natural Sodas.
What makes Monster such a hot capture in the hyper-
competitive, $27 billion global energy drinks market?
Innovation,say observers.They’re constantly recalibrating their
energy portfolio to put pressure on rivals.They’ve introduced
high-protein Muscle Monster energy shakes (chocolate,coffee,
evenpeanutbuttercupflavors),zerocaloriedrinks,andMonster
Energy Ultra — a power beverage that’s lighter and less sweet.
That innovation might explain why competitors like Rockstar,
FullThrottle,NOS,and 5-hour are treading water.In the wake
of the Coca-Cola deal, Monster announced on November 6
thatthird-quartersaleshadincreased7.7percentto$636million.
MONSTER
POWERBY MARK STEURTZ

Even with the most established brands,
disruption is frequently business as usual. In
October, Proctor & Gamble announced it
would shed its Duracell battery business to
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway for
$4.7 billion in Proctor & Gamble stock.
Duracell goes all the way back to the 1920s,
when scientist Samuel Ruben teamed up
with businessman Philip Rogers Mallory to
form the company.
The private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis
Roberts picked up Duracell in 1988 for $1.8
billion before it was passed on to Gillette in
1996 for a whopping $7 billion. And why
not? Duracell batteries are used in all sorts of
popular gadgets,from toys and personal CD
players to digital recorders and cameras.As
recently as 2008, the “CopperTop” battery
was ranked 88th on Bloomberg Businessweek’s
top 100 brands with a valuation of $3.68
billion.That put it ahead of Smirnoff and
powerhouse luxury automaker Lexus.
But growth stalled,necessitating the spin-
off. Duracell was felled by smartphones, of
all things.iPhones andAndroid phones have
three of those gadgets that Duracell powers
right on board — four if you count games
and apps that operate remote control toys.
And perhaps more importantly,smartphones
don’t need replacement batteries.
Disruption came out of left field for the
CopperTop.True,Duracell has forged a pact
with Powermat, an Israeli firm that markets
wireless charging and backup batteries for
smartphones and tablets. Regardless, it’s
still a steep value crest to scale in order to
reach that ’90s value high. Which proves
a point: If you don’t negotiate the tricky
balance of disrupting your own business
while simultaneously nurturing your core,
someone else will surely perform the
disruption part for you.
According to the 2014 Insigniam Executive Sentiment
Survey, a full 80 percent of executives lose sleep over people-
related issues, including engagement. Enter gamification, or
driving engagement by transforming work functions into games.
Not long ago, the thinking was this secret sauce would “game
change” everything from recruitment and talent retention to
employee training and customer engagement.
The research firm Gartner, Inc., even predicted that by
2014, 70 percent of Global 2000 organizations would have
implemented at least one gamified app.Alas,that didn’t happen.
It turns out that using games to successfully drive problem
solving and engagement takes well-grounded, clearly defined
business objectives.Compelling game design doesn’t hurt either.
Secret sauce? Not yet.
PERCENTAGE OF
EXECUTIVES WHO LOSE
SLEEP OVER PEOPLE-
RELATED ISSUES.
PERCENTAGE OF
EXECUTIVES WHO DO
NOT LOSE SLEEP OVER
PEOPLE-RELATED ISSUES.
NOT
INCLUDED
$3.68BILLION
The amount of
Duracell’s
brand evaluation
$4.7BILLION
Berkshire Hathaway’s
purchase price in
P&G stock
READY FOR PLAY?

THE TICKER
It appears the Industrial Internet — the convergence
of Big Data analytics with the Internet ofThings — is poised
to drive the next industrial revolution. How potent will
this revolution be?According to Gartner,Inc.,a technology
research firm, the Industrial Internet will have 26 billion
interconnected devices driving $1.9 trillion in global
economic value-add by 2020.
A network of physical objects that can sense and interact,
the Industrial Internet includes devices such as diagnostic
equipment,medicaldevices,jetengines,turbines,robotics,and
vehicle sensors.This massive network excludes smartphones,
tablets,and PCs.
The most valuable opportunities in this coming revolution
reside in health care, oil and gas, aviation, insurance, power
generation, and distribution.Why? Because data generated
by industrial equipment holds far more potential business
value than information from social media and consumer
Internet sources.GE recently announced that its Predictivity
information services platform will realize $1 billion in
revenues in 2014.That’s after the company committed in
2013 to invest $2 billion in health care information solutions
over the next five years.
Still,many firms may struggle to align their organizations
to capitalize on these coming opportunities.To effectively
harness the Industrial Internet,the enterprise must overcome
internal system barriers between departments, and cultural
hurdles that thwart the collection and correlation of data.
That’s in addition to talent gaps in critical areas such as
data analysis, the gathering and consolidating of disparate
information streams, and managers capable of using Big
Data analyses to make sound decisions. Success in this new
world always comes back to people — and the organizational
culture within which they function.
DATA HULK

While breakthrough success is often paved by the rapid
adoption of cutting-edge technology,sometimes it simply pays
to hang back and exploit opportunities ignored in the rush.
Fort Worth,Texas-based Athlon Energy applied a similar
strategy in the Permian Basin, the West Texas shale play and
top-petroleum-producing region in the U.S.While oil and gas
companies were rapidly adopting expensive new technologies
such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling,Athlon was
quietlypickingupPermianacreagethoughtunsuitableforthese
new technologies for pennies on the dollar.It then scooped up
traditional vertical drilling rigs at discount prices.Net result:a
deep inventory of some 3,900 vertical drilling sites and more
than 10 years of drilling inventory.
The assembled value was so attractive that Calgary-based
Encana Corporation snatched up Athlon for $7.1 billion
in a “transformational acquisition” finalized in November.
Innovation sometimes means seeing the conventional with
fresh eyes.
INNOVATING BEHIND
THE CURVE
Since 1995, the FORTUNE Global Forum has convened world leaders and the heads of global business on the
dynamic frontiers of international commerce. In 2015, we will bring CEOs from the FORTUNE Global 500 together with
innovators, builders, and technologists from emerging companies to focus on disruptive innovation and explore the
implications of technology trends for the 21st-century corporation.
For more information: www.FortuneGlobalForum.com
San FranciSco, ca
November 2-4, 2015
All photos from the 2013 FORTUNE Global Forum (Photos: Stuart Isett)
Attendance at the FORTUNE Global Forum is by invitation only and subject to approval.
FORTUNE and FORTUNE Global Forum are trademarks of Time Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

8 INSIGNIAM QUARTERLY WINTER 2015
TOP LINE
“ON THE TECHNOLOGY SIDE, YOU CAN AFFORD A
LITTLE MORE INNOVATION, A LITTLE MORE RISK,
SO TO SPEAK. BECAUSE YOU’RE CONSTANTLY
INNOVATING, YOU’RE CONSTANTLY PUSHING THE
ENVELOPE AND TESTING PRODUCTS AND TESTING
YOURSELF AGAINST THOSE LIMITS.”
— Bill Miller, CIO, Broadcom Corp
“I’m an optimist
about the power
of technology to
transform lives
for the better.”
— Julius Genachowski, former FCC chairman (2009-2013)
BY THE NUMBERS
COMPILED BY GEOFF WILLIAMS
The money saved in power costs and operations
licenses after AMD transitioned its data center
from Austin, Texas to Atlanta, Georgia. Jake
Dominguez, CIO, is credited for recognizing the
need to update the center.
$8.5 million a year

INSIGNIAM QUARTERLY 9WINTER 2015
APPROXIMATELY $1 BILLION
Amount of money UPS spends annually on technology to improve its operations.
“What we are experiencing today, I truly don’t believe we’ve
ever had anything quite like it. There aren’t that many people
who really understand the individual technologies; to manage
to have them integrated is extremely complicated.”
— Jerry Luftman, former CIO, professor emeritus of the Stevens Institute of Technology, managing director of the Global Institute for IT Management
How much Walmart’s technology budget has
climbed from fiscal year 2009 through fiscal year
2014, according to Charles Holley, Walmart’s
executive vice president and chief financial officer,
who told his shareholders: “Technology is our
fastest growing area for capital expenditures.”70%
2009 Tech Budget 2014 Tech Budget
“Innovation has
nothing to do with
how many R&D
dollars you have.
When Apple
came up with the
Mac, IBM was
spending at least
100 times more
on R&D. It’s not
about money. It’s
about the people
you have, how
you’re led, and
how much you
get it.”
— Steve Jobs (1955-2011), CEO
of Apple

BLOOD,SWEAT&TEARS
A disciplined environment like Intel can be a culture
shock for many workers.Incorporating the much-maligned
Generation Y worker — commonly portrayed as being
overly ambitious,impatient,and lacking loyalty or obedience,
making them unproductive and difficult to manage in many
working environments — presents yet another potential
stumbling block.
As vice president of the Intel
Technology and Manufacturing Group
and general manager for Intel Products
(Chengdu) Ltd. in Chengdu, Sichuan
province, China, Cheng Gang Bian
has faced up to even greater workforce
challenges. China’s one-child policy,
though relaxed over the last year, has
led to primarily single-children families
in China for the last several decades.This has created a group
of GenY workers in China as well as Chengdu who were
brought up, in Bian’s words, as “princes or princesses” that
typically haven’t worked in a collaborative environment.
During Bian’s five years at the Intel Chengdu facility, the
solutionhasbeentofosteracollaborativeenvironmentgeared
to engage the participation of each and every person at his
Intel executive Cheng Gang Bian has tapped
into China’s GenerationY workforce to achieve
breakthrough results.
BY PHIL BRITT
BRIDGING THE GAP
A Gen Y employee of
Intel Chengdu made a
sweet lifetime memory
by taking her wedding
photo at the company.

site.His story of leadership and commitment has resulted in
unprecedented breakthroughs.
FACING UP TO CULTURE SHOCK
Bian was no stranger to the issue of culture shock when
he first joined Intel.Though born in China,he spent several
years studying computer science in Norway,where a typical
workday starts at 9:00 a.m. or so, prolonged chats with
coworkers and one- or two-hour lunches are commonplace,
and leaving early is accepted — far from the discipline-
driven culture of Intel, an environment that Bian says he is
still learning.
That culture reinforces the understanding that talking a
good game without results will place your job in jeopardy.
A colleague shared with Bian that he thought the cultural
differences would end with Bian leaving the company within
six months. But he continues to thrive there 16 years later
as a driving force behind the company’s
powerhouse manufacturing facility.
Bian initially joined Intel as the
Pudong/Shanghai site IT/automation
manager in 1998 after leaving Norway
to pursue a career in technology
management in his hometown. He
eventually moved on to Intel’s flash
operations,which were eventually spun
off as a joint venture in 2007,and joined
the Intel Chengdu facility as general
manager in 2009.
During that time, Bian has found
that Generation Y workers can belie
their reputation and be molded into
a productive, dynamic workforce. He
relies primarily on a group of workers at Chengdu, with an
average age of 29 as of 2014,that comprise 90 percent of the
facility’s workforce.
The critical element is to understand the Generation
Y value system, he says.These workers want someone to
understand them and respect their valuation of diversity.
Though they are all of the same generation and do have
some commonalities, these workers also want management
to recognize their individuality. Accordingly, Bian has
orchestrated and overseen the redesign of the facility to
recognize that individuality.Many of the changes have come
as the result of employee suggestions.“Bian demonstrated a
key aspect of transformational leadership.That is to create an
environment where each and every person can give of their
best and flourish.Doing this often requires giving up a point
of view or a firmly held belief about how people should
think and act,” says Felicity McRobb, Insigniam consultant
based in Asia.
In addition,an outside visitor would never know that Intel
Chengdu is a factory, which could typically be marked by
dirty floors, machines, and overall uniformity.“We changed
all of that,”Bian says.
The facility’s cafeteria used to feature only one size of
table, with the philosophy of spurring small groups to sit
together and promote camaraderie. Bian realized that not
all people are comfortable in the same size groups. Now
employees can sit at tables suited for two,four,or other small
groupings. Similarly, halls no longer feature uniform colors.
During free time,workers can choose from an indoor 5-star
gym,badminton,basketball,and table tennis;outdoor tennis,
soccer and other physical activities;gardens;and a coffee area.
While some companies discourage fraternization among
workers, the Intel Chengdu facility
celebrates employee marriages.Pictures
of romantic proposals along with brides
and grooms are included in some of
the company’s internal slide show
presentations.
Recognizing the individuality and
personal lives of employees goes hand
in hand with fostering a strong work
ethic.“If you care about their lives and
their careers,they will find a workplace
that they love and want to contribute,”
Bian says.“Gen X leadership needs to
change for being able to lead/manage
GenY,not the other way around,”Bian
adds.“But,principles need to be instilled
for shaping the GenY productivity.”
Those important elements include communication,
passion,persistence,patience,and details.“In our experience
the most productive work environments are ones in which
people can connect their work to their core values,then the
workplace becomes a place of contribution and satisfaction,
as well as a place to earn a living,”says McRobb.
Bian communicates regularly with employees through
newsletters, meet-the-people sessions, and an anonymous
onlinesuggestionboxthatgoesdirectlytohim.Heencourages
them to make suggestions and ask him questions,all of which
he answers no later than two weeks from receipt,despite the
complexities that could arise from some of those questions.
Employees are also urged to pay attention to details as a means
of producing extraordinary results.At a place like Intel,career
RECOGNIZING THE
INDIVIDUALITY
AND PERSONAL
LIVES OF
EMPLOYEES GOES
HAND IN HAND
WITH FOSTERING
A STRONG WORK
ETHIC.

BLOOD,SWEAT&TEARS
development can depend on paying attention to small details
that differentiate the normal from the extraordinary.
Details also help connect the dots to understand each
worker’s contributions, he says. When the site’s current
“Chengdu Can Do 3.0”campaign was developed,Bian and
otherexecutivesrealizedthattheywantedmorethanjustaplan
of action,but rather a“big family picture”that would connect
all employees.The master plan focused on communicating
details that cover all strategies, programs, and actions so that
employees could understand how their contributions would
aid the facility’s success.The plan included what Bian termed
as audacious goals that eventually proved reachable for 2012,
when the plant was awarded with Intel’s Quality Award,the
most prestigious award doled out by the CEO to a select few
qualified organizations across the globe each year.
Workers have responded strongly to Bian’s leadership
philosophy and style in both good times and bad.By working
together efficiently,Intel Chengdu workers have transformed
their workplace into the company’s top facility of its type,
producing seven to nine units per second in an operation
that runs 24 hours a day and seven days a week. In fact, the
facility produces more than half of the world’s mobile chips.
Intel Chengdu has had technical challenges to overcome as
well.When a design flaw was discovered in a chipset product
at the end of 2010, employees were called back on the first
day of Chinese New Year in 2011, which Bian likened to
U.S. workers being called back into work on Christmas.Yet
employees reported for work and quickly dove into the task
of correcting the flaw so that replacement chips could be sent
out quickly,before even OEMs could have realized it.Failing
to do so in the first quarter of the year could have resulted in
$1 billion in losses to Intel, according to Bian.The workers
discovered and corrected the flaw, allowing replacements to
be shipped within six weeks — versus an ordinary plan of at
least a quarter-plus — an unheard-of turnaround.
Loyaltyisanotherbyproductofthisleadershipstyle.Despite
their relatively young age,Chengdu’s average worker has been
with the facility for about seven years, in strong contrast to
the national average. According to Bian’s observations of
China’s market norms, six in 10 GenY workers leave their
companies in under two years.“It is real work to have people
fully engaged in the company’s success, owning successes
and failures as their own,” adds McRobb.“Bian’s brand of
transformational leadership is clearly paying off, positioning
Intel as a workplace of choice and delivering real business
value and results.It’s been a pleasure to work with him.”
On another front, Bian is a major advocate of Corporate
Social Responsibilities (CSR) into local communities, and
“IT IS REAL WORK TO HAVE
PEOPLE FULLY ENGAGED IN THE
COMPANY’S SUCCESS, OWNING
SUCCESSES AND FAILURES AS
THEIR OWN.”
— FELICITY MCROBB, INSIGNIAM CONSULTANT, ASIA

his philosophy is one minute of volunteer
work equals the same value in hours and days
to people in need. Intel Chengdu facility
performsanaverageof25,000volunteerhours
each year to go along with about a 70 percent
participationrate,andtheyhavebeenhonored
astheNo.1CSRCompanyinSichuan,China,
since 2009.
“Our average volunteer hours per employee each year are
above16hours,whilethesecondawardeeinChinaisatabout
20 minutes,”says Bian.“And we never had a goal and gift for
volunteers,but a fashionable volunteer t-shirt that a group of
GenY employees design with colorful ideas every year.”The
volunteer spirit is a big part of their culture,as evidenced by
the vision statement,“Intel Chengdu –A Source of Pride for
Intel,Our Communities,and Our Families.”
EARLY SETBACK
PriortohissuccessatChengdu,Bian’sroleasthemanaging
director for Intel’s flash operations in Shanghai included
overseeing some 1,200 employees.A few years after the 2007
spin-off, the market for flash drives started getting soft and
Intel made a strategic corporate decision to exit the business.
He needed to inform the employees that they were losing
their jobs and yet work through the closure of
the facility.
“It was very painful and problematic,” he
recalls.“I sat at home for three days with a beer
in my hand.I thought about it and digested if I
were CEO of the company,I would have come
to the same decision. It was the right strategy
for a sun-setting business.”
So Bian designed a volunteer separation program in which
everyone affected listed their preferred timeline for leaving
the facility.He chose the last day so that he could try to help
other employees find work — if not in other areas within
Intel,then attractive jobs outside of the company.
“We wanted a smooth shutdown …‘Exit with Pride;’we
treated the workers with respect and dignity,”he says.It went
so smoothly that workers left with a sense of camaraderie
— they still have gatherings to reflect on their times at the
flash facility — and Bian was subsequently named general
manager of the Intel Chengdu facility.
While Bian’s hope is to have no more such setbacks, he
expects to be able to respond quickly if needed.The factory’s
motto suggests the future success that Chengdu’s workers
and managers continue to pursue:“Connected hearts for the
future;Chengdu can do.”
One of 22
volunteer programs
implemented by Intel
Chengdu showing
a company effort to
aid a local wetland
protection program.

Fill-in-the-blankCorp.confirmedtodaythathackers/
criminals/foreign agents/unauthorized users have accessed
sensitive payment information/email addresses/business
intelligence that may impact customers … Millions of cards
affected…Workingwithlawenforcement…Haveenhanced
our security protocols … Costs may
adversely affect financial results …
The repetitive headlines and press
releases remind directors that overseeing
cyber security is one of the most pressing,
and complicated, board responsibilities
facing them today.
The cost of a data breach to a company can range from
$9.3 million to $16 million, according to the 2014 Cost of
Cyber Crime Study:United States, the fifth annual study of U.S.
companies conducted by the Poneman Institute.According
to another Poneman Institute report,2014 Cost of Data Breach
Study: United States, the average cost of each compromised
Strong IT governance by the Board is a vital line of
defense against cyber crime.
BY STACEY CLOSSER
FILLING THE BREACH
THEBOARDROOM

record caused by a data breach increased from $188 to $201
overthelastyear.Mostofthatmoneyisspentondetectionand
recoveryactivities,followedbyinvestigationandcontainment.
Consequently, the longer it takes to resolve the breach, the
more expensive it is.
It’s a well-known issue — more than 65 percent of directors
surveyed indicated that cyber security risks were at a high
level or had increased, according to the
Institute of Internal Auditors survey,
“Pulse of the Profession 2014” — yet
how to best provide oversight leaves
some boards at a loss.
“It challenges each of us in our
respective companies to have best
practices,” says Kneeland Youngblood,
founding partner of Pharos Capital
Group, who currently serves on the
board of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals
and has also served on the boards of
Burger King Corp., Gap Inc., and
Starwood Hotels and Lodging, among
others.
A BOARD’S RESPONSIBILITY
As part of their fiduciary
responsibility, directors are charged
with understanding the cyber risks
against the organization as well as the
legal implications. Boards ensure that
the standards and processes followed by
IT are rigorous and prudent,as outlined
by external experts and measured
against industry peers.
Once up to speed, the board should
be performing an intensive review of the company’s security
policies annually, although those updates should occur more
frequently during times of technological change or industry
security upsets.
Youngblood outlines the first two lines of defense against
cyber crime — having the right experience in the boardroom,
and having the right experience in the management suite.
The most important thing the board of directors can and
must do is to select the best CEO,saysYoungblood.“All roads
lead from there — if you get that right, many of these other
things will be addressed.”
The chief information officer is another important role
that is best filled by looking at the marketplace, as opposed
to an internal hire.The CIO position has evolved and now
requiresasmuchbusinessacumenastechnicalknow-how.This
position won’t be adequately filled by a tech genius lacking
in social skills.
“ThebestCIO/CTOscanrelatetoboardsandmanagement.
They know their business impact.They are not isolated,they
don’t talk in gibberish,”saysTom Hudson,CEO of Municipal
Parking Services and a serial entrepreneur who has served
as a board member for numerous
technology-related public and private
companies.“They know the value that
they are creating for the organization
and the impact of a miss in money or
time.”
Robert Clyde, international
vice president of ISACA (formerly
Information SystemsAudit and Control
Association) and CEO of Adaptive
Computing,underscores that sentiment
regarding the CIO:“It’s not enough to
be a strong tech leader — you have to
be a strong business leader.”If the board
determines the company CIO is the
former, it might make sense to have
the chief information security officer
(CISO) report directly to the CEO or
even the chief compliance officer “so
you get a cross check on the security
side,”he says.
Providing the CISO access to the
board is integral in keeping the lines of
communicationopen.Theboardshould
expect to be made aware of attempted
security breaches,not just the successful
ones. Meetings with the CISO should
revealnotonlytheappropriatestrategyandpossibleroadblocks,
but also the general risks facing the company’s industry.
AREAS TO CONSIDER
Even seemingly non-IT business initiatives can be rife
with security concerns. For example, outsourcing business
processes such as accounting or human resources can provide
an opportunity for cost savings, but it also introduces new
cyber risk.
Third-party service providers’ security practices quickly
become your security practices. Boards should ensure that
agreements with third-party providers address the provider’s
roleinsafeguardingcriticaldataandrequirenotificationofany
data breaches,while also applying those same requirements to
“IT IS
IMPERATIVE
THAT COMPANIES
AND BOARDS BE
VERY VIGILANT
IN THEIR
PEOPLE, IN THEIR
PROCESSES,
IN THEIR
ASSESSMENT OF
THINGS,” SAYS
YOUNGBLOOD.
“TAKING THEIR
EGO OUT
AND ALWAYS
STRIVING TO
IMPROVE.”

other third-party providers downstream.
The proliferation of “bring your own device” is changing
the risk profile for organizations, says Clyde. Like it or not,
employees will want to connect their devices to the network,
and no amount of security awareness training will eliminate
that behavior.The BYOD trend offers a “great competitive
advantage, but you have to be sure to take care of the risks
associated with that scenario,”says Clyde.
QUESTIONS YOU WON’T THINK TO ASK
Board members don’t need deep technical expertise to
oversee cyber security, just the ability to read people and ask
therightquestionswhilestayingoutoftheweedsofITjargon.
Stick to the basics:What, why, how, the results expected, and
the process/investment required. Some other questions that
may be off your radar include:
66Does management have established relationships with
national and local authorities such as the FBI that
respond to cyber crime? How can that relationship
inform the company on security trends and new
threats?
66How has the CEO communicated the importance of
organizational security to all employees? Is there a
security-awareness training program in place?
66Are we using a security framework such as NIST
(www.nist.gov) or COBIT (www.isaca.org/cobit)
THEBOARDROOM

and is it up to date?
66How do our security measures stack up to our peers
in our industry?What relationships can we leverage
to find out?
66Big data offers opportunities to create very detailed
customer profiles.How are we making sure that both
the raw data and also those profiles are secure?
66Does internal audit have a direct line to the board’s
audit committee? “Most boards have those on the
financial side, but there should be a similar avenue
on IT controls,”advises Clyde.
WHEN IT HAPPENS
All industries fall victim to cyber crime, albeit to different
degrees. High-profile security breaches occur with such
regularity that consumers have already registered data breach
fatigue — more than one-third of consumers did nothing
after being notified of a breach, according to research from
Poneman Institute. But that doesn’t mean organizations can,
or should,be complacent.
Consider home security as an analogy:There are prudent,
appropriate measures that should be taken — door and
window locks,a security system,a dog,for example — but if
a criminal is intent on getting in,there are ways to do it.That
doesn’t mean you give up and leave all the doors wide open,
and it doesn’t mean you go out and buy steel window covers
that remain permanently closed.
Clyde encourages directors to ask: What are the right
controls to have in place, given the assets we have and the
likelihood of things occurring? What is the standard of due
care for my industry?
“It is imperative that companies and boards be very vigilant
in their people,in their processes,in their assessment of things,”
saysYoungblood.“Taking their ego out and always striving to
improve.”
Industry experts agree that planning for a security breach
is the best approach. It’s not a matter of if, but when.“Any
company can be hacked,it’s really just a question of time and
money of the attackers and how far they’re willing to go,”
says Clyde.
When that happens, it’s time to pull the trigger on the
organization’s detailed recovery plan.
“Be open and candid about the problem both internally
and externally and put the right level of executive in charge
of communicating about the crisis,”says Hudson.“It probably
did not get broken in a day and will take more than that to
fix — plan for that.”
DATA BREACHES:
BY THE NUMBERS
$188
$201
AVERAGE COST OF EACH COMPROMISED
RECORD CAUSED BY A DATA BREACH INCREASED
FROM $188 TO $201 OVER THE LAST YEAR.
— 2014 COST OF CYBERCRIME STUDY: UNITED STATES
$9.3 MILLION
$16 MILLION
— 2014 COST OF CYBERCRIME STUDY: UNITED STATES
COST OF A DATA BREACH TO A COMPANY
CAN RANGE FROM
TO
MORE THAN SIXTY-FIVE PERCENT OF DIRECTORS
SURVEYED INDICATED THAT CYBER SECURITY
RISKS WERE AT A HIGH LEVEL OR HAD INCREASED.
— INSTITUTE OF INTERNAL AUDITORS SURVEY “PULSE
OF THE PROFESSION 2014”
65%

Every business should reconsider its energy plan,
according to RobertArmstrong.
As director of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI),
Armstrong possesses an advanced perspective on this topic
gleaned through pursuing only one mission for the last nine
years — researching a comprehensive
energy transformation that will help
steer the world to clean energy usage.
The MITEI program was launched in
2006 to create a platform for research,
education,and outreach programs while
partnering with companies across a
wide array of energy-related businesses.
In the course of that mission, MITEI
has garnered an impressive membership,
including BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, Saudi
Aramco,Bosch,EdisonInternational,and
LockheedMartinCorporation.Allinall,71memberenterprises
make up the collaboration,with room for many more.They are
all working with MITEI faculty,staff,and students on various
projects to transform the earth’s energy systems and move the
products of this alliance into the energy marketplace.
Cutting-edge research and development of cleaner
energy systems is proving to be a valuable investment.
BY GEOFF WILLIAMS
MIT’S ENERGY
INITIATIVE INTENDS
TO CHANGE THE WORLD

The brains behind MITEI are academics working in the
proverbial ivory halls across the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology campus.The theory is that you can’t expect to
transform the earth’s energy systems without engaging the
world,andMITEIislookingatenergyproblemsfromallangles
— economic,environmental,and security concerns.
STRATEGIC ALLIANCES
While it might seem like a no-brainer for energy companies
likeDukeEnergyCorporationtoworkwithanenergyinitiative,
MITEIalsohasactivemembersthataren’treadilyassociatedwith
fossil fuels,such as Rockport Capital Partners and BlackRock,
Inc.Walmart is currently working with MITEI on its long-
term goal of being supplied by 100 percent renewable energy.
In addition,Walmart and MITEI are making great progress on
the company’s goal to produce or procure 7 billion kilowatt
hours of renewable energy globally by 2020.Armstrong views
these partnerships essentially as logical byproducts of common
corporate initiatives.
“Every company is an energy company,” according to
Armstrong.“Companies either produce energy, generate it,
distribute it,or they use it.Okay,so we bring all of those aspects
to the table in our meetings and discussions,and I think that’s a
veryvaluablepartofMITEI,togetthediscussiongoingbetween
the ones using energy and the ones producing it, and I think
they learn a lot from each other.”
Armstrong makes it clear that MITEI is not simply a forum
forgettingtogethertoexchangebusinesscardsandshareenergy
ideas. Since it was launched in 2006, the MITEI Seed Fund
Program has offered funding of approximately $15.8 million to
129 promising early-stage research proposals.In addition to its
funding efforts,MITEI provides brainpower as well.“It’s a very
engaged process,so we work very closely with the members in
designing and executing the process,”Armstrong says.

In 2014,more than $1.6 million was awarded to 11 projects,
including one that would allow methane gas to be converted
intoliquidmethanolatremoterecoverysites,whichwouldmake
it cheaper to store, transport, and use the fuel. Other projects
includeworkondual-modelithium-bromineseawaterbatteries
and nanostructured high-performance electrostatic capacitors.
POWERFUL BREAKTHROUGHS
Althoughthesetypesofcutting-edgeprojectsareimmensely
complex, Armstrong, a professor of
chemical engineering, affably shares
his enthusiasm about their potential
applications in layman’s terms. For
instance, it’s easy to understand how
one can get excited about energy
transformation when he discusses the
work that’s being conducted with
MITEI member Ferrovial, S.A. The
Spanish multinational company owns,
or partially owns, everything from
airports to toll roads, within which
they’re working to make drive-by
energy audits.
According to Armstrong, the
technology Ferrovial is developing
will someday afford city employees the
capability of driving through at night
and taking rapid infrared images of buildings — all while using
the already-existing cameras that are so prevalent on city streets.
And what’s so useful about that? Armstrong forecasts that
this technology could save cities thousands, perhaps millions,
of dollars, while making millions more for companies like
Ferrovial.“You’ll be able to much more easily find leaks in
windowsanduninsulatedattics,alongwithpartsofthebuildings
that are energy losers,”Armstrong says.“And by doing that, it
can help put less pressure on the grid and reduce the need for
new power generation.”
Another MITEI project is built around a partnership with
Eni,an energy company with a footprint in 70 countries that
employs approximately 79,000 people.The Eni-MIT Solar
Frontiers Center is working on developing the next generation
of solar technology.
“The center has been focused on
activesolartechnology,”Armstrongsays.
Theproblemwithutilizingtoday’ssolar
panels is that they’re “heavy, made of
glass, and you need a bunch of people
to carry and install them,”Armstrong
says.He adds that they’re also expensive
to manufacture.
But if the future follows the path
that Solar Frontier Centers has laid out,
implementation of solar technology is
going to be much less expensive to
manufacture and far easier to install.
“Think about the photographic
business, and how Eastman Kodak’s
filmwithmultiplecoatingsallowedyou
to develop high-quality photographs”
Armstrong explains.“I want us to do the same thing with
photovoltaic material, where you can roll it out over the roof
and plug it in,and you’re up and running.We’ll have to be able
todeploythisonalargescaleforthepricerequirementstocome
down,but to me,that’s the future.”
“EVERY COMPANY
IS AN ENERGY
COMPANY.
COMPANIES
EITHER PRODUCE
ENERGY,
GENERATE IT,
DISTRIBUTE IT,
OR THEY USE IT.”
— ROBERT ARMSTRONG
MITEI BY THE NUMBERS
71 MEMBER ENTERPRISES
MAKE UP THE MITEI
COLLABORATION
YEAR MITEI WAS LAUNCHED
TO CREATE A PLATFORM FOR
RESEARCH, EDUCATION,
AND OUTREACH PROGRAMS
WHILE PARTNERING WITH
COMPANIES ACROSS A WIDE
ARRAY OF ENERGY-RELATED
BUSINESSES
2006
WALMART AND MITEI ARE
MAKING GREAT PROGRESS
ON THE COMPANY’S GOAL
TO PRODUCE OR PROCURE
7 BILLION KILOWATT HOURS
OF RENEWABLE ENERGY
GLOBALLY BY 2020

INVESTMENT IN TRANSFORMATION
The assumed CEO viewpoint may be that if tried-and-true
energy systems are still working,he or she wouldn’t particularly
be interested in working on using microorganisms from the
ocean to make biofuels,or harvesting energy from water waves
and vibrations on a sidewalk and turning it into electricity.
But the reception from business leaders has been extremely
positive.“Ihaven’theardanyonesaythatthisisawasteofmoney,”
Armstrong says.
“Having the top leadership buy into transforming an energy
system is important,”Armstrong says.“I think the leaders we’ve
worked with are all very forward thinking.That’s definitely
a common trait of the top executives who invest in new
technologies.”
It also helps when companies have forward-thinking board
of directors,Armstrong adds. In fact, Ferrovial started its own
in-housecorporateresearchgroupafteraligningitselfwithMIT.
“They’re looking for new ways to improve their business’s
bottom line,” Armstrong says. He adds that, along with
identifying energyleaksinbuildings,Ferrovialalsoisworkingon
technologythateventuallywillallowthemtoscaninfrastructure
such as buried pipeline so that leaks or potential problems can
be identified.
“If I can do that and know where to find pipe that need
repairs, then I can provide the same services to other cities,”
Armstrong says,offering a glimpse into how technology can be
a game changer for companies and communities in the future.
Everybody wins — the businesses and cities that save money
on energy costs and the companies that can help them find
those savings.
IN 2014, MORE THAN $1.6
MILLION WAS AWARDED TO
11 PROJECTS, INCLUDING
ONE THAT WOULD ALLOW
METHANE GAS TO BE
CONVERTED INTO LIQUID
METHANOL AT REMOTE
RECOVERY SITES
WALMART IS CURRENTLY
WORKING WITH MITEI ON ITS
LONG-TERM GOAL OF BEING
SUPPLIED BY 100 PERCENT
RENEWABLE ENERGY
SINCE IT WAS LAUNCHED
IN 2006, THE MITEI SEED
FUND PROGRAM HAS
OFFERED FUNDING OF
APPROXIMATELY $15.8
MILLION TO 129 PROMISING
EARLY-STAGE RESEARCH
PROPOSALS
100% 11$15.8
MILLION

Health care has seen many transformative moments
throughouthistory.Thecreationofpenicillin.Thedevelopment
of the polio vaccine.The use of gene therapy to treat a variety
of illnesses, including cancer. The evolution of minimally
invasive surgery. All have substantially transformed the well
being of humanity. Perhaps the biggest transformation within
the past decade is the movement to mobile — the drive to
place critical information in the hands of
the consumer,physicians,and other health-
related professionals when and where they
need it.
Mobile leverages best practices from the
past by taking health care out of the doctor’s
office or hospital and placing it back in the
patient’s home or other care setting. It also
places information on best practices in the
handsofpractitionerswhentheyarebedsideorwiththepatient
and family,helping them make informed decisions to improve
the care they deliver.
OUR WORLD WILL NEVER BE THE SAME
The integration of mobile technology with smartphones,
tablets,and other devices is a global phenomenon that promises
How smartphone and handheld devices
are changing health care
BY TOM PECK
THE MOVEMENT
TO MOBILE

to change the very fabric of our businesses and our everyday
lives. Health care delivery is an excellent case study in how
mobile technology is transforming and improving the health of
billionsofpeople.Mobilehealth,otherwiseknownasmHealth,
hasturnedheadsintheC-suitebecauseofitsmammothrevenue
potential—someestimatesplaceitat$20billionby2018.Today,
more than 100,000 health apps are available for download to
smartphones and handheld devices.In fact,almost every person
in the U.S.— 247 million — currently has a health care app on
his or her personal device.
Thetruemagnitudeofthemobilehealthtsunamiisapparent
when you glance at the agenda of the recently held 2014
mHealth Summit. Many Fortune 500 companies — IBM,
Samsung, Pfizer, Sprint, and Verizon — as well as leading
health care organizations that included the National Institutes
of Health, Kaiser Permanente, Partners HealthCare, and
Walgreen’s came together at a meeting designed to focus on
real-world applications and innovations being integrated into
care delivery today.Their impact includes increased patient-
provider communication,greater access to care for populations
around the world,and empowered individuals who have tools
to better manage their own health and wellness.
mHEALTH EXPANSION AND SMARTPHONE
ADOPTION
So, why are mHealth apps so popular and who is behind
the development and rollout of this technology? In its recently
published fourth annual study on mHealth app publishing,
research2guidance,a global market research company focused
on the world’s app economy,predicted the main market drivers
for the next five years are the increasing penetration of capable
devices and user/patient demand. In today’s “I want it right

now” society, individuals are eager to use mobile technology
that could lead to improved health while using apps that will
help them monitor their blood pressure, measure their blood
sugar,keep up on daily pollen counts,sleep better,eat healthier,
manage medications,get and stay fit,and much more — when
and where they need it.
According to the study’s authors, fitness apps, which today
constitute the category that offers the highest business potential
for mHealth app publishers, will diminish in their relative
importance,slipping to fifth position within five years.The app
categoriesthathavethehighestexpectedmarketpotentialinthe
near future are remote monitoring and consultation.
INNOVATION AND ENTERPRISE DRIVING THE
FUTURE
Thepowerofmobilehealthtoconnectpeopleinsomeofthe
mostremoteregionsoftheglobewithresearchersandphysicians
is being driven by universities and academic medical centers.
Johns Hopkins University and the University of California,San
Francisco,aretwoprimeexamplesofmHealthinnovationhubs.
The work being done by Alain Bernard Labrique, PhD,
exemplifiestheadvancesmHealthhasmadeintheacademicrealm.
He currently serves as an associate professor in the Department
of International Health,Department of Epidemiology at Johns
HopkinsUniversityinBaltimore,Md.,anddirectoroftheJohns
Hopkins University Global mHealth Initiative (JHU-GmI).
“I’m an infectious disease epidemiologist,trained in molecular
biology,but an innovator at heart,”says Labrique.“I’ve lived and
workedinruralsouthAsiaandSub-SaharanAfricaformorethan
20 years,and I’ve seen how information and communications
technologieshavenotonlyemergedoutofthinairasaconsumer
phenomenon,but also as a transformative force in how global
health programs are being implemented.”
Labrique’s work through JHU-GmI includes partnering

withtheMinistryofHealthinBangladeshandsocialenterprise
company mPower Health to develop and test an integrated
mobile phone pregnancy surveillance system.He has also been
instrumental in perfecting Momconnect, a project aimed at
using mHealth messaging services to create awareness among
pregnantwomenaboutavailablehealthservicesintheRepublic
of SouthAfrica.
“mHealthstrategiesstandtodemocratizehealthandaccelerate
our achievement of universal health coverage by empowering
citizens with information where and when they need it, by
extendingthearmofproviderstoreachcitizens,nomatterhow
remote they may be,and by filling long-
standing information gaps that have led
to inefficiencies and dysfunction,” says
Labrique.
Leading health care enterprises
such as Partners HealthCare, affiliated
with Harvard University, have realized
mHealth’s potential for embellishing
their brand and expanding their patient
base to global proportions. Joseph C.
Kvedar, MD, founder and director of
the Center for Connected Health at
Partners HealthCare, has developed
a technology platform that leverages
cellphones, computers, networked
devices, and remote health monitoring
tools to improve care delivery. He
also established the first physician-to-
physician online consultation service
in an academic setting, linking patients
from around the world with specialists
at Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals.
The Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) has jumped into the mHealth fray by
adopting rules that enable Medical Body Area Networks
(MBAN),low-powerwidebandnetworksconsistingofmultiple
body-worn sensors that transmit a variety of patient data to a
control device. Investors see the potential in MBAN, offering
venture funding in the first quarter of 2013 that has supplied
$42 million to companies developing products in the remote
monitoring space.
David Muntz, senior vice president and chief information
officer for GetWellNetwork and former principal deputy in
theOfficeoftheNationalCoordinatorforHealthInformation
TechnologyintheDepartmentofHealthandHumanServices,
sees MBAN as a sign of things to come for mobile health.
“One of the biggest advantages of mobile health technology
is that it has closed the digital divide between those lacking
resources and those flush with resources,”Muntz says.“People
aroundtheglobeownmobilephonesbecausetheyaregenerally
affordable.This helps researchers and clinicians reach and treat
traditionally underserved populations who experience costly
chronic illnesses.”
IMPACT ON NON-CLINICAL DECISION-MAKING
Novation, a health care services company that develops
and manages contracts with more than 700 suppliers for the
members and affiliates ofVHA,Inc.and UHC,has developed
VHA LYNX™, a suite of mobile
analytics solutions tailored for
various components of the hospital
supply chain.“By giving members
access to the right information in
the right place at the right time via
their smartphones or tablets,we help
themimprovetheirproductivityand
save money,”says Hari Subramanian,
Novation’s director of product
management.“Our members have
found the mobile solutions to be
especially helpful when they are
sittingacrossthetablefromasupplier,
negotiating a contract.”
CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM FOR
A BOLD NEW FUTURE
A recent Becker’s Hospital Review
article points to increasing adoption
and acceptance of mHealth by
consumers. By 2016, a majority
of consumers expect mHealth to
significantly change their health care experience by helping
themaccessinformation,managetheirhealth,andcommunicate
with their physicians and other caregivers.They also think that
mHealth will make care more convenient,improve quality,and
reduce costs.
What factors could cloud this rosy picture for mHealth?
Industry experts warn that data security could present barriers
to progress.Regulation and red tape imposed by government
oversight,accompaniedbyalackofclarity,couldalsobeathreat
to the burgeoning sector.
Challenges aside,it’s clear that mHealth is no longer a fad —
the movement has become firmly embedded in global health
care diagnosis and delivery.What’s the future prognosis? Rapid
improvement and continual innovation.
LEADING HEALTH
CARE ENTERPRISES
SUCH AS PARTNERS
HEALTHCARE,
AFFILIATED
WITH HARVARD
UNIVERSITY, HAVE
REALIZED mHEALTH’S
POTENTIAL FOR
EMBELLISHING
THEIR BRAND
AND EXPANDING
THEIR PATIENT
BASE TO GLOBAL
PROPORTIONS

THE METEORIC RISE OF THE
MOBILE REVOLUTION
With millions of users migrating to mobile technology, rapid adaptation could mean the difference
between your organization’s successful future or eminent extinction.
of Americans say their
phone is the first and
last thing they look at
every day
of Americans use only
mobile devices to access
the Internet
30 MILLION consumers watch TV
content on their phones
= 100,000 consumers
of adults have their
mobile phones within
arm’s reach 24/7
29% 91% 25% BY 2015,
MOBILES WILL
OVERTAKE PCS
AS THE MOST
COMMON WEB
ACCESS DEVICE
WORLDWIDE
INFOGRAPHIC

of web users say they
expect a site to load on
their mobile phone in
three seconds or less
of users prefer mobile
because it’s easy to use
and constantly with them
TODAY’S AVERAGE MOBILE
PHONE IS MORE POWERFUL
THAN THE PCS THAT SENT
TWO ASTRONAUTS TO THE
MOON IN 1969
of mobile shoppers
abandon a transaction
if the experience is not
optimized for mobile
DATA IS PROJECTED
TO GROW 66% EACH
YEAR THROUGH 2017
TO 11.2 EXABYTES
PER MONTH
of mobile searches lead
to action within one hour
(It takes a month for the same
percentage of desktop users to
catch up)
AS MANY
CELLPHONES
IN THE
WORLD AS
THERE ARE
PCS
5X
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
7.1 BILLION
PEOPLE ON THE PLANET
4 BILLION
USE A MOBILE PHONE
1.5 BILLION
ARE SMARTPHONES
3.5 BILLION
USE A TOOTHBRUSH
47%
30%
60%
70%

In 2009, the management team at AstraZeneca
embarked upon an unprecedented and, in hindsight, wholly
unrealisticgoal.Themultinationalbiopharmaceuticalgianthad
setouttodeliveraninitialsubmissionforapprovalofthelifesaving
drug,Brilinta (known in scientific circles as ticagrelor) within a
timeline of just 60 days.Brimming from their excitement over
the positive findings from a comprehensive, three-year study
demonstrating that Brilinta was more effective than Plavix in
preventing heart attacks and death,they were more than eager
to complete the new drug application (NDA) process.The
hope was that a quick approval in the U.S.and Europe would
accelerate the drug’s time-to-market
and broad availability.
The excitement swelling around
Brilinta was justifiably palatable,
according to Sandy Fitt, who was
leading the clinical development
team at the time.Results from a mega,
international, head-to-head Phase III
trialtitledPLATO(astudyofPLATelet
inhibitionandpatientOutcomes)had
conclusively demonstrated Brilinta’s
positive impact on survival for acute coronary syndromes
(ACS),whichincludesagroupofsymptomsforanycondition
(such as unstable angina or heart attack) that could result from
reduced blood flow to the heart. Brilinta, an oral antiplatelet
treatment, works by preventing the formation of new blood
clots,thus maintaining blood flow in the body to help reduce
the risk of another cardiovascular event.
Tothisday,PLATO,whichrecruited18,624patientsinmore
than 43 countries to analyze the efficacy,safety,and tolerability
of the drug, is considered one of the most comprehensive
worldwide clinical trials ever conducted.Only six percent of
AstraZeneca mobilized a cross-cultural team to
roll out one of the world’s largest clinical trials for
a new drug application.
BY LIZ WILLDING
TAKING BREAKTHROUGH
PERFORMANCE TO HEART
“To achieve great things,two things are needed: a plan,and not quite
enough time.”— Leonard Bernstein

clinicaltrialsareconductedonaworldwidescale,typicallywith
smallerpopulations.Armedwithextensive,promisingdatafrom
the PLATO study, which was initiated in October 2006 and
completedbyMarch2009,theAstraZenecamanagementteam
elevated Brilinta to the top of its development list.Convinced
it would save the lives of many patients when approved, they
launched a cross-cultural project with an extended team of 45
members to fast-track the submission of the findings to health
authorities in record time.
The herculean efforts of Fitt and her team were rewarded
with approval for the drug from the European Commission in
2009, marketing it under the names Brilique and Possia.The
FDA requested additional analysis of the PLATO data before
approving Brilinta in 2011.Currently,the drug is approved in
more than 100 countries.The story of how Fitt and the team,
working with Insigniam,led the rollout of dual applications to
bring Brilinta to market is a study in breakthrough thinking,
innovation,teamwork,and persistence.
BUILDING COMMITMENT
The AstraZeneca team issued its initial 60-day challenge to
deliver the new drug applications to the U.S. and Europe by
working with an internal Lean Six Sigma expert.The team
responsible for execution decided that an 85-day target was
more reasonable,but they were highly skeptical that the revised
timeline would be met, says Fitt.“Authentic alignment and
commitment were not there, even at 85 days,” she explained,
“but no one would speak up and be honest with the senior
leadership. It was a very passive aggressive culture.” Making
matters worse,the team had a notable lack of experience with
conducting submissions.
Given the prodigious scale of the task,Fitt’s strategy involved
coordinating with Insigniam to conduct its Breakthrough
Project process, which focuses on revealing and disengaging
from the hidden beliefs,assumptions,and presuppositions from
thepastthatprohibitunprecedentedperformanceinthefuture.
“Wehadanexercisewhereteammemberswereabletosaywhat
they needed,”she said.“When we gave them permission to be
authentic,theyfelttheirvoiceswerelistenedtoforthefirsttime,
and they started believing in the possibility of being successful.”
In her role as the team leader, Fitt’s next step was to stand
up for her team with senior leadership, framing it as a high-
performing team that could work together and commit to an
achievable breakthrough goal.To do so, Fitt had to establish
a perspective for the team that would create a new work
environment or context for the project.“All work happens in a
non-physicalenvironmentofbeliefs,opinions,assumptionsand,
most importantly,views of what is possible in the future,”says
Insigniam partner Jennifer Zimmer.“That environment sets a
context that is decisive in determining the range of results that
are possible.”
Throughtheprocess,Fitthadto“unhook”keyissuesthatseta

contextthatwouldprohibitsuccess.Theprevailingenvironment
emerged from several issues and could be summed up as“The
Blame Game.”Among these issues were:
22 Threads of a passive-aggressive culture
22 Amoodofbeingvictimsofanoverlyaggressive,unrealistic
target set by leadership
22 Trust issues between team members (such as between
the physicians and the medical writers charged with
developing the product documentation)
22 A silo mentality characterized by finger-pointing and
shifting blame when something went wrong
22 An “Us” versus “Them” mentality, particularly cross
culturally
22 Unclear roles and responsibilities throughout the global
team
After clearing the air of the issues that were holding back
breakthroughthinking,theprocesssteeredtheteamtoinvention
and implementation achieved through an intensive, two-day
period of discussion.Thanks in large part to Fitt’s guidance
through much productive debate,the team built a new context.
Instead of focusing on“who’s right and who’s wrong and why
it can’t be done,”they rallied around the theme,“With patients
at heart:be brilliant,be bright,be best.”Inspired by their new
sense of purpose and now accepting full accountability for the
success of the project, they adopted the theme as their motto,
encouraging each other to keep the patient imperative at the
forefrontoftheirefforts.Alignmentalsowasformedbyreplacing
the85-daytimeframewithafinal,realisticbreakthroughgoalfor
the Brilinta submission of 106 days,based on clear,achievable
milestonesthattheteamcouldtrulycommittomovingforward.
GETTING TO THE GOAL
The next challenge centered around bringing the new
context to life and engaging the work team on the still highly
aggressivetimeline.Inspiringthemtobelieveinthegoalwasthe
first hurdle.Once again,Fitt led the team through the process
of creating an innovative pathway for strategic breakthrough
outcomes aimed at achieving the 106-day goal.By seeing the
possibility of delivering in the 106-day window, she reports
that they felt inspired to “roll up their shirt sleeves and make
it happen.”
An“A team”or steering committee was established to create
accountability within the project.Each leader on the team was
accountable for a piece of the deliverables.Guided by Fitt,they
met three times per week during the delivery phase to review
progress, discuss issues, and mitigate risk.Through a roles and
responsibilities exercise, they mapped out 16 work streams
and clarified the downstream roles and responsibilities for the
45 team members who would ultimately be accountable for
delivering the work.
AlongwithFitt,theteamalsoincludedfiveprojectmanagers
responsibleforoverseeingmultiplecontactsintheworkstreams
to ensure successful implementation of the highly complex
plan. In particular, timelines were tweaked constantly due to
conflicting priorities or issue management.“I made sure the
team was aligned on the interim milestones,”she explains,“and
as we met them,I made sure this was communicated broadly to
demonstrate that we were working according to plan.We even
had a chart displaying progress for everyone to see.”
Delivering on the milestones created trust with executives
and bonding among the teams.“You could see everyone truly
BY THE NUMBERS: BRILINTA’S APPROVAL
18,624
PEOPLE
43
COUNTRIES
The Phase III trial titled
PLATO recruited
The trial was
conducted from
October 2006 to
March 2009
Only 6% of clinical
trials are conducted
on a worldwide scale
and is considered one of
the most comprehensive
worldwide clinical trials
ever conducted
Convinced Brilinta would be wildly
successful when approved and launched
in the U.S. and Europe, management
commenced a cross-cultural project
with an extended team of 45 people
to ensure the new application process
would happen in record time
in more than
6%

working together,helping each other,having each other’s back.
They would do anything for each other.”
CHANGING MINDSETS AND PROVIDING
INSPIRATION
Sustaining momentum became the clear challenge as the
project progressed and became more grueling.A huge part of
Fitt’sresponsibilitywasremainingboldanddecisive,continually
inspiring the team to unrelentingly pursue its goal and stay
connected to the purpose that the team invented.Encouraging
collaboration and holding
everyone accountable
motivated the team to stay
focused and work hard,
while strengthening their
drive and dedication. She
continually reminded them
that their efforts were all
about making a difference
for patients.“The faster we
could get Brilinta into the
hands of the people who
needed it, the more lives
would be saved,” she says.“We had to do our very best to get
it out the door.”
Engaging top leaders to maintain their motivation was
also a necessity while managing barriers and roadblocks that
inevitably cropped up.Fitt called on the Insigniam Breakdown
Methodology and Toolkit to manage and resolve every issue
as they arose during the process.One particularly challenging
breakdown centered on the sheer size of the submission; the
study report was over a million pages and taxed the limits of the
computer systems and software.“On a regular day,it was overly
complicated to reach the computer support desk,”Fitt explains.
“Because we knew about prior breakdowns, we sought the
support of management and created a task force for swift issue
management, establishing a ‘white glove service’ for technical
support 24-7.”
Predictably, multiple technical breakdowns occurred while
preparingthenewdrugapplicationsfortheU.S.FoodandDrug
Administration (FDA) and
the Marketing Authorized
Application (MAA),
which is used in Europe.
“Because we had a backup
plan, we were not delayed
significantly,” Fitt says.“We
sent12,772filesforatotalof
54.3 gigabytes of data.”
Ultimately, Fitt and her
team successfully delivered
the findings of this large
drug development program
on time and on schedule.“The approval of Brilinta ensures
ACSpatientsworldwidehaveaccesstothisimportantmedicine,
ultimately saving lives,”she says.“None of us who worked on
this project were the same people after it was complete.We met
thegoalsandeveryonegrewalotasaresultoftheexperience.It
wasapersonalachievementanditresultedinalotofprofessional
development for everyone who touched it.”
2009
2011
12,772
FILES
54.3
GIGABYTES OF DATA
Year Brilinta was
approved by the
European Commission
Year Brilinta received
FDA approval
The final, realistic breakthrough goal
for the Brilinta submission based on
clear, achievable milestones to which the
AstraZeneca team could truly commit
Currently, Brilinta is approved by the
European Commission and the FDA in
more than 100 countries worldwide
106 DAYS
100COUNTRIES
Amount of material sent to the FDA and
the Marketing Authorized Application
(MAA), which is used in Europe
A HUGE PART OF FITT’S
RESPONSIBILITY WAS REMAINING
BOLD AND DECISIVE, CONTINUALLY
INSPIRING THE TEAM TO
UNRELENTINGLY PURSUE ITS GOAL
AND STAY CONNECTED TO THE
PURPOSE THE TEAM INVENTED.

ROBERT
WISEMAN
Q&A WITH
The former CTO of Angie’s List on how he overcame
the challenges of technology transformation with one of
North America’s fastest-growing online marketplaces.
BY SCOTT BECKETT

Robert Wiseman
preaches the ability of
technology to impact
a company’s culture
during a large-scale
transformation.

The questions are many: How do CIOs, CTOs, and their peers
better work together to ensure momentum and success? How does
technology change impact a company,and what is on the list of things
companies often do not think about once the trigger is pulled on
large-scale tech investments?And with transformational technologies
also changing customer and market expectations,how do companies
resolve the dilemma of what to invest in?
To answer these highly complex questions,we spoke with Robert
Wiseman, who most recently served as CTO of U.S.-based Angie’s
List,a paid-subscription website containing crowd-sourced reviews
of local businesses to help facilitate transactions with nearly 3 mil-
lion consumers nationwide. He shared his thoughts on these and
numerous other technology-related transformation challenges that
can ultimately lead to a company’s success or failure.
Insigniam Quarterly: Tell us a
little about your background
and key accountabilities.
Robert Wiseman: I have
spent most of my career driving
technical innovation in the travel
industry, holding CIO/CTO/
SVP IT equivalent roles since
2000.I consider myself a Business
IT partner who has led IT trans-
formations and technology strat-
egy at several major companies
resulting in hundreds of millions
of dollars in cost savings, greater
efficiencies through standardiza-
tion,and enablement of product
and business differentiation.
My most recent position was
acting as CTO at Angie’s List
reporting to the CEO. I ran all
technology from operations to
development to architecture and
led a technology transformation
effort migrating from a legacy
.Net platform to a new contain-
erized, cloud-based, fully open-
source solution built on Scala and
Ubuntu Linux.
I.Q.: Considering your
extensive CTO background
working with enterprise
technology, what are
your thoughts on the dilemma that
big companies face today in making
technology decisions?
R.W.: They are very likely building tomor-
row’s headache today. As the ever-increasing
rate at which technology — and also tech-
nology providers — comes and goes, al-
most every technology solution around
today will very quickly become tomor-
row’s legacy system and need to be replaced.
Good CTOs get this.They ensure that sys-
tems are designed with obsolescence in mind
with clean abstraction layers,and they resist the
temptation to tightly couple themselves to any
IN ORDER FOR COMPANIES TO
COMPETE, GROW, AND REACH
THEIR STRATEGIC HORIZONS,
TECHNOLOGY MUST PLAY A LARGE
ROLE IN HOW THEY EVOLVE. WHILE
TECHNOLOGY CAN TRANSFORM AN
ENTERPRISE IN MANY WAYS, IT
CAN ALSO STALL AND HANDICAP
COMPANIES ENGAGED IN THE
EXECUTION PHASE OF COMPLEX
ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY
TRANSFORMATION STRATEGIES.

“
particular technical feature or vendor that might increase the diffi-
culty of switching at a later date.Future competition will inherently
be built on newer technology. If that newer technology provides
them with a competitive advantage that you are unable to leverage
because you didn’t design this way, you may well be putting your
company’s future at risk.
I.Q.: Describe how the CTO and technology team at Angie’s
ListpreviouslyworkedwithotherC-suiteleaderstoposition
for either ongoing transformation with technology or big
knife-edge decisions?
R.W.:As I mentioned earlier,Angie’s List embarked on a major effort
to replace its legacy Microsoft stack with a containerized,cloud-based,
open-source Linux stack.Similar to a doctor’s Hippocratic Oath (“do
no harm”),our first goal was to make sure that the new platform was
at least as good as the system it is replacing — in addition to ensuring
we delivered on certain Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) that
guaranteetomakeitbetter.Thoseincludefasterresponsetimes,greater
scalabilityandresiliency,easeofmaintenance,fastertimetomarket,etc.
I.Q.: What are five things that companies underestimate
when it comes to implementing new technology across
the enterprise?
R.W.:
1 Complexity. It’s human nature to think that something will
be much easier than it inevitably is. It’s important to solve the
difficult problems first.
2 User acceptance. Getting buy-in from the end users early on
is key.
3 Safety nets. Assume everything will fail and have a good plan
for what to do when that happens.
4 Bubble cost. This is the cost of supporting both the old and
new technology. Understand the size and duration of these costs
and make sure you have a supported plan
to make it through the bubble.
5 Nothing beats experience. Everyone
thinks they can do it better than the next
person, but the one most likely to do it
better is the one that has already done it.
They know where the mines are
and what mistakes not to make
again.
I.Q.: Talk about your build-
for-failure philosophy. Is that
a difficult topic within most
companies to discuss?
R.W.: Ironically, I think that IT
people seem most surprised by
this.I can’t count how many times
I’ve asked an engineer, “What
happenswhenthisfails?”andbeen
met by an incredulous blank stare.
Technology fails. It always has and always will.
This is more true now than ever as most com-
panies start to migrate their operations to cloud
providers that are financially motivated to offer
lower-cost and therefore probably lower-quali-
ty technologies (hardware,OS etc.).Build your
system right — organic,self-healing,highly re-
dundant, distributed computing, designed for
the inevitability of constant failure that is ob-
vious to IT operations and transparent to end
users — and this shouldn’t be an issue.
I.Q.: Oftentimes the right questions do
not get asked when “the boardroom”
is making broad, sweeping technology
investment decisions. What are some
questions that often do not get asked,
which you recommend every CEO and
their board should answer before a go/
no-go decision?
R.W.:
33 What would you ask if you were in my
shoes?
33 What is the impact to the business and to
our users of stopping the project before it
fully completes?
33 How long and severe is the bubble cost
Technology has a huge impact on the
culture of a company, and the human factor
is one of the most important aspects to
consider — either when making changes
or as a reason to make changes.

“
(the cost of running both the new and old systems simultane-
ously) and what is the customer impact?
33 What are the worst-case scenarios and what are we doing to
mitigate them?
33 What is the likelihood that this project will surpass the time and
cost estimates,and what can we do to avoid that if it seems likely?
33 How did you pick this technology?Why is it the best for us?
I.Q.: When a CIO talks with his/her CEO, how do you bridge
tech speak and get buy-in to drive the right decisions?
R.W.:Be able to sell your ideas in each direction.Technical teams will
want to know how this will enrich their careers and/or make them
more productive; your peers will want to know that at a minimum,
they won’t be negatively impacted by this if it fails and,if it’s a success,
they get to share in the upside and glory;but your CEO will mostly
want to know how it will improve the bottom line.
I.Q.: What are some lessons learned? What would you
advise another CIO/CTO on when it comes to leadership,
people, creating change, and being innovative?
R.W.:
33 Lead your teams — don’t try to manage them.Set clear goals
for your leaders to hit and empower them to do so.
33 Be available to your people at all times. If you aren’t, you
become a bottleneck.
33 Success is often the point just short of failure — the trick
is to get as close as you can without crossing that line.
If you’ve just taken over a project, you have a rare honeymoon.
Cherish it and use that time to understand all
the problems you have adopted and come up
with a plan to resolve them.After six months,
you own any problem you haven’t flagged.Get
independent third parties to help deliver objec-
tive expertise.
At the start of any new project,make sure you
have organization-wide support up,down,and
sideways. Each direction will probably require
a different selling point — understand how to
express that clearly and concisely. Respect the
opinions of others.There can be lots of winners
and only one loser,so it’s okay to share.
Make sure you have support to get to at least
a logical stopping point.Stopping halfway may
be worse than not starting.
I.Q.:Whataresomenew,transformational
technologies that companies should
keep their eyes on?
R.W.: An important point to consider is the
trend which existing technologies are follow-
ing in terms of price per com-
putational unit and how — to
quote hockey legend Wayne
Gretzky — we need to go to
where the puck is going, not
where it is. I’ve begun numer-
ous successful projects without
having the end-state technol-
ogy available,as I was confident
that by the time we were ready,
it would be available or I could
build it myself. Examples in-
clude Cloud Computing,Auto-Scaling,Cloud
Brokering, and Off-Loading Air Shopping
from Mainframe to Linux Servers. It’s impor-
tant to view the cost-per-performance trends
of foundational computing technologies like
Five things that companies underestimate
Lead your teams — don’t try to manage
them. Set clear goals for your leaders to
hit and empower them to do so.
01
COMPLEXITY
02
USER
ACCEPTANCE
03
SAFETY NETS
04
BUBBLE COST
05
NOTHING BEATS
EXPERIENCE

hardware, memory, and network bandwidth. In doing so, we see
that historically each has made huge gains and still show little signs
of slowing down.
Based on what we are paying today versus what we will be paying
for the same horsepower, throughput, etc., computing will appear
to be free.We shouldn’t limit ourselves by what something will cost
because cost is a rapidly shrinking barrier.
I.Q.: How does technology impact culture at a company,
and do you feel that companies could do a better job at
evaluating the human factor of technology changes? If so,
what might be some examples of where this has worked
well in your opinion?
R.W.: Technology has a huge impact on the culture of a company,
and the human factor is one of the most important aspects to consider
— either when making changes or as a reason to make changes.Most
people just want to do a good job.They want to feel that what they
do is important and valued as such.Inadequate tools and technologies
can gut an organization and kill its morale.
I’ve had hugely rewarding responses by:
33 Automating mundane manual processes
33 Giving people the right tools,laptops,tab-
lets, software, etc., to do their jobs right
33 Creating on-demand test systems to re-
move forward blockers
33 Upgrading infrastructure to give faster
response times
33 Providing better problem diagnostic tools
33 Establishing rules engines for nearly in-
stant time-to-market changes
33 Allowing people to bring in their own
devices and choose their own tools where
it makes sense
It’simportant,therefore,togetcontinualfeed-
back from your teams.Understand what’s stop-
ping them from being great.Fix it and you’ll not
only improve productivity,you’ll put a spring in
the steps of your teams.

BY JOE GUINTO

TECHNOLOGY
TRANSFORMATION
EQUALS
CULTURAL
CHANGEAs president of Dell Services,
Suresh Vaswani has seen
the ability of technology
to drive a top-to-bottom
transformation both internally
and for their customers.

uresh Vaswani knows a way businesses can use technology
to help outperform their competitors by a 2-1 margin. It’s
a method employed by some of the top companies in the
U.S.in order to beat their rivals.But asVaswani,the president
of Dell Services, the global IT services business unit of the
Austin-basedcompany,willtellyou,thismethodisnotexactly
a closely guarded corporate secret.
Actually, it’s quite simple: Just invite the chief information
officer to strategy sessions. That was one conclusion of a
report that Dell commissioned the Economist Intelligence
Unit to conduct.The report surveyed more than 500 C-suite
executives from FedEx, Zappos,Verizon, and other leading
companies.It found that companies involving CIOs in setting
business strategy — with CIOs and CEOs meeting jointly —
outperform their peers by that 2-1 margin.
“It’s no secret IT is changing faster than ever before,
and companies and CIOs that take advantage of the latest
technologies to improve business results can have a huge
competitive advantage,”Vaswani says.
Indeed,technology change today can itself be a catalyst for
enterprisetransformation—forlarge-scaleshiftsinthewayin
whichworkersinteractwitheachotherwithinanorganization,
in addition to the way a company and its customers,partners,
and other stakeholders interact.That’s especially true of digital
transformation, which can transform the business models of
companies through mobile platforms, social media, cloud-
based systems,and advanced analytics.
Those kinds of digital transformations may be exciting for
companies and their workers because they come with the
promise of putting an organization on the cutting edge. But
beware.“It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of the ‘new
and emerging,’”Vaswani says.“Successful transformations are
clearly tied to business strategy and are supported by the entire
senior leadership team,not just the CIO.”Leaders don’t have
to understand all the nuts and bolts of new technologies being
adopted,buttheydohavetoknowhownewtechnologieswill
help them achieve their desired business outcomes.
Vaswani has first-hand experience with this. Not only
has his division aided numerous customers in technology-
led transformations, but he’s also witnessed Dell’s own
S

transformation during his time there.Vaswani joined Dell in
April2011,initiallyoverseeingglobalapplicationsandbusiness
process outsourcing services and serving as chairman for
Dell India.In recent years Dell has evolved from a computer
hardwarecompanyintotheworld’sfastest-growingintegrated
technology company, providing customers with end-to-
end solutions to meet their business and IT needs. “Our
entrepreneurial culture is one that encourages innovation,so
technology-ledtransformationcomesnaturallytous,”Vaswani
says.“We apply the experience we’ve gained from evolving
our own organization to what we deliver for our customers.”
So how do Vaswani and Dell recommend
organizations go about technology
transformations? Focus on four key
areas.
CHANGE THE WAY YOU PERCEIVE THE
IT DEPARTMENT
Let’s start with a definition.Technology transformation,
to Vaswani, means,“To migrate our customers to modern
technology environments so they can react faster, reduce
costs, and serve their customers better.This could involve
moving off a mainframe system to an environment that is
more agile and scalable or helping organizations embrace
the cloud and its many benefits.”
In other words,technology-led transformations are,at their
core,change processes that leverage new technology to make
organizationsmorenimble.“Transformationeffortsaredriven
by the need to survive in a world where old models no longer
endure,”Vaswani says.“New business models, new operating
models,and new organizational models are all needed — and
the role of technology is to enable that. But the objective is
not just to lift and shift to faster, better, cheaper technology.
WE APPLY THE EXPERIENCE
WE’VE GAINED FROM
EVOLVING OUR OWN
ORGANIZATION TO WHAT WE
DELIVER FOR OUR CUSTOMERS
01

It is to invent and innovate whole new ways to do business.”
Thatinnovationprocesstowardanewwayofdoingbusiness
can start,appropriately,right in the IT division of a company.
The old way of doing business called for IT divisions to install
and analyze systems.Or,asVaswani puts it,“keeping the lights
on.”But the new way of doing business requires IT divisions
to be involved with the strategic direction of the company,
and to work across the organization to develop new tools
and systems to better engage with customers.AndVaswani
says that it is imperative that companies now integrate their
IT divisions more into their strategic thinking.IT divisions,
he says,must work across organizational boundaries.
In its aforementioned report,the Economist Intelligence
Unit found that only 46 percent of CEOs think their CIO
understands the business.Given how much more successful
companies who involve their CIO in strategy seem to be,that
represents a staggering disconnect — and a great opportunity.
GET ON THE ROAD TO DIGITAL
Here’ssomethingelsethat’snotasecret:Anumber
of companies today are dealing with legacy applications
running on old hardware that costs more and more each
year to maintain.This reality illustrates just one of the reasons
companies embark on digital transformations.
Often, that transformation begins with companies “re-
hosting” their technology applications on more modern
platforms that can handle the increased demands that, say,
starting a social media conversation with tens of thousands
of customers would have placed on older systems. This
kind of shift can also save money. For instance, Deutsche
Rentenversicherung (DRV), a German federal pension
provider, adopted Dell’s mainframe re-hosting technology
after the German parliament required it to cut operational
costs.Dell has also worked with federal agencies in the U.S.
to achieve similar cost savings through re-hosting.
Sometimes, though, it’s speed that matters most. Zurich
Insurance U.K., one of Dell’s customers, recently made a
change from outdated hardware and applications to a new,
social media-driven web system and mobile platform.The
result was dramatic:New product development cycles were
cut from 12 months to just eight weeks.“Digital,”Vaswani
says,“is completely changing development cycles.”
Whatever the reason for the change, when companies
adopt new technology, that technology has to be more
effective than the old technology and fit into the corporate
strategy.It’s not about investing in the best technology in the
world,it’s about investing in the technology that will deliver
the kind of solutions that are right for a given organization.
“Today,all roads lead to digital,”Vaswani says.“From business
strategy to execution,digital is a part of everything we do.The
truth is,however,that instead of striving to simply transform
with this technology, the best companies combine digital
activity with strong leadership to create innovative business
models, processes,products,and services.”
In that way, technology transformation is like any other
kind of business transformation.The change needs to be
embraced from the top of an organization down through the
ranks,even if that requires a change in mindset.“Getting team
02

member and frontline leader buy-in with technology-led
transformations is critical,”Vaswani says.“Whenever possible,
it helps to have team member engagement and involvement
from start to finish.It is hard to ask people to take a journey
with a business transformation or adopt new technologies
into their working environment without inviting them
to participate in the process. This is especially true with
processes and technologies that directly impact how team
members may do their work day-to-day or how they then
engage with customers.”
Take the recent U.S. healthcare reform.When the U.S.
Congress passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010,
the health insurance industry knew the status quo would
eventually change — dramatically.What wasn’t known was
how much or exactly what the “new normal” would be.
One clear seismic shift,however,was that by 2014 the ACA
would require a big expansion of a retail market for millions
of consumers wanting to buy coverage directly from health
insurers,instead of the long-standing U.S.tradition of getting
it through their employers.
DELL HAS SHIFTED
FROM MAINLY
A COMPUTER
HARDWARE
SUPPLIER TO
AN INTEGRATED
TECHNOLOGY
COMPANY THAT
DELIVERS END-TO-
END SOLUTIONS.

Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), the largest
customer-owned health insurance firm in the U.S. with 14
million members, worked with Dell to better engage and
educate consumers and expand its social media outreach.
HCSCneededtousesocialmediatobecomeasocialbusiness.
Lynde O’Brien, Director of Electronic Media Strategy,
HCSC, said, “I wanted to work with Dell’s social media
experts who had actually built what we were looking to
build,not an agency that hasn’t actually been in the trenches
and done this.”
Dell’s solution aligned HCSC’s social and business
objectives while improving its social community and content
strategies — expanding reach,increasing retail leads by almost
383 percent over the prior year,boosting video views by 963
percent and website traffic from those views up by 21 percent
in a year,and improving social media analytics and reporting
to better gauge business impact.
According to O’Brien,“It was exactly what we needed
to push forward in our evolution from communicating via
social channels to becoming a social business.”
FIND YOUR TYPE
The Early Adopters. The Mainstream. The
Cautious.Those are the three types of organizations Dell
finds itself working with today.
The Early Adopters are companies who are excited to
bring the newest technology into their business — if they
see the future potential in that technology.The Mainstream
prefers to wait until the bugs in new technologies have been
worked out and their peer companies are using it effectively.
The Cautious worry that adopting new technologies might
disrupt their current business, meaning they’ll lose more
than they’ll gain from change.To effectively partner with
all three of those types, especially in the newer area of
cloud services,Dell has focused on providing a consultative
approach that helps companies know what their actual return
on investment will be.
But they also discuss in detail how any organization’s
business strategy might be affected and improved by
implementing cloud-based technologies.“For the greatest
project success,”Vaswani says, “IT leaders consider cloud
not just as a technology but as an enabler to better business
outcomes. Cloud creates an opportunity for IT leaders to
co-innovate and co-invest with the business, and shift from
being an infrastructure-centric to a service-centric provider.
To do so is as much a financial and cultural discussion as a
technical one.”
Vaswani says it doesn’t matter if top executives understand
the technical intricacies of how cloud technology works.
It’s more important, he says, that they know the strategic
intent of moving business to the cloud and the capabilities
implementing cloud services can have on helping a
company achieve the successful business outcomes it wants.
“If a company is on a transformational journey,leaders need
to understand the strategic themes of that journey and
how technology (among many other things) will address
those themes,”Vaswani says.“Leaders must know — or be
mentored by the CIO on — sufficient information on
what they are trying to accomplish,and the role technology
can and should play in making it happen. Knowing that,
then they also know the potential challenge and disruption
these same technology capabilities can and will be to the
status quo.”
A potential pitfall of technology transformation is
when companies adopt new technologies that end users
don’t understand well enough to leverage all the potential
capabilities. “Or even worse,” Vaswani says, “is when a
technology solution is simply not utilized because of poor/
ineffective change management during implementation.”
AVOID COMMON MISSTEPS
Vaswani says there are several ways leaders can
avoid some common missteps when undertaking large-
scale technology transformations. Here are four enablers
for success:
03
04
A POTENTIAL PITFALL
OF TECHNOLOGY
TRANSFORMATION IS
WHEN COMPANIES ADOPT
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
THAT END USERS DON’T
UNDERSTAND WELL
ENOUGH TO LEVERAGE
ALL THE POTENTIAL
CAPABILITIES

01
02
03
04
Know and clearly define your
business objectives.
Figure out how technology
change will affect your people
and your customers.
Outline any new processes
or policies that need to be
adopted along with new
technologies.
Technology transformation
is not a one-time deal.
THREE: Outline any new processes or policies that need
to be adopted along with new technologies.
“Organizations that move a system or business process to
the cloud, for example, need to examine security protocols
for transferring and protecting sensitive information,”Vas-
wani says. “Companies that implement new social media
tools need to ensure employees know what the usage poli-
cy is and how to handle negative or inappropriate dialogue
before it happens. Every major technology disruption,
no matter how positive, has a resulting impact on process
which needs to be carefully planned for.”
FOUR: Technology transformation is not a one-time deal.
“Given the current pace of change, organizations need
to continuously evaluate their IT capabilities, look at new
technologies that might help them better serve customers,
and institutionalize an ongoing process to do so,”Vaswani
says. “This is the hallmark of an open, innovative culture
that gets ahead by constantly pushing the envelope in terms
of what might be possible.”
ONE: Know and clearly define your business objectives.
“People sometimes get excited about new technology with-
out fully considering how their organizations are going to real-
ize long-term business value from it, what the extent of the
value will be,or how it will be measured,”saysVaswani.“These
are foundational issues that need to be addressed up front.”
TWO: Figure out how technology change will affect your
people and your customers.
“Employees may need to be re-trained to adapt to and
leverage the new technology,”Vaswani says.“In other cases,
new employees with unique skill sets may need to be hired.
The trick is planning for this need before the transforma-
tion is underway so you can derive value immediately.
Similarly, leaders need to develop a clear plan for ensuring
that any changes to the customer experience are positive
and seamless. How many times have we heard about a new
service, application, or feature that was poorly received be-
cause customers were not properly considered or commu-
nicated to as part of the rollout?”
FOUR ENABLERS FOR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMATION

THE HEALTH 2.0
REVOLUTION
Rapid advances in technology are upending
traditional health care models.
BY CHRIS WARREN

It’s not unusual in the least to hear people in SiliconValley
cheerlead the upending of even the biggest of industries.
From banking to real estate to retail, disruption fueled by
innovation and technology is at the core of the valley’s
ethos. But what made this call for disruption in health care
so notable was the person who made it. Far from being a
scrappy entrepreneur,Tyson is the chairman and CEO of
Kaiser Permanente, the health care consortium with $50
billion in annual revenue and a network of 19,000 physicians
serving nearly 10 million patients in eight states and the
District of Columbia.
Nor is Tyson the only health care executive who has
mounted the Health 2.0 stage to cheer on tech disrupters.
At an earlier conference, Mark Bertolini, chairman, CEO
and president of health insurer Aetna, cheekily prefaced his
presentation by stating,“I’ll show you some pretty cool new
technology that we’re using to empower health systems to
put insurers out of business.”
To put it mildly, the CEOs of
Aetna and Kaiser Permanente
were not the sort of speakers who
addressed the first Health 2.0
conferences in 2007. Launched
with the mission to identify
and harness so-called Web 2.0
technologies — think cloud-based,
user-friendly software platforms
like Facebook that enable social
sharing — to engage and improve
health care for practitioners and
patients alike,Health 2.0 originally
attracted mostly tech companies
such as Google, Microsoft Health,
and WebMD.“It wasn’t the health
care establishment paying attention
at all,” says Indu Subaiya, co-chair
and CEO of Health 2.0, which
today hosts a series of worldwide
conferences that bring together
health care and tech leaders and runs an intelligence service
that tracks thousands of new health technology companies.
“Slowly, over the years they learned if they weren’t paying
attention to this, they realized their business would
fundamentally change for the worse.”
Obviously,much has changed since those first conferences.
There are already countless examples of technology altering
and improving the patient experience and health care
he scene would have been unimaginable as little as a
decade ago. At this past fall’s Health 2.0 conference in Silicon
Valley, BernardTyson stood on the stage and exhorted audience
members to fundamentally upend an industry. His industry.
“Many of you are hoping to innovate and disrupt the health care
industry.And I am actually looking forward to your great success
in totally turning the health care industry upside down,” Tyson
told the attendees, a mixture of big and small tech players as well
as representatives of a cross-section of health care companies.

Insigniam Quarterly Winter 2014 - Transformational Technology

Insigniam Quarterly Winter 2014 - Transformational Technology

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Insigniam Quarterly Winter 2014 - Transformational Technology