Savvy CIOs step up to support business hypergrowth
As for balancing Century’s desire to grow with the challenge of keeping costs down, McCullen takes a two-sided approach. The first is having a clearly defined strategy on where the company wants to go, and the second is ensuring IT is prepared to execute.
Doing so requires McCullen to play the roles of two CIO archetypes at once: the foundational IT chief focused on managing IT infrastructure and the strategic CIO who prioritizes understanding business needs.
“It’s critically important to companies today that the CIO has a true ability to understand what the business is doing, and what they sell to their customers,” he says, “because that will help them on the strategy side in terms of what they need to be working on next.”
On the foundational side, McCullen takes a partnership approach, engaging and working with technology partners when needed, building out small proof-of-concept projects first to prove out capabilities and determine fit before making the large financial and time commitment necessary to implement the new technology into Century’s IT engine for growth.
Build for one, scale for all
Annie Baymiller, senior vice president and CIO at Owens Corning, is another firm believer in staying very connected to business strategy as a means for supporting business growth. To that end, one of Baymiller’s direct reports also sits on a corporate team to stay abreast of Owen Corning’s growth strategy and ensure IT stays aligned with that strategy.
To stay ahead of any issues that come with scaling the business, Baymiller’s approach is to be nimble, and build for enterprise use — one division at a time.
“We work hard to build the technology or capability for the business that has the most near-term opportunity or ability to gain value from that [capability] and then scale to the other business [units] when the time is right,” she says. “It’s build for one and scale for all, and that’s helped a ton because it doesn’t create additional costs.”
The strategy is grounded in the fact that, even as all companies become more digital every day, that doesn’t always mean 19,000 employees need the same technical capabilities at the same time, she says. Succeeding with this strategy requires staying clear on who needs the platform first — and building it “like it’s an enterprise platform” that could be rolled out everywhere eventually, based on need, she adds.
Even in supporting business growth, cost remains a key consideration, Baymiller says, especially as IT deploys more technology. Because of this, Baymiller must “be really clear on the value being created, so if we put a dollar in we get at least more than that out in productivity,” she says.
Sometimes business growth comes in the form of acquisitions, which has been the case for Owen Corning in recent years. There, the No. 1 priority for Baymiller’s team is to understand the security posture of the new company and make sure that anything that needs to be remediated is done before any integration work is done, she says. “It’s rigor and commitment to the strategy. We review that with our executive committee and the board and make no compromises on that.” The same is true for any new technology the company adds. “We’re relentless on our security posture so we have the right eyes on it at the right time,” she says.
Another aspect of Baymiller’s tech strategy is having a tight core of tools rather than several instances of ERP systems, for example, which also reduces cost complexity. That means IT gets “good cost leverage on the platform and then we can scale it to other users in the company and anchor those platforms to other enterprise platforms.”
Echoing McMullen, she says Owens Corning IT is working on “starting small on new deliverables so we can add business value.” If IT takes too long to gather all the requirements, then design, test, and build, by then the business requirements may have changed.
“This will help us make sure we’re not overinvesting or gold plating something,” which makes it hard to track metrics against value, “because there are so many things we could be investing in,” Baymiller says.
To better support business growth, Baymiller advises IT leaders to build connections with the heads of their business units and become part of their teams.
“Relationship building and candor are really important,” she says. “Having a clear security strategy and making sure it’s well known by the executive team and board, if applicable, is really important.” Being able to reference investments and tie them to business strategies makes it easier to make decisions, she says.
Wherever possible, Baymiller adds, “work toward getting enterprise leverage out of capabilities you have and find ways to standardize where it doesn’t create a competitive advantage for you.” Finally, she says, “Be nimble on things that do create competitive advantage so you can scale when the business needs it.”
Keeping growing pains in check with solid IT strategy and culture
CoinFlip’s steep growth curve in 2023 has kept Sebastiaan Gybels, global CIO and CISO, and his IT team very busy.
To support the crypto ATM provider’s expansion into seven international markets with more than 4,500 ATMs, Gybels and his team have been tasked with everything from deploying an international IT infrastructure with embedded security to implementing automated tools to facilitate onboarding efforts worldwide — all while launching a new digital platform.
To keep up, CoinFlip IT “proactively looks for ways we can automate solutions, optimize our current resources, and continue ensuring security for our customers and employees,” Gybels says, adding that, with employees in Canada, Europe, and Australia, his IT team also “fuels innovation by streamlining processes, fostering global collaboration and rapidly adapting to business demands while ensuring our team’s operations remain compliant with domestic and international regulations.”
All that requires listening to “the heartbeat of the organization and removing friction wherever possible” — and keeping an eye on costs while ensuring IT is doing its due diligence to protect users.
“To keep costs down as we quickly grow, I’ve prioritized centralizing our applications and systems across key departments,” Gybels says. “It helps eliminate redundant solutions, optimize our current contracts, and reduce expenses across the board.”
Since it began operations, “CoinFlip has made concerted efforts to identify vendors that can be strategic partners that will grow with our business,” Gybels adds.
Like Baymiller, Gybels says IT leaders must enhance visibility, become more agile, and increase scalability to navigate security threats in high-growth environments. “A simplified security stack reduces the need for specialized expertise to manage multiple disparate solutions,” Gybels says. “Additionally, it provides a clearer view of our security controls and helps us respond quicker.”
And, as McCullen notes, the right staffing mix is key, Gybels says. “You are only as strong as the people you surround yourself with.”
For Gybels, supporting business growth, especially in light of security concerns, requires embedding IT and security stakeholders within organizational efforts and groups.
“For example, with the rollout of the European operations, our data privacy manager played a key role in working across departments with our legal and business teams, establishing a runbook for the rollout in different countries,” he says. “This culture of collaboration increases understanding of business processes, aligns business needs and IT/security expectations, but also increases risk awareness throughout the organization.”
In the fast-paced and dynamic world of crypto and startups, speed and responsiveness are critical for success, Gybels adds. “Having a responsive IT and security team that can quickly identify and resolve problems minimizes downtime and ensures smooth business operations.”
