Information technology affects everything in our world — and people are starting to realize it.
In a comprehensive report about the state of the IT industry, the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) identified a swath of domains influenced by technology. Wearable tech and diagnostic applications improve health monitoring, advancement in educational technology and video calling made remote schooling possible, and IoT tech creates interlinked smart cities and networks that minimize resource consumption to reduce climate impact.
These impacts might have gone unappreciated in previous years, but the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted our dependence on IT infrastructure, software and services as people and businesses rushed to fill the rapidly-appearing needs brought on by the changing world. Even as the pandemic begins to die down and industries recover from its impacts, that understanding has not been forgotten. The same CompTIA report states that 80 percent of IT professionals feel good about their roles in 2022.
“Rather than operating solely as a support team, IT teams are now taking their rightful place as the glue that keeps things together and as the fuel that keeps the business running,” said TheGuarantors VP of IT Naren Santayana.
Of course, with that added appreciation comes added responsibility to innovate and grow, and companies are stepping up to that challenge in 2023. Built In NYC sat down with IT and engineering leaders from Getty Images, TheGuarantors and Share Local Media to learn more about their goals for innovation and impact in the next year and the steps they plan to take to make them come true.
Getty Images needs to innovate to hold its position as an industry leader in visual content curation. As such, it’s making its foray into the world of visual intelligence, using machine learning and AI to help customers find the images they need.
What are the major strategic priorities for your team in 2023, and what kind of work will your teams be performing against those goals?
The world of visual intelligence is in its nascence. What has long been reserved for academic hobbies and niche think labs at some of the larger technology companies has become a household name in recent years for the visual content industry.
Our customers are finding an ever-increasing challenge of identifying and acquiring the right visuals for their projects amid the millions of available options and expecting search engines to support their use of natural language in their journey.
Therefore, we will continue to study customer struggles, as well as leverage advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning in search to help create an intuitive and powerful user experience.
As an IT leader, how do you balance innovation with the need to drive revenue and keep costs in check?
At Getty Images, we do this by keeping the customer at the heart of everything we do. In order to achieve this balance, you first need to truly know your customer — and to do that, you need data. When everyone on our team knows how our customers behave and where they may be struggling, and there is a nimble environment where we can try things out, it creates an ecosystem that is ripe for innovation.
If you’re at a startup, you might find a strong appetite for technical innovation but lack access to deep customer insights. In this case, focus early hackathons or exploratory proof-of-concepts on gaining information about your customers and ensure releases are small, measurable, and reversible.
Conversely, at a larger organization you may have access to more customer data but have atrophied some of those innovative muscles. In this case, you can start with pure hack events that are not confined to immediate business needs. Then bring the same spirit from these events to new project kickoffs, giving the team ample but clearly defined time and business objectives to work towards.
Regardless of level, I look for individuals that feel like they are the CEO of their code, their project and their team.”
What traits are essential for success as a member of your team?
The first key attribute I look for is ownership. Regardless of level, I look for individuals that feel like they are the CEO of their code, their project and their team. People with this trait are proactive and anticipate the needs of the team, as well as any issues or gaps that may arise, and are usually communicative about what’s necessary to find a solution.
With ownership comes humility. This attribute helps prevent any discord within a team, as well as siloed decision making. The old adage, “if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” rings all too true in software engineering — I’ve seen teams openly justify their design decisions because they only had certain skill sets on the team. It takes an astute and humble professional to recognize that they may only have a partial view of the problem, or that they are partially equipped to solve it. It’s important to listen to others within your team and be receptive to their ideas and suggestions.
TheGuarantors aims its innovating eye at the real estate industry, where they strive to optimize the relationships between landlords, brokers and renters. Naren Santayana offers practical advice for the technical and business sides of IT.
What are the major strategic priorities for your team in 2023, and what kind of work will your teams be performing against those goals?
During the early stages of the pandemic, TheGuarantors nurtured a culture that embraces a distributed and security-focused workforce. IT and security is determined to build on top of this foundation to enable the business to navigate operational challenges and trending security threat vectors.
We aim to automate and innovate. Rather than operating solely as a support team, IT teams are now taking their rightful place as the glue that keeps things together and as the fuel that keeps the business running. In 2023, we’ll embrace this natural progression and seize the opportunity, automate onboarding and offboarding workflows, and improve the employee experience and security by automating access control. Most importantly, we commit to reducing toil using one basic principle: If a computer can perform a task as well as a human can, automate that task.
We’re also prioritizing security awareness. Email is on track to remain the number one security threat in 2023. We must remain vigilant. Our goal is to refine our already-effective security training program by curating content that covers trends and current threats. We’re also doubling down on phishing simulations as another way to raise awareness around how convincing malicious emails can really be.
As an IT leader, how do you balance innovation with the need to drive revenue and keep costs in check?
Here are some tips for how to do that:
Standardize hardware. Is your fleet built up of Macs and PCs? Select four models: a 14-inch and a 16-inch version of each OS, built with an identical set of specs. This is an effective way to prevent having random laptops with different configurations gathering dust on a shelf.
Partner closely with finance and legal to roll out a vendor procurement process. SaaS tools can potentially address gaps in your workflow — but without a process, selection and procurement is a slippery slope that could result in the onboarding of tools that overlap in functionality. A vendor procurement process will allow a committee to vet all SaaS services and prevent duplicate services, which keeps costs in check.
Deeply understand the culture and needs of the business. Partner with other leaders to take note of common issues and pay attention to the inbound data found in your ticketing system — that’s all the data you need to build a case for your next org-wide project. Innovation is not innovation if it only benefits the IT or security team. Innovate in ways that benefit the organization.
IT and security teams navigate one-of-a-kind challenges daily — coming up with solutions requires teams of unique individuals who solve problems differently.”
What traits are essential for success as a member of your team?
Embrace diversity. IT and security teams navigate one-of-a-kind challenges daily — coming up with solutions requires teams of unique individuals who solve problems differently. Working with like-minded individuals may seem more enjoyable, but working with those who think differently than you makes for a more productive and fulfilling work day.
Approach opportunities with a willingness to learn — allow yourself to be vulnerable and admit when you don’t know something. This saves time and creates opportunities for you and your team to grow together.
Failure is a key component to growth. Those who succeed focus on developing their resilience: A mindset that allows them to get right back on their feet. Leaders must take it a step further by devising ways to speed up the process of getting back on track after failure.
Practice empathy. Learn to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. This doesn’t come naturally, especially on data driven, high-performing teams — practicing empathy allows you to respond appropriately in complex situations. Put the metrics aside and factor in emotion. This is a key component of building trust and meaningful relationships.
Share Local Media is innovating in the marketing industry by taking a step back in its delivery methods. It utilizes its technology to help clients leverage direct, paper mail to get the word out to their customers.
What are the major strategic priorities for your team in 2023, and what kind of work will your teams be performing against those goals?
Currently, our main focus is to be CPRA-compliant. We’re looking to offer more self-service functionality for larger clients. Furthermore, optimizing our AWS infrastructure is an on-going project.
As an IT leader, how do you balance innovation with the need to drive revenue and keep costs in check?
Almost everything we do as IT is done to help drive revenue. Most of our innovation is driven by client requests or by our interpretation or expectation of their future needs.
Be not afraid to fail.”
What traits are essential for success as a member of your team?
Cultural fit, good communication and willingness to learn new things — to admit that you don’t know something and ask for help. Be not afraid to fail. We’re a small team, and have no room for massive egos. No politics either.
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