In March 2012, Cynthia Stoddard took over the reins of the IT organization at NetApp, a network data storage and management solution company. As CIO and SVP, Stoddard is working to lead and evolve NetApp IT in the new digital era. In this latest “IT Visionaries” series interview, she shares the importance of being customer-facing, her method for introducing new technologies to IT, how she managed NetApp’s move to the cloud, and much more.

1. Why are you known as a “customer-facing” CIO?

I make the customer, whether internal or external, a top priority. I view my role in three components. One is working with the IT organization to share our vision. It’s important to show and tell your teams where you are going and why. The next component is working with our business teams and executives as a problem-solver and thought leader. Because IT should not be an obstacle; it should be an enabler, bringing knowledge back to the organization. I also view myself as a spokesperson for our solutions. I like talking to customers about how our products can enable their success. As I speak with our customers, I discover their definition of success and bring this information back to NetApp to make sure we are all aligned.
 

2. Why are IT and Business often at odds?

IT tends to think about IT and not the business as their customer. A lot of the tension between IT and business is due to miscommunication or lack of communication. If an IT team is implementing a project, they tend to be heads down. It doesn’t come naturally to some technology people to communicate the status or to pick up the phone and talk about the solution with their business partners. I encourage my team to communicate with candor and clarity so ownership and accountability are clearly defined.  

3. How have you improved IT to Business communication at NetApp?

Communication is something that never ends. I think you always have to keep reinventing it. One example I am proud of is the redesign of our internal intranet called the “IT Frontdoor.” Users can learn about IT and what we offer, and there’s support where people can get to our knowledge base and submit tickets. This new site has dramatically improved communication and access to IT. We have a weekly newsletter that goes to all of IT and some subscribers throughout the whole company. We publish blog posts, quick wins, and project updates. We also created a monthly newsletter targeted at the entire company. We feature security tips, initiative updates, and projects that people need to be aware of.

4. Tell us about your move to the cloud.

We have 300 business applications primarily because we had a siloed development approach. As we move forward we are consolidating that mix of applications to a smaller set of platforms and solutions. We don’t need to have everything in house. We are leveraging the right cloud for the right workload. That is why we’re a salesforce.com customer. If there is a standard business practice that has a good solution already out there, we start there.
 

5. How do you introduce new technologies to the organization?

We have an “innovation zone.” We use it to test new technologies or even new partners. It’s a sandbox type of environment and a safe place for people to experiment. We used our innovation zone when we initially launched our cloud strategy. Now we’re using it to look at some different analytics solutions and different cloud management technologies. We encourage people to experiment and try different approaches. We know everything isn’t going to work. With the innovation zone, it’s okay to fail and learn. The key is to fail fast and move on.

6. Was there any fear about the cloud?

It is human nature to fear change and the unknown. Also, many thought the cloud would make jobs disappear because there would be nothing on premise and IT skills would not be as valuable. I think it’s important to identify leaders that advocate for new cloud technologies and help get other people on board. And you have to allow people the time to learn. IT teams have very busy jobs implementing projects and making sure the systems don’t go down. They also fear adding more complexity. Once they get their hands on some of the technology I think the comfort level starts to go up.

7. You’ve also done a lot to educate the organization.

When we first launched our cloud strategy, we had a buzzword that said “SaaS first, cloud first,” and I think that actually scared a lot of people. So we took a step back and tried a little different approach to educate people and show them how many of their skills are very transportable to a cloud environment. There’s a lot of new cool stuff they can learn. We’ve had lunch and learns, breakfast workshops, and actually launched some training called “Cloud 101” to teach what cloud was and what cloud wasn’t. Today, NetApp IT as an organization has truly embraced the cloud.

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