IHG is upgrading its IT systems and moving applications to the public cloud to remain afloat in a hospitality market where consumers have come to expect high-tech amenities ranging from mobile check-ins to robot concierges. Hotel chains have long under-invested in technology, opting to focus on white-glove customer service and other offerings that have a…
Structure Tone, a global construction management firm, was family owned for 40 years. In 2016, however, the family shifted ownership to employees and a consortium of outside investors. Since then, the firm has conducted mergers with three companies. By early 2019, the firm had grown from $4 billion to $6 billion and rebranded as STO…
In the lead up to Synchrony Financial being spun out from parent company GE and launching an initial public offering (IPO), Carol Juel was front and center explaining the newly independent company’s business strategy and innovation plans. Juel was even known to cart giant poster boards from meeting-to-meeting to help customers, partners, and internal employees…
Eighteen months ago, Mr. Cooper launched an intelligent recommendation system for its customer service agents to suggest solutions to customer problems. The company, formerly known as Nationstar, is the largest non-bank mortgage provider in the U.S., with 3.8 million customers, so the project was viewed as a high-profile cost-saver for the company. It took nine…
Preparing for the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam can be challenging. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), project professionals spend on average more than 35 hours preparing for the PMP exam. Even this amount of preparation is no guarantee that you will pass on the first try. Following are details about the PMP certification…
Enterprise architecture is not just about building a business and IT knowledgebase. It’s more and more about short and long-term wins, where enterprise architects participate in the selection of strategic priorities and about contributing specific knowledge valuable to the agile delivery solution teams afterward. Short term wins Traditionally, enterprise architects focused mostly on information technology…
For many legacy businesses, historical technology investment limits the ability to innovate. In conversations with CIOs, they often refer to the mess with the following endearing terms: fragile, band aid and duct tape. The question is – given the pace of coming waves of digital disruption – can IT clean up the mess fast enough…
Scaled agile development, coupled with cloud software, is breathing new life into 159-year-old mutual life insurance company Guardian Life, a formula that is serving enterprises of all stripes today — and one for which Guardian needed a forward-thinking CIO to make happen. When Dean Del Vecchio joined Guardian as CIO in 2012, the company operated…
It’s more than an understatement to say the role of technology leaders has changed over the past few years. The widespread adoption of cloud computing and process automation has reduced the demands for IT departments to keep the lights on. Large-scale capital expenditures on infrastructure are being replaced by increased operating expenses on services. Meanwhile,…
Exponential leaps forward in technology and innovation are forcing massive changes at a lightning-fast pace across industries everywhere. CIOs – along with the broader C-suite – are well aware of the implications of this evolving and disruptive technology landscape. In fact, new Accenture Strategy research shows that 85% of C-suite executives report that the disruptive…