A Conversation with the Bright, Ambitious Women of Aderant

Amid one of my busiest months of the year, I enjoyed the most fulfilling breath of fresh air as I sat in discussion with the Women of Aderant last week. I was invited to share my career path and lessons learned at a meeting of the Women of Aderant, a professional network formed to give women working throughout the global software firm a forum for mentoring, learning and career advisory. Sounds easy, but here's the truth: the topic made me nervous.

Highlights of the #HNCIOSurvey webinar by Anna Frazzetto, Managing Director, SVP International Technology Solutions, Harvey Nash.

Where are CIOs and technology leaders most satisfied, most happy? In Australia, according to the Harvey Nash CIO Survey 2015 results. That fact was top of mind for me as I headed to the October 15 launch of the survey in Sydney, Australia and got ready to share industry data with 150+ local senior IT leaders and hear from a panel of brilliant IT executives. I am going to get to speak to and hear from some very positive and optimistic professionals. For a globe-trotting New Yorker, that is not an everyday event. 

What Outsourcing Teaches You about Strategic Innovation

Did I just write "technology limitations?" It feels like heresy to even hint that there are limits on technology at a time when it is rapidly changing everything we do and shaping a future that promises clean energy, smart houses, Mars colonies, ubiquitous robots and artificial intelligence. But it's true. Technology has limitations, and the debate over those limits often occurs at the divide between business and technology teams.

In my experience, there are two ways to doom an IT offshoring solution from the start. On the provider side, you sell clients a fairy tale that goes something like this: "Working with our team in China/India/Costa Rica/etc. is exactly like working with your team in the U.S. There are no language or culture barriers." Right! And you also get younger and better looking by offshoring. The fact is, you can't erase cultural and language differences, and any provider that says they can is selling snake oil.

Three Tips for Staying Ahead of Disruption

This spring the Harvey Nash CIO survey revealed how heavily digital disruption is weighing on the minds of CIOs worldwide. According to the survey of more than 3,500 IT leaders, 66 percent of CIOs report that digital disruption [change resulting from digital technologies that disrupt established business models] is driving significant change across their businesses. With today's constant business case reminders of old models (bookstores and taxis) being wiped away by upstarts (Amazon and Uber), it's not surprising that IT leaders are on the lookout for disruptive challengers. Will we be next? Are we as vulnerable as music stores and Kodak--companies that saw their physical products dissipate into computer bytes and mobile technologies?

Here's my question: Is disruption anything new?

I have always had a hard time seeing boundaries. It's one of the reasons it can be hard for me to discuss the challenge of getting more women into IT. I blame my melting-pot, Manhattan childhood where the world was full of people from all walks of life, and there were women doing just about every job I could think of. It was diverse, it was empowering and there were not clear boundaries between the work men did and work women did.

When Harvey Nash Australia recently hosted many of Sydney's most innovative thinkers for our third annual digital event, we had a fantastic opportunity to explore the strategy, culture and structure of how successful businesses are capitalizing on technology. The event (click here for pictures) drew a large crowd to hear from our fabulous panel of experts: Matt Barrie (CEO & Chairman, Freelancer.com), Rebekah Horne (Chief Digital Officer, Network Ten), Andrew Walduck (Executive General Manager & CIO, Australia Post) and Adam Rigby (Founder & CEO, Nabo Australia). Lots of energy and enthusiasm led to a lively discussion about the future of innovation, with #hndigital capturing observations like these:

We started off the evening by sharing some of the trends Harvey Nash has been tracking in its research, both our pre-event digital pulse survey and our last CIO Survey. From the former:

As anticipated, ARA New York's recent panel, "Women in Tech: The Male Perspective," provided an evening of strong insights and thought-provoking discussion. The all-male panel of technology leaders shared some surprising revelations on the challenge of getting more women into technology. Please continue to my full blog, featured on the ARA website.