Roundtable - The Modernization Imperative: Becoming Future-Ready

To become future-ready, CIOs must balance agility while maintaining operational excellence. Successful enterprises bridge the gaps between business goals and IT capabilities while introducing meaningful innovation.

Continuous transformation is a priority as organizations navigate the complexities of today's digital landscape. This modernization imperative is driven by rapid digital advancements, evolving customer expectations, and regulatory changes. Furthermore, the pressure to enhance operational efficiencies requires CIOs to strategically adopt cloud computing, automation, and artificial intelligence into their portfolios.

With these principles in mind, The IT Media Group brought together 17 cross-industry IT executives for a roundtable entitled "The Modernization Imperative: Becoming Future-Ready." The session uncovered the strategies and tactics CIOs and CTOs employ to prepare for and thrive in the future.

Jeff Ishii, Chief Technologist at The IT Media Group, moderated the roundtable. Also participating were executives from the session sponsor Amdocs, Division President Stephen Ellis and Chairman & CEO of Astadia, Scott Silk.

Roundtable participants discussed the challenges and best practices for the following topic areas:

1. Digital transformation and the customer experience

• Enhancing Customer Interactions
• Delivering Personalized Services

2. Operational efficiency and automation

• Streamlining Operations with AI and Automation
• Improving Cost Efficiency and Reducing Time to Market

3. Mainframe modernization and cloud migration

• Assessing and Planning Modernization
• Leveraging Cloud Solutions

4. Balancing security, compliance, and innovation

• Fostering Innovation
• Ensuring Regulatory Compliance and Data Security

The session covered various approaches for successful innovation, from totally cloud-native strategies to incremental tactics. Stephen Ellis explained, “There are many ways to tackle the modernization problem depending on where you begin the journey.” He described the importance of digitizing sales and service for organizations to compete in a low-cost structure world. Ellis stated, “Industries need sophisticated personalization capabilities that enable dynamic pricing based on what customers buy.” He explained how cloud capabilities also drive cost efficiencies and reduce time to market. “We transformed our development release cycle from a resource-intensive quarterly schedule to an automated cycle every two weeks.”

Participants reinforced the importance of aligning business with IT to help ensure the success of their modernization projects. Scott Silk emphasized that “baby boomers aren’t getting any younger, so time is not on your side.” Silk offered free consulting to help organizations get their mainframe transformations off the ground. “With current technology platforms and GenAI, mainframe migrations and testing are approaching 100% automation, eliminating 70% to 80% of the resources required to perform the work”, he added. Attendees confirmed the drivers for modernizing their systems but acknowledged they need help to build business cases, unravel dependencies, and identify optimal legacy exit strategies.

All participants will receive a strategic insights report containing more than 55 tactics organizations use to address their challenges.

Watch this space for video session highlights

The IT Media Group's CIO roundtables are among the most successful event programs for IT executives, bringing together scores of senior-level peers for thoughtful private discussions around the top issues facing enterprise IT. For a better understanding of these events, please visit our Video section.

The IT Media Group is an award-winning producer of events and content for senior IT executives. Based in Toronto, our leadership team includes some of the most experienced and well-respected media, technology and business professionals serving the IT executive community.