CIO Summit Encourages Peer-to-Peer IT Discussions

Meaningful Dialogues

Seiden notes that guests such as Chapman are hearing of these issues and potential solutions from their peers and not from IBM or other vendor sources. This allows guests to create meaningful dialogues to address whatever situations they may be facing. 

Because of this, Seiden says, “Attendees know they aren’t alone and that there are solutions available to them. I find everyone goes back to their office feeling very encouraged, energized, and with a new set of friends with whom they can talk and share information in the future.”

 Indeed, another October guest, Dominick Pagnotta, CIO of Rochester Drug Cooperative, had concerns similar to Chapman’s, including managing the perception of the IBM i as a legacy system and how others are dealing with that perception. Other common concerns included staff retention; recruitment; training and repurposing of senior RPG programmers; and techniques for legacy business logic encapsulation for reuse and exposure to other systems via web APIs.

 “Talks weren’t based on PowerPoint presentations. The open discussion of a facilitated round table was very engaging and gave me the opportunity to meet other senior IT leaders to discuss our issues, challenges and success stories related to managing technology and staff,” Pagnotta says.

Plentiful Takeaways

Because Seiden keeps the summit small—typically between 12 to 15 people—guests have plenty of time to talk with and get to know one another. This allows them to not only discuss what’s on their minds with their peers, but also establish communities of sorts, with attendees sharing contact information and staying in touch with each other.

“It’s the times when the guests talk among themselves and share, that’s the part I love to see,” Seiden says. “I really enjoy watching them sharing, speaking and becoming friends, sharing information, exchanging business cards during the breaks. This is helped by the loose structure we encourage. I make sure everyone has a chance to speak and ask any questions or share any information they would like to. I want everyone to go home with answers to their questions.”

Chapman, for example, took “17 things” home with him, some of which he plans on implementing in his IT environment. Two of these take-homes include learning about IBM Db2 Mirror for i and how it can enhance his organization’s systems with continuous availability; and leaning toward modernization to attract younger talent and teach them RPG once they’re in house.

Pagnotta had similarly valuable takeaways, such as “positive confirmation in the direction I’m taking my organization and that others are in very similar situations,” he explains. For IT execs who may not be in the developers’ room anymore, this type of feedback can be invaluable.

“I find that developers have communities—whether conferences or meet-up groups—but the executives lack that,” Seiden says. “So giving them a chance to feel understood and offering them much needed support is very important to us. We want them to know we and their peers have their backs.”