Kumud Kalia (LinkedIn) is the Chief Information & Technology Officer at Cylance. That means that he is responsible for the strategy, implementation, and management of the infrastructure and applications that support Cylance’s business processes.

He recently sat down with IT Visionaries host Ian to talk all things A.I., including how Cylance is using A.I. to protect everything under the sun – and the challenge of finding the right way to use technology to achieve business outcomes. He also had some advice for CIOs, CTOs and other executives.

Kumud has a long history in technology, including three stints as a CIO in various companies, so he has a lot of knowledge to share.

“When you’ve been trying to do the role of CIO for as long as I have, eventually you’ll get it right,” he jokes. 

The biggest thing he learned was that for CIOs, it all comes down to achieving business outcomes. Because of that, there is a lot more at stake. 

“If you’re responsible for business outcomes – and you own more of the business – you’ll become more of a stakeholder in the success of the company,” he explains. “That makes you much more pragmatic about making the tradeoffs you need.” 

There are going to be times when a new technology is coming out, but the resources that would need to go into implementing that new tech would take away from something more important to the business. In those instances, you need to take your ‘technology hat’ off and put your ‘business hat’ on in order to make a decision that will move the business forward. 

Kumud also emphasized the importance of building relationships with those around you. That means coming together with other CIOs, as well as your own employees. When it comes to selling to other CIOs, he explains it this way:

“It’s like dating. You get to know the person, get to know what they need, start delivering on that, and build some trust. Once you’ve got trust — which you build through reliable execution — then you can do some interesting things because you don’t have to persuade them anymore.”  

When it comes to working within your own organization, Kumud stresses that even though digital transformation is the responsibility of everyone, CIOs need to lead the way. 

“CIOs should see their jobs as removing friction for their employees and removing barriers that are preventing you from accomplishing business goals.” 

To hear more from Kumud, listen to the entire interview here.