Leveraging Technologies to Better Position The Business Leveraging Technologies to Better Position The Business
Pharma Tech Outlook
Home » Leadership Perspectives

A featured contribution from Leadership Perspectives: a curated forum reserved for leaders nominated by our subscribers and vetted by our Pharma Tech Outlook APAC Advisory Board.

MVP Health Care

Leveraging Technologies to Better Position The Business

James H. Poole III

Steering transformational initiatives within your business environment that typically required IT

The Affordable Care Act has caused tremendous change in our Business and IT environments. We have had to become more flexible in our processes and practices to support our business partners. In the past, we have been able to clearly define every aspect of a new application or process and deliver to that end. In our new world, we have had to transition to a nimble delivery model due to market pressures.

Lessons learned and advice for fellow CIOs

Understand and act with conviction for your customers, both internal and external. Without this understanding IT organizations and technology solution providers will continue to deliver products and solutions that meet only minimal customer requirements.

Manner in which data is used to head off problems and complications before they happen

For a health care company, data is its life blood. While data in and of itself is interesting, our ability to understand the data and use it as strategic information is key to MVP Health Care’s success.

My roles and responsibilities as a CIO

A key component to IT’s success is to truly be a partner with the business. This is not an easy or fast journey. Our staff must be challenged to make good IT decisions based upon business need not on technology need. If we are able to overcome this gap in understanding, then many more corporations will become leaner and improve their time to market products that satisfy the needs of the customers.

The areas in business environment where solutions do not yet exist or not up to the mark, and which if existed, would've made job easier

Some days I say to myself: “It would be a really good time if technology providers would stop delivering products to the market at the pace that they do.” For a CIO, this may seem to be a very odd statement; however, the speed at which technology changes come at us often prevent us from fully implementing and using the technology at hand. We recognize and embrace change; I believe in 2013/14 the industry needs to focus on the delivery of products that improve “The Customer Experience.”

Another area that requires consistence vigilance is the increasing amount of compliance in a highly regulated industry. We need to better leverage and deploy technology so that we are positioned to absorb the legislated changes that will continue to shape the health care industry.

Technology trends impacting enterprise business environment

All of these are new and emerging forces for businesses. Our challenge is to embrace and use them to a strategic advantage. We are faced with the ever increasing desire by employees, customers and external entities to enable “Bring Your Own Device” technology onto private networks.

We are now becoming more “consumerized” than we have been in the past. This is new; the use of mobile and social media will play heavily into our business delivery strategies.

Things done to elevate IT’s relationship with the business

In prior years, IT attempted to drive the implementation of many Business Initiatives using an information technology project management office. We reviewed the processes and practices in place at the end of 2012 and decided the best course of action, based upon business need, was to create a Strategic project management office. In this way, our lines of business determine what needs to be delivered and by when to meet the demands of our marketplace.
The articles from these contributors are based on their personal expertise and viewpoints, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of their employers or affiliated organizations.