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The CIONET Cookbook n°2 comprises recipes for success from 20 of today’s most influential and dynamic information technology leaders across all business sectors. This fascinating volume presents new recipes for digital success based on TV and research interviews with top digital leaders across Europe. Right now, it’s clear that we all face extraordinary technical and business challenges. This second edition of the Cookbook presents further insights into the best practices required to flourish in a new digital era.
Meanwhile, dive into the following recipe with our Master chef Melissa Evers, vice president of the software and advanced technology group and general manager of the strategy and execution team at Intel.
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Melissa Evers is vice president of the software and advanced technology group and general manager of the strategy and execution team at Intel. After acquiring a degree in engineering and an MBA from the University of Texas, her career evolved in three chapters. She worked initially as a field engineer at Exxon Mobile, then progressed to strategy and finance at Dell, and in 2004 took up a senior post at Intel to focus on software development. She is proud of her current employer and its remarkable heritage. In her words, Intel put the ‘silicon’ into Silicon Valley.
Intel is the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer by revenue and is one of the developers of the x86 series of instruction sets that can be found in most personal computers (PCs). The firm was founded in 1968 by Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce. Intel’s investment in microprocesses in the 1990s fostered the rapid growth of the PC. The company has demonstrated constant innovation in areas beyond the PC, including Wi-Fi and software-defined networks. Intel has become a standard-bearer for open standards along with RedHat.
All business leaders recognise the importance of data in the digital economy. We generate around 80 zettabytes of data annually, with projections of 180 zettabytes by 2005. Melissa says ubiquitous computing lies at the heart of the digital economy and has fuelled this
rapid increase in data. She says the key challenge for business today is to ingest and analyse vast quantities of structured and unstructured data through new techniques, including artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics. Melissa says compute power is the foundation stone that converts data into value.
Compute power has evolved rapidly into every aspect of today’s economy, from software-defined networks to edge computing and onto cloud platforms. Microprocesses permeate every layer of the technology stack, from basic connectivity such as IoT to higher levels of intelligence that are powered by AI. Melissa’s team works with technology partners, such as RedHat and its enterprise customers, to ensure that the software embedded in Intel’s hardware can add value across the stack.
Melissa says harnessing vast quantities of data requires two approaches. The first is to take
advantage of what you already have. Here, she mentions techniques such as business
intelligence, data- streaming services and automation. These tools increase the quality of existing data and add value to product design and customer experiences. However, she provides a cautionary note. You can only add value if data is connected, which relies on open standards and architectures.
The second approach is to harness what Melissa refers to as “dark data”, which is information
stored in legacy systems and applications. Dark data is unlikely to be standardised or connected. It can be scattered across geographies and operating units. Most corporates recognise that converting dark data into value requires wholescale modernisation of the IT estate, including the migration of legacy apps to the cloud. Modern cloud infrastructures provide the connectivity and tooling to enable easy access to data sources.
Once data is accessible and amenable to powerful analytic Itools, businesses can adopt new ways of working. There is much evidence that data-centric business models generate value. We only need to look at digital natives, such as Google, Amazon and Netflix, to see the economic impact of such models. Entirely new industries have emerged during the past 20 years, including software-as-a-service provision and content streaming, which illustrate the value of data-centric approaches.
Melissa also sees opportunity arising from disruptive trends, such as Web 3.0, cryptocurrencies, blockchain and cybersecurity. She is optimistic that corporations such as Intel will be able to exploit these disruptions and solve critical global challenges, including climate change and future pandemics. From her experiences, data will be key to unlocking the answers to these challenges.
Melissa also believes collaboration between members of the ecosystem will be crucial to driving neutral, horizontal innovation. She gives the example of the strategic partnership between Intel and RedHat. Both parties have promoted open standards that encompass operating systems such as Linux and advanced infrastructures such as software-defined networks. These standards and infrastructures provide an open platform on which innovation takes place.
Intel is universally recognised as one of Silicon Valley’s most innovative companies. Nevertheless, Melissa recognises that maintaining sustained innovation is challenging in an organisation with 100,000 employees.
Intel has institutionalised innovation through its labs, but it also expects every employee to contribute to this endeavour. The 15,000 engineers who work most closely with customers and business partners are empowered to innovate through a flat organisational
structure.
Melissa is keen to encourage her engineers to take risks and learn from their mistakes. Being a good listener is essential in organisational learning. Successes must be celebrated and individuals rewarded. Collaboration with external parties is critical to scaling innovation and
boosting shareholder value.
Melissa uses a colourful metaphor to describe her journey from individual contributor to senior manager. She refers to the evolution of a butterfly from caterpillar to a chrysalis and onto a beautiful flying insect. She says becoming a successful manager is like breaking out of
the chrysalis. It requires a change of behaviour from rigidity to flexibility.
As a passionate and energetic person, Melissa looks for the best in every individual she manages. She emphasises
the need to overcome fear and intimidation in an elevated community by referring to the advice of her father: “Everyone puts their pants on one leg at a time.”
Melissa advises aspiring Master Chefs to make our planet a better place by constantly looking for problems to solve and applying innovative solutions. She says everyone
should adopt a beginner’s mindset.
