The CIO’s New Mandate as Institutional Intelligence Architect
Episode 39 of 'Beyond the Connection' discusses the evolving role of the CIO with Erich Gazaui, Chief Information Officer at Papa.
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EPISODE: Erich Gazaui Chief Information Officer @ Papa The CIO’s New Mandate as Institutional Intelligence Architect Episode 39
What’s Inside [2:09] Introduction to Erich Gazaui [29:44] Full Podcast Episode [0:00] Highlights Video [5:17] Turning IT from Blockers Into Growth Enablers [4:52] CIO Procurement Levers That Move ROI [2:32] Finance Fluency Turns IT Into A Partner [8:28] Balancing Innovation With Governance In Healthcare [3:35] Stopping Shadow IT By Earning Trust [0:57] Short - Turning IT from Blockers Into Growth Enablers [0:57] Short - Balancing Innovation With Governance In Healthcare
EPISODE: A Podcast with Erich Gazaui Erich Gazaui, Chief Information Officer at Papa, explains why intelligence architecture now drives how quickly and effectively a business can make decisions. He breaks down why systems only matter when information is accurate, accessible, and actually used correctly across teams. He warns that spreadsheets and disconnected processes quietly create stale assumptions that lead to flawed decisions. He also shares how CIO leadership shifts from support work to a mandate that enables better outcomes across the organization.
Full Episode “Putting information in a spreadsheet is a really great first step. Having a person in a role designed to ensure access to the information, while advocating for it and supporting self-service, can change and ultimately drive a cultural shift. It becomes a mandate that we need to have this role, we need to have this thought process at the table so that, woven together, the outcome is ideally better.”
5 (0:00) Highlights Video
(5:17) Turning IT from Blockers Into Growth Enablers “I'll often tell leaders that I'll build, design, or integrate any system that you like. But if we fail to use it correctly, it is often worse than having no system at all. That understanding and that material impact of having access to accurate information and knowledge, it refocuses a role like mine at the forefront, from support role, to a mandate that we need to have this role, we need to have this thought process at the table with the rest of the thought processes so that woven together, the outcome is ideally better.”
(4:52) CIO Procurement Levers That Move ROI “The visibility, the span, and the angle of my lens of the company is very wide. If you combine that with the more traditional IT functions, and then enterprise apps-type function, like building in enterprise-class systems, integrating those pockets, gives such visibility that in answering the question, how do I drive or return cost or revenue, I have those levers I can pull.”
8 (2:32) Finance Fluency Turns IT Into A Partner “When you can speak the actual gap or forecast-based language, and understand cost of revenue and how that plays a role in the various things that I would do, whether it becomes the type of system we're buying, why we're buying it, and how that would ultimately get classified in the books, plays a role, and it really is instrumental from the finance point of view because then they can capture it correctly, and even advantageously to the company based on that knowledge.”
(8:28) Balancing Innovation With Governance In Healthcare “In healthcare, safety is paramount. When it comes to what’s externally facing, there’s a very healthy and necessary hesitation, or at least a desire to move slowly and understand.”
(3:35) Stopping Shadow IT By Earning Trust “Often, relationships between groups like mine and the rest of the company are service in nature. Investing in those relationships, ensuring the bridges are built and that they're maintained, that they're healthy, just like any physical bridge in the world, and get to a place where the people that you work with, your colleagues, other teams, cross-functional members, you want them to believe that we're here to help, we're here to enable.”
YOUTUBE SHORT: “I'll often tell leaders that I'll build, design, or integrate any system that you like. But if we fail to use it correctly, it is often worse than having no system at all. That understanding and that material impact of having access to accurate information and knowledge, it refocuses a role like mine at the forefront, from support role, to a mandate that we need to have this role, we need to have this thought process at the table with the rest of the thought processes so that woven together, the outcome is ideally better.” - Erich Gazaui
YOUTUBE SHORT: “In healthcare, safety is paramount. When it comes to what’s externally facing, there’s a very healthy and necessary hesitation, or at least a desire to move slowly and understand.” - Erich Gazaui
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