GSN

Nicolas Providell

Technology Modernization Voice

Brandon Sanders is Senior Director of IT at Serán BioScience, where he leads technology strategy, cybersecurity initiatives and operational systems that support business growth and reliability.

Experiences Shaping My IT Leadership Approach

Every experience, good and bad, continuously shapes my approach.  Though I may be able to pick out a few key experiences, I believe that leading IT departments is like any lifecycle in that you are constantly planning, executing, monitoring and re-initiating to continuously improve and grow the department and capabilities.

Balancing Innovation, Cybersecurity and Operational Reliability

Cybersecurity and operational reliability play nearly equal roles.  In our industry, downtime can have severe consequences not only financially but also for human wellness.  Because of that, systems must be secure and maintain significant reliability.  One requirement cannot have a negative impact on the other.  Innovation becomes a critical and highly consequential factor.  From a cybersecurity aspect, you absolutely must keep on top of the latest trends and capabilities, but you may not necessarily be able to deploy the latest tools.  It is critical to ensure your policies and procedures are well tested, and lessons learned from those tests are applied to making decisions regarding what new tools need to be brought in. 

Leadership Lessons and Technology Initiatives

Understanding the business and its needs, understanding my gaps and building relationships are the three most important lessons I have learned.  Knowing the business at every level ensures that I can make informed decisions and understand the risk, impact and benefit overall for the company as a whole.  Understanding my personal and team limitations up front helps to make certain that any IT initiative is successful.  There is no room for ego; success comes from building a team that complements one another.  And finally, the value of building relationships with everyone from the C suite to the reception team cannot be stressed enough.  This ties back to understanding the business and understanding the need and impact of each project.

Emerging Trends and Technology

The one that immediately comes to mind is artificial intelligence.  Artificial intelligence has already changed the way we work.  There are significant benefits, especially when it comes to time and resource requirements.  Policies that would take the better part of a week to draft can be drafted and reviewed in hours.  Data can be organized and trended in less time than ever before.  That said, there are considerable risks associated with the rollout of such tools.

- Users who do not have a solid understanding of the subject and rely on the results generated.

- Company data that has not been properly classified and controlled is more likely to be shared outside the organization.

Overall, to me, it is clear that AI will have the most significant impact on the future of IT leadership.  It will reshape roles and responsibilities and redefine teams and their strategies.  It is imperative that the IT leadership drives the conversation, provides a detailed plan and ensures that management understands the risks involved with such tools.

Words to Upcoming Tech Professionals

Strive to become a true business partner.  Understand the processes of the business and deliver ideas and technology to help improve them.  Technology departments should not be in the shadows, fixing problems as they arise, but should be actively engaged with the business, helping define business strategies and work towards being proactive rather than reactive.