For Arthur Hu, Lenovo鈥檚 SVP, global CIO, and Services & Solutions Group CTO, the 娇色导航role in particular goes beyond traditional IT in the same way digital capabilities are expanding into every aspect of the business. Here, he discusses how the breadth and complexity of roles intertwine, and how the strengths of each come together.
Global PC manufacturer Lenovo has upward of 70,000 employees worldwide, delivering round-the-clock IT services, and Arthur Hu, the company鈥檚 SVP and global CIO鈥攁nd as of April 2022, also the Services & Solutions Group CTO鈥攊s in a constant state of getting the most out of related teams, management and himself to cement partnerships, and achieve optimum performance.
Leveraging invention, creating new services, R&D and capabilities are integral to strengthening the business, and as his overlapping roles evolve, the underlining discipline for success is being resilient, based on long-term planning to build health, or, as Hu calls it, have 鈥渟hock absorbers.鈥� 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to widen the aperture of the lens in which you look at the world,鈥� he says.
In hindsight, the company鈥檚 response to the pandemic resulted in better architecture that allowed capacity to meet any eventuality. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about how can you respond better and tolerate the unknowns,鈥� he says. But there鈥檚 a balance to not just find, but constantly monitor, interpret and question what is in balance and why鈥攊t鈥檚 never a 鈥渟et and forget鈥� framework just because the height of the pandemic is in the rearview mirror. 鈥淥ne of the other broader business lessons coming out of it is understanding that sheer efficiency, or efficiency taken to an extreme, may not be good,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat means you are optimized, but with a very narrow focus.鈥�
With Hu鈥檚 CTO role in particular, there is a distinct and broad focus on the dynamics of the external market.
鈥淚n the CTO role, I鈥檓 spending more time with our partners and customers because they are excellent providers of input and intelligence on what is happening and where things are likely headed,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 think the external to internal ratio of time spent is much higher on the CTO side because it鈥檚 a very business-leaning and business-oriented role.鈥�
Foundry鈥檚 John Gallant recently spoke with Hu about adaptation into his various roles, and the methods involved to maximize potential without compromise. Here are some edited excerpts of that conversation. Watch the full video below for more insights.
On the reshaped 娇色导航role: CIOs are now part of the shaping and evolving of future business models, whether it鈥檚 about how to extend the core business, or incubate and help think about what a future growth engine might be. CIOs also represent and advocate for user experience more. Because you have more online channels, and even offline channels鈥攐r traditional ways of interacting鈥攖hey鈥檙e being augmented with technology intelligence. So the 娇色导航naturally has data on all those services, products, or offerings that are being used, and understands what customers and users say about the company in the real world. Each of those things is valuable independently, but they鈥檙e even more powerful when put together. Another area is in participating around environmental, social, and governance (ESG). This is definitely farther afield than a more traditional tech-based role. But the amount of data required to formulate and execute thoughtful ESG initiatives is quite large. And, again, this makes the 娇色导航a natural stakeholder and partner with the business teams as companies invest more in this space.
On priorities: For CIOs today, it starts with a recognition that the computing and IT environment is more complex than ever. It鈥檚 critical to find solutions that are simple as possible, and easy to use, scale, and adapt as circumstances change. What鈥檚 an important corollary to this is value capture. Digital transformation has been on the agenda for many years and companies have put their wallets where their mouths are, investing billions of dollars. So if you think about the journey, when we first started, a 娇色导航could ask for time to show results. But as months turn into quarters and quarters turn into years, then you actually have to deliver otherwise you risk stranded investments and disenchantment from the business. So first recognize the obvious value of the technology you鈥檝e invested in. At the same time, build resiliency against volatility and uncertainty. Then it鈥檚 about building enterprise agility. Not just agile software teams, but ways to help turn the company into one that can go quicker at speed. In my 娇色导航role, I have to help the company build a new set of infrastructure processes, tools, and system. Our partners need to be along with us in the journey. As you go from there, the discussion naturally follows. If any IT or 娇色导航team is saddled with, 鈥淕o make the SaaS happen,鈥� I think that鈥檚 an indicator that the business is thinking the wrong way. It鈥檚 key to understand where the journey is, how cloud computing capabilities can help you accelerate, and then make sure it鈥檚 together with the business.
On blending roles: I started in the CTO role for the Solutions and Services Group (SSG) earlier this year. Stepping back, I think when I started in the 娇色导航role, topics such as digital transformation and business agility were top of mind. And as time went on, as I was able to work with the team and deliver for the company, we were always looking at how to bring together the technology fluency with the business insight. It鈥檚 that duality where, as we thought about the future and our SSG, we needed more of that blend. So the additional CTO role is a natural extension of that. There are three things that form the theory of this case. As we were thinking about why this could make sense, one is that as CIO, I was already building capabilities. Second is delivering services. Third is how that creates business opportunities. On creating and building capabilities, I was already doing that for Lenovo. And the nature of those capabilities was to think about how we quote for our salespeople, make our partner portal frictionless, and make our supplier portal great for collaboration with our extended ecosystem of suppliers.
On self development: I went through an exercise of writing down my assumptions of what makes a good 娇色导航and what I鈥檝e learned as Lenovo鈥檚 娇色导航over the past five years. Then I explicitly tried to either validate or cross them out as I went along because I knew it鈥檇 be dangerous to assume I鈥檓 just picking up another IT team. That has helped me accelerate the learning journey by not making hidden assumptions. The 娇色导航role is being a natural advocate for experience. In the CTO role, there鈥檚 a higher premium and requirement that we鈥檙e externally facing. I鈥檓 spending more time with our partners and customers because they are excellent providers of input and intelligence on what鈥檚 happening and where things are likely headed.
