CIO Spotlight: John Abel, Veritas Technologies

What was your first job? My first job right out of college was working as a business systems analyst for British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL).

Did you always want to work in IT? I always knew I wanted to work in the IT industry. As the youngest of five kids growing up in Northern Ireland in a blue-collar family, computer sciences were just starting to take off. I thought I could make a good living from it, so went to college and studied information systems.

What was your education? Do you hold any certifications? What are they? I grew up in Londonderry in Northern Ireland, and really started thinking about my career goals in high school. Eventually, I went on to Staffordshire University in England where I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems.

Explain your career path. Did you take any detours? If so, discuss. I started off as a consultant, which is a good career start if you're interested in going into IT. For some time, I worked as a consultant at KPMG and eventually transferred to the U.S. That's where I started Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation work, and eventually jumped to one of our financial services clients doing accounts receivable and accounts payable. Ultimately, I ended up missing technology too much and chose to go back over to their IT department. I ultimately became the head of IT for two years.

I was brought on board at Symantec as the Vice President of Applications, and later moved over to Hitachi Data Systems as the Vice President of Applications and SVP of IT. I really wanted to get some CIO experience under my belt, so served as Ellie Mae's CIO until the opportunity at Veritas came along.

What business or technology initiatives will be most significant in driving IT investments in your organisation in the coming year? Everyone must start thinking how to derive the most value from the data that's available. How can we deliver the best services possible to end users, our customers? There's no question organisations deal with massive amounts of digital information every day. At Veritas, we dedicate significant time internally to advancing approaches to data protection — because cybersecurity and ransomware attacks are only getting more sophisticated, while regulatory environments grow in complexity. Our team actively taps into machine learning and AI to recognise patterns, pinpoint and highlight anomalies to prepare for and recover from incidents. Then we put these learnings to work for our customers.

What are your CEO's top priorities for you in the coming year? How do you plan to support the business with IT? Our CEO understands the importance of knowing where our IT strategy is heading, and fully supports the path we've chosen. As a company, we're all working towards maintaining a high renewal rate while delivering the best value to existing customers. Our goal is to jointly uncover new ways to utilise the data we have, bring it back into the account, and provide true value to customers.

Does the conventional CIO role include responsibilities it should not hold? Should the role have additional responsibilities it does not currently include? The role of the CIO has evolved greatly over time and continues to change. When you think back to original requirements for CIOs, they focused on implementing the infrastructure. Over time, the industry placed more emphasis on such areas as applications and CRM. Today, everything is about managing and interpreting data. CIOs must not only have a blend of all these skillsets but should also possess strong communications abilities.

At times, conflict does arise with CIO responsibilities - especially when companies implement roles like the "Chief Digital" or "Chief Data Officers." While these positions are sometimes complementary - depending on the size of the company - they can also lead to confusion as to where one role ends and the other begins. If a company has a range of tech-centric executives, leadership must assign very specific responsibilities - like managing the technology footprint or relationships with external customers and partners. This clear delineation is essential for each role to add value to the business.

Are you leading a digital transformation? If so, does it emphasise customer experience and revenue growth or operational efficiency? If both, how do you balance the two? At Veritas, digital transformation is at the heart of everything we do. As data continues to proliferate across the enterprise, it's essential for our customers to unlock the value of information - no matter where it resides. Our mission is to help customers better identify, manage and protect critical data assets to stay competitive and grow their business. But digital transformation isn't just about revenue growth or operational efficiency alone. Powering these transformations accelerates both.

Describe the maturity of your digital business. For example, do you have KPIs to quantify the value of IT? We always keep pulse on the information or data considered most useful to our teams. For example, how much more information are we giving to renewal teams and sales organisations so they can go work an account - and how much time are they spending working an account? By leveraging predictive analytics, we're able to analyse data and drive meaningful business decisions for our customers and partners.

What does good culture fit look like in your organisation? How do you cultivate it? As an industry leader with 30+ years in the market, culture plays a huge role at Veritas. First things first - we must take care of employees and treat them with respect. Transparency is key in how executives enforce and cultivate company culture. There's a clear line on communications from the executive - right down to the rest of staff. It's also important to ensure employees understand their value and contribution at the individual level.

What roles or skills are you finding (or anticipate) the most difficult to fill? Data scientists are increasingly difficult positions to fill. With artificial intelligence and machine learning two of the most impactful skills for the foreseeable future, we're continuously looking for people to tap into data with skills beyond what's typically expected of traditional IT staff. Our intern and graduate programs are also a great way to train employees and take advantage of their exposure to new technologies.

What's the best career advice you ever received? When I was about 14-years-old, I was washing the dishes with my brother and asked what subjects would be good to choose for the last year of high school. He said to go into computer sciences - that's probably the best advice I ever received and took.

But honestly, I've worked with a great variety of extraordinary leaders - all of whom have taught me in some way. I'm honored to now blend these together and use as a foundation to help guide other young minds. 

Do you have a succession plan? If so, discuss the importance of and challenges with training up high-performing staff. A succession plan is an extremely important element to the long-term survival of any business' IT department. I sleep much better at night knowing we have successors identified and that we're taking the right steps to groom them.

You put a lot of time in and want someone from your team who will work hard and be there when you move on. It might take a year or two to find out who that person is, but it's essential to have a plan in place.

What advice would you give to aspiring IT leaders? Communication is extremely important in motivating everyone to get on board. It's also important to remain patient and not set goals beyond what you truly believe can be accomplished. Be flexible and willing to recalibrate to amass smaller victories that eventually fold into larger initiatives. Clearly communicate and set expectations. Those are the keys to success.

What has been your greatest career achievement? The past 12-18 months at Veritas has been an enormous achievement in terms of helping the company grow and better serve our customers. We were able to turn the business around and increase renewal rates. I attribute all this recent success not just to one person - but to the full team. My achievements aren't necessarily tied to myself as an individual, but rather the teams I was a part of that brought about true success.

Looking back with 20:20 hindsight, what would you have done differently? Not much. Overall, I'm very happy with my experiences - as each has led me to where I am today. There might have been one or two small things - but I'm very grateful for my career and the people that helped shape me.