CIO Classified: The digital revolution of old school industries

With technological innovation accelerating faster than ever—and the pandemic entering a new phase—CIOs have never faced more uncertainty and complexity. That’s why we’ve partnered with Caspian Studios to sponsor Season 3 of the CIO Classified podcast.

CIO Classified is a podcast for CIOs, decision-makers, and technology leaders that want to push their business forward and stay on the cutting edge. Each episode features candid conversations with leading CIOs discussing their most pressing challenges and how they solve them.

Listen to the latest episode for insights and actionable strategies that you can bring back to your own organization today.

Episode summary

In this episode, Carbon Health’s CTO Claire Hough and AutoNation’s VP of Technology Operations Adam Rasner discuss:

• What it’s like ushering in a cloud-based future in historically analog industries

• How to build infrastructure for the digital native customer

• Why prioritizing the employee experience is important

• Lessons learned from scaling up

Episode soundbites

“A lot of times, individual teams within an organization don’t understand the bigger picture. To my direct reports, I regularly explain what we’re doing and why we’re doing it within the context of the company’s larger goals. I think that inspires people to work a little bit harder when they understand what we’re working towards—not just as a technology organization but as a company. I think when they feel a sense of understanding, they’re just more invested.” — Adam Rasner, VP of Technology Operations at AutoNation

“There’s nothing better than actually going out there and seeing how people work. It’s really interesting how many work arounds people find. It helps identify ways that we can redesign our app or redesign a workflow to make their lives much better.” — Claire Hough, CTO at Carbon Health

“Technology should be a business enabler. In the last four years here, the relationship between technology and the business has gotten much stronger. Before, technology was on an island, doing what they thought was the right thing. We rolled out things that weren’t practical once they got in the field. And so we partnered much closer with the business on their pain points. And if you deliver on time, trust is built. Now, we have strong participation from the business where they’re telling us what they need and we’re providing real value.” — Adam Rasner, VP of Technology Operations at AutoNation

“There’s going to be a lot of innovation in healthcare as a result of COVID. I think the patient experience and accessible mental health will become a lot more important. Employers have to pay more attention to the health of their employees, including mental health. How you create a safe workplace for everyone that’s accommodating different needs has to be front and center. We, as leaders, have to define how we provide that work environment where everyone feels included and valued in the company. We’re going to see a lot of innovation coming out of the pandemic to meet the needs of people and what people value at this point.” — Claire Hough, CTO at Carbon Health

Episode guests

Claire Hough, CTO, Carbon Health

Claire Hough is the Chief Technology Officer at Carbon Health. She leads engineering, bringing over 25 years of experience as a technology leader. Hough has helped over a half dozen companies grow and scale to deliver impact-driving products and services, including Netscape, Napster, Nextag, and Udemy. She has been named one of San Francisco Business Times’ Most Influential Women in the Bay Area.

Adam Rasner, VP of Technology Operations, AutoNation

Adam Rasner is the Vice President of Technology Operations at AutoNation, the country’s largest automotive retailer. Over the last 20 years, Rasner has been employed by multiple Fortune 500 companies—such as Rayonier and Restaurant Brands International—where he focused on effectively managing technical operations and supporting organizational goals while elevating productivity and modernizing systems. Rasner began his career as a network engineer for WebMD, the largest online healthcare information website in the world.

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