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In preparing our teams for the next step in digital transformation, how do we map the best path? Without understanding each person’s needs and challenges, we cannot use technology effectively to assist them and move our business forward. Throwing technology at problems without understanding team needs is a Recipe For Disaster. On the flip side of that, learning how to build an effective collaboration between your wider business and IT is the key to staying ahead in digital transformation.&nbs...
In preparing our teams for the next step in digital transformation, how do we map the best path? Without understanding each person’s needs and challenges, we cannot use technology effectively to assist them and move our business forward. Throwing technology at problems without understanding team needs is a Recipe For Disaster. On the flip side of that, learning how to build an effective collaboration between your wider business and IT is the key to staying ahead in digital transformation.
In this conversation with Kevin Hughes, he shares about the “digital transformation” buzzword and strategies to get IT and your business working together more effectively. Kevin is an innovative and decisive Vice President of IT Operations at Sharonview Federal Credit Union with extensive progressive experience directing and supervising IT operations. In his role, he leads a high-performing team of driven IT professionals committed to giving internal and external customers an efficient, secure, and engaging digital experience.
Conversation Highlights:
[00:01] Intro and a bit about our guest, Kevin Hughes
[01:43] Kevin's career background and how he got to where he is today
[04:09] Lessons Kevin has learned working in different roles, including at Sharonview
[07:23] What makes a credit union unique from a technology perspective
[09:37] What inspired Kevin to transition into technology and leadership roles
[11:50] How to nudge people into their passion and stretch them outside the backroom roles
[17:51] Kevin's success stories interfacing technology with different departments
[20:52] What happens when the business and IT don’t work together effectively
[22:10] Shadow IT, what it is, and why it doesn’t work
[24:07] Using communication to simplify things between business and IT
[26:03] Digital transformation - not just a buzzword, what it means, and how to apply it
[29:16] Impactful digital transformations that Kevin has led recently
[33:25] Trends in IT you need to look out for in the credit unions and rural banks space
[36:55] Blockchain technology and how it’s expected to affect financial institutions
[38:54] Kevin's advice on how to integrate technology into your business
[39:51] How to reach out and connect with Kevin
[40:37] Ending the show
Notable Quotes
Welcome to the Opkalla IT Matters Podcast, where we discuss the important matters within IT as well as the importance of IT across different industries and responsibilities.
About Opkalla:
Opkalla helps their clients navigate the confusion in the technology marketplace and choose the technology solutions that are right for their business. They work alongside IT teams to design, procure, implement and support the most complex IT solutions without an agenda or technology bias. Opkalla was founded around the belief that IT professionals deserve better, and is guided by their core values: trust, transparency and speed. For more information, visit https://opkalla.com/ or follow them on LinkedIn.
Narrator: Welcome to the IT
Matters podcast, where we
explore why IT matters and
matters pertaining to IT. Here's
your host, Aaron Bock.
Aaron Bock: Welcome to the show.
Thanks, everyone for joining.
We've got another exciting
episode on the IT Matters
podcast today. I'm joined by my
co-host, Keith Hawkey. Keith,
how are you doing today?
Keith Hawkey: Wonderful, right
back at you Aaron;
Aaron Bock: I know, it's been a
busy time over the last couple
of weeks. Today on the podcast,
we are lucky to have Kevin
Hughes on the podcast, He's at
Sharonview, Federal Credit
Union. He's the Vice President
of IT operations. Kevin has a
long background we're gonna get
into today. But Keith and I we
know Kevin, we've talked to him
a little bit before this. And we
were talking about some of the
things that we know our
listeners like to hear and like
to listen and learn about. And a
couple of things we're going to
address today that I'm excited
to talk to Kevin about is
getting it and in the business
working together more and how
you do that strategies around
it. And then also the buzzword
digital transformation. What
does that mean? Everyone says
it? Gardener loves it. I think
Google loves it at this point.
So will talk a lot about that
today. So Kevin, welcome to the
show.
Kevin Hughes: Hey, thank you. I
appreciate it. I'm excited to be
here. Looking forward to our
conversation today.
Aaron Bock: We are very excited
as well. I guess Kevin, let's
start off with why don't you
tell our listeners a little bit
about yourself personal
professional, everything in
between that you want them to
know? Sure.
Kevin Hughes: So I've been
obviously in the IT industry for
a little over 25 years at this
point, starting at ground level
of break, fix and working up to
where I am today. So I always
enjoyed IT. I've always enjoyed
troubleshooting and problem
solving. All the things that are
the funny games of IT. So that's
my work life. I live in
Pineville, North Carolina,
married with my menagerie of
household animals, which I'll
just cap off at two dogs at the
moment. And then some cats, I'll
leave it at that. But as far as
personally, I enjoy music I
love music. I've always had a
passion for music, as well as
Keith pointed out earlier the
Sharon FC scarf behind me I do
enjoy our new MLS soccer team
here in town and have enjoyed
the games this year. So it's
been a pleasure to attend those.
Aaron Bock: What's your favorite
kind of music?
Kevin Hughes: I'm a rock guy at
heart. So I tend to be all over
the place as far as what I like
musically, but I like just about
anything. And it's my running
joke is I'm a bit schizophrenic
in my music because you might
catch me listening to hard rock
one minute classic the next that
could be jazz or than reggae or
who knows it's just all over the
place. But in my heart and soul
it's it's usually rock based.
Aaron Bock: Very cool. Yeah, you
should check out. There's a new
show on Netflix called the
playlist that I'm watching right
now. And it's kind of about the
starting and the founding of
Spotify, from CDs to when there
was a lot of torrent based
downloading that got a lot of
heat for being illegal, and then
how Spotify was formed, I think
you'd find it pretty
interesting. So Kevin, you
mentioned where you're at today,
how you got there your
experience, you have a unique
kind of background, you
actually are one of the few
people that I think I've met
where you were at an
organization, you left for a
couple different gigs. And then
about eight to nine years later,
you actually joined back an
organization in a higher role,
etc. I know a lot of people
especially in this day and age,
I think they call it boomerangs
depending on who you're talking
to. But maybe describe that Was
it weird coming back? You know,
why did you go back? Did you
learn? Did you feel like you
learn a lot coming back into an
organization you were
previously?
Kevin Hughes: No, absolutely. So
I did. I worked for Sharon view
previously as an engineer,
basically supporting the
organization and that
engineering type of role. I had
an opportunity that came along
that just gave me a much broader
potential for knowledge. Then I
was going to get within Sharon
view and it was not something I
was looking for, but just sort
of fell on my lap and it was
just too good of an opportunity
to pass up. In hindsight, it was
probably the best career move I
could have made. As I left I
went into this new role I
started off in a semi managerial
role, ended up progressing then
into more of a leadership type
role. That was with a smaller
boutique consulting firm here in
Charlotte that eventually got
bought out by A much larger NTT
DATA organization that then
certainly changed my trajectory
and gave me a lot more
opportunity from a leadership
role that then enabled me to
really expand my skill set. And
gave me exposure to a lot of
mentors. A lot of people that
helped my career kind of
continued to progress. In the
process, I had always kept ties
with some of the people I've
worked with Sharonview, the
credit unions are wonderful
organization. for those that
aren't familiar with them, it's
very much a family type
environment. And you tend not to
lose contact with those folks.
So I had always maintained a
relationship over the years with
several people. Within Sharon
view, and there was an
opportunity that came up for a
role in leadership within the IT
department back at Sharon view,
again, this provided me an
opportunity to get back into
working for an organization that
was familiar with, I absolutely
loved working for to get back
into loosely doing something
more than just IT Stuff because
you do with a credit union, it
is nonprofit, you are having an
impact on the community. So
you're trying to improve members
lives, you're trying to provide
benefits and opportunities for
them as well. So it did allow me
to get back to that venue,
again, which I always did enjoy
in the past. Plus, it gave me an
opportunity to work with some
people that I was very familiar
with. I knew what a great team I
had, a number of the folks that
were there. When I worked there,
were still there, I had an
opportunity to work with them
again. And it's been fantastic
to jump back into the credit
union right again, and kind of
really just continue to see this
organization grow and expand.
Aaron Bock: And I think for some
of the listeners out there, I
think we all have seen or know
what a credit union is, in
theory, what it does? Maybe help
our listeners understand, from a
technology perspective, what
makes a credit union maybe
unique from either like a local
bank, or maybe it's not unique,
and explain that. And then what
are some of the technology
challenges that, I would say a
smaller, more regional financial
institution, like Sharon view,
deals with that are challenges
that you face every day?
Kevin Hughes: Sure. I think from
a technology standpoint, there's
not a lot of difference. With
the credit unions, we have the
same opportunities, I think, is
your banks, where that comes in
more to play, what you touched
down as far as what are some of
the challenges. So with credit
unions, basically you're not for
profit. So your bottom lines are
always going back to your
members. So anything that we
make, we're going and
redistributing back out either
with, lower interest rates,
higher interest rates, loans
versus deposits, that type of
approach. But with that, of
course, it's very budget
conscious. So making sure that
every dollar we spend is an
intelligent dollar spent? And
does it make sense to push this
technology? Does it make sense
to implement the security
measure whatever the case might
be? That's always a conversation
that we have is to make sure
we're spending our members money
in the best possible place. So
you know, I think I look back at
credit unions in the past versus
kind of where we are today. I
think, now more of a focus on
realizing we need to be closer,
we're certainly never going to
be bleeding edge technology
wise. But we do need to be
closer to that, especially in
the security realm. You know, in
today's day and age, you can't
turn the TV on without hearing
about some type of a breach or
some kind of security incident.
So it is always first and
foremost in our mind, Hey, how
can we how can we protect
ourselves, our members data more
efficiently?
Keith Hawkey: Going back to
transitioning from the
engineering side of the
business, to more of a
leadership role? You said that
you had some mentors earlier in
your career, perhaps a chair of
view, perhaps some other places
that influenced you? And it
probably had some insights that
helped you along the way with
this transition? I guess. Could
you talk a little bit about what
some of that advice or insight
was what has helped you make a
transition and to where you're
half one foot in the technology
side, one foot in the leadership
side? And why that's important
today?
Kevin Hughes: So I think ,
probably over the last 10 years,
we've seen a bit of a shift in
leadership in the past, it was
very much a : “I'm your leader,
you do what I say that said I
don't care and end of story” and
it's shifted more into there's a
quote that I love: “people don't
care about what you know until
they know you care”. And it's
caring about your people making
sure that you're taking care of
those folks. How are you growing
your people as well, that was
something that was kind of
instilled early on by a mentor.
And something I still look at
today is how do we find what is
the best trajectory for folks.
And we're always trying to
prepare people for that next
step, you always hope it's
within your own organization,
but even if it's not, I want to
make sure they're as prepared as
possible for that next role. So
I think from that perspective,
it's how do you develop people?
How do you keep them engaged? I
think the the technology and the
engineering side of a house is
somewhat easy. That's training,
and most folks in IT, are there
because they enjoy technology to
begin with. So they're going to
kind of drive for that. I think,
from a leadership perspective,
our challenges are more of how
do you get them to that next
level? What is it that they're
looking for? How do you how do
you pull out of them what their
passions are, and make sure
people are working in the
direction of their passions?
Because that's always where
they're gonna succeed.
Keith Hawkey: Has that been easy
for you? if you think of your
entire IT staff, and those that
have a plan and want to ascend
up to more of a business role
that it's a little bit half and
half? Are there questions that
you asked during an interview
process to see that that's a
path that they want to go down?
Are there assessments that you
do along the way? I guess like
how do you engage each
individual to figure out where
they want to go and what they
want to do? Sure.
Kevin Hughes: I think for the
most part, what you've got to do
is you let them drive the
conversation, but you give them
a little bit of freedom, you
provide a little bit of a nudge
to kind of get started, but
understand that and it can be
simply as easy as: “Hey, kids,
what's your passion? What is it
that you get out of bed for
every day? What makes you get
out of bed? Chocolate? All
right”. So let's talk about
chocolate. Maybe we need to look
at a chocolate tea or type of a
world for but really
understanding where their
passions lie, you've asked some
of those leading questions, but
really is letting them discover
it. And I think that's always
the challenge is you, you don't
want to lead them necessarily to
an answer. But you want to give
them enough to start talking to
start thinking about, I've never
really thought about what is it
that I want to do, we had 10, 15
years ago, 20 years ago, even
the standard interview question
was: “ where do you want to be
in five years?” it's well worn,
and not used a whole lot
anymore, and rightly so. But I
think it's asked a little
differently. And I think that's
where you're still looking for
the sa: “Hey, tell me about your
passions? What are the things
you enjoy doing?” And
conversely, “what are the things
you don't enjoy? What are the
things that you really don't
like, because if you don't like
certain things, then hey, this
may not be a role for you, and
we might not want to look at
going down that road”. So
really, it's just understanding
where people's passions are.
Aaron Bock: I think that
interview question died also
with the question of what's your
spirit animal that I feel like
used to get asked in an
interview questions, maybe it
still does, but I haven't heard
that one in a long time. So -
Kevin Hughes: I think we've used
variants of that before. But
Aaron Bock: Yeah, I think so, So
Kevin, actually, kind of related
to what Keith just asked you,
but sort of in a different way
of asking it. So you just said
during an interview process, you
kind of not lead them, but you
help understand what do they
want to do? One thing that's
curious to me from our
conversations previous to this
is that, IT has a wide range of
positions ranging from super
heavy developers, which the
stereotype is that they're in
dark rooms with 90 screens, and
they're barely eating and
whatever. There's that all the
way to the help desk that has to
be front forward facing the IT
manager. But I think there are
people who are very good at IT,
if you will, the skill set that
maybe would not be that
interested initially or do not
like having to go converse and
figure out the business, they
want to do IT. But I know, your
big passion is getting people to
understand the business more
understand how do we support
them, because at the end of the
day, they are our customer? So
I'm curious, when you have
someone who maybe isn't good at
that, what are some ways to
coach them to get better at it
and some ways to kind of help
them understand this is why we
do it because it's going to make
you a better blank developer,
DBA, ect?
Kevin Hughes: Sure. No, I think
so. Part of that is again,
understanding the individual and
in some cases, it's okay, you
you may have some folks that
really are best designed for
that backroom type role. And
that's perfectly okay. They may
have no desire to go outside,
you can stretch them a little
bit. But if you start talking
about putting them out, as you
know, talking to other leaders
talking to business people,
they're visibly shaking at the
thought of this. So that may be
too much of a stretch. But I
think, on the other side of that
is you do have folks who are,
you kind of described the the
stereotypical IT person, we
don't communicate well, we're
all introverts, we hide away in
a dark room in a closet
somewhere and our 20 monitors in
front of us, but I think that is
changing a lot as technology
changes, as well as the
opportunities are changing. And
that's where we have really
looked at, I've tried to kind of
push people is to say: “Okay,
you have a little more of the
capability to have interactive
conversations with folks. And
you're okay with it, right? You
understand it, you're
comfortable having those, so
then continuing to talk to them
and push them through “, in
those passion, conversations,
maybe you find out that an
individual. You know what
numbers have always kind of
fascinated me. “hey, you know
what, maybe we'll let liberal
get you interacting a little bit
with accounting, understand kind
of what their job is, what their
role is, kind of again, nudging,
trying not to be a full on push,
but just nudging folks into
areas of where their passions
lie. And then stretching them a
little bit. Okay, spend a little
bit of time understand what is
month end closing? What are they
looking at? What comes to that
time? what are their challenges
for that?” And then, okay, you
have a technology background?
And you how do you take that
with the business knowledge that
you’re understanding that of
their business now? And how do
we marry those two together and
provide solutions for them that
help them along?
Keith Hawkey: That's great,
that's actually a perfect side
to side way to what I wanted to
talk about next is combating
shadow IT and the importance of
developing IT people that are
integrated in the different
departments that often want to
go their own way and onboard
their own tools. And think it
doesn't have any relevance to
the IT department because they
don't have to manage it, or they
don't need the IT department to
install it on our computer. You
must have a sort of success
story around developing someone
to be a business technologist.
Maybe there's a better title for
it. But do you have any examples
of maybe accounting or other
areas where you had a
successful? I guess, implant
might not be the best word. But
so is interfacing with the
different departments?
Kevin Hughes: Yeah, no, of
course, that's perfect. We did.
And we've been kind of on this
journey for about five years now
that I've been in Sharon view.
And we had an engineer on the
team who had a consumer lending
background, and really was
coming into IT, I think
initially is more of a q&a type
role. But as we started talking
about it, we looked at the
opportunities, and she was an
individual who had a tremendous
knowledge in the consumer
lending platform. And we started
kind of, at that point, having
conversations around, “okay, how
do we take this now, rather than
just saying, this is somebody in
IT?” Let's understand the
business. They had a system that
was installed very much, kind
of, as you described, that was a
shadow IT installed system.
vendor, of course, sold a cloud
platform, you don't even need IT
for this. It's perfect. It's
fantastic. That's always the
first red flag, you don't need
IT. We're going to need it. But
I think, we saw some
opportunities within the system
that, “hey, we can take an IT
approach, but also understand
the business needs. And then how
do we put these together?” So we
started introducing things like
change management into their
processes that in the past,
without an IT background they're
not familiar with, which is why,
any changes would get
implemented, things would break.
systems were just similar.
Nothing reacted the way they
thought, we took an approach of
saying, “ hey, let's implement
some of these IT methodologies
into this, bringing the business
aspect in as well to understand
alright, what are your
challenges? What are some of the
big issues that you've got?” And
we realized, “hey, this started
working phenomenally”. We had a
tremendous response from the
business. We started to see
improvements and processes on
the business side of the house
as well. And so we really kind
of took this then, that was sort
of a prototype and started then
from there because that was such
a Success, moving on and looking
at doing that within other
departments.
Aaron Bock: And on the flip side
of that, we ask a lot of times
people who are different parts
of IT or who have or somehow
integrated with IT. We a lot of
times will ask, what is the
biggest mistake, I would venture
to guess one of your mistakes
that you would see with someone
in IT, in the management is that
by not involving the business,
it's a huge mistake, and not
involving IT is a huge mistake,
I guess, maybe speak to that,
like, what happens when you
don't involve the business? Or
when you don't get the opinions
of IT? Like when they don't
really work together? Well, what
do you see, and I'm sure you've
seen it with consulting in your
past?
Kevin Hughes: Yeah, I think you
guys called it out earlier, it's
shadow IT. At the end of the
day, that's what the end result
is, if the business is not
getting involvement from IT, and
getting the technology that they
need, they're gonna go find it
on their own. And if they're
going out and find it on their
own, and not involving IT,
again, we have no input into it
good, bad, or indifferent.
Whatever the system is, we can't
help. They're on their own, of
now having to support this
system, doing things that
they're not normally used to
doing. And at the end of the
day, it just causes that rift to
almost continue to grow between
the IT department business, I
think, in the past, that was an
acceptable model for IT, “hey,
here's your technology, we've
given it to you take it and go
do your job”, the model that
we're really trying to go after
now is more of, “hey, what do
you need to do your job?” And
then understanding from that,
okay, here's the technology that
we think we can provide, making
it that partnership to provide
technology that they need, but
they're giving that information
back of what the business needs,
and what are their challenges,
Aaron Bock: just to make sure
that everyone understands and is
on the same page when you say
shadow IT, because we've
referenced it twice now. And
there might be folks out there
who, who have different
variations of what that is, what
do you consider is shadow IT,
like how would you define that?
What is it and I'm sure you're
laughing because it's a million
things. But
Kevin Hughes: it's another one
of the buzzwords, that means
something different to everybody
else,
Aaron Bock: It means a ghost is
running your IT, that's what it
is. No, I’m just kidding;
Kevin Hughes: Actually, you're
not too far off. It's really any
type of IT operation that is
functioning within your
organization that is outside of
IT. So if you have applications
that are being maintained
outside of IT’s view, if you've
got, whether it's
administration, any of those
types of support activities
outside of IT, that becomes sort
of a shadow IT and you lose that
the benefit of the technology,
knowledge methodologies, all of
that framework that you have
built up within your IT
department, you've now got
people doing things that they're
not well versed at, and
eventually will cause something
to implode, it may not be today
or tomorrow, but eventually,
things are gonna get so bad,
it's just not gonna work out.
Well,
Aaron Bock: you know, that makes
sense. And, I know, we’re gonna
go to digital transformation.
But a quick Funny story, I used
to audit a big four accounting
firm, and I would come in and do
the, like SDLC, where they did
an implementation of a large
ERP. And I remember, one of the
largest issues we dealt with
almost every time was like, did
you have IT Look at this, did
you have IT test this? Did you
have IT even vet it? , “Oh,
well, no, it's really an
accounting or it's a finance or
it's not really their thing.
It's just something we use”.
that is every IT departments
worst nightmare. So it's been
happening for me, this 10, 12
years ago. So it's been
happening forever, as long as
you could basically download
something or do something on
your own. So I think all
organizations struggle with it
to some extent, some have it
under control better than
others. But there's a balance
between not limiting people too
much, and making sure that they
follow the best organizational
practices. And I think it's just
a tough balance to kind of stay
in.
Kevin Hughes: And it's
communication. I mean, at the
end of the day, if you want to
oversimplify it, it's
communication, if you have that
communication back and forth
between the business and IT,
then you can have those
conversations to understand
needs. You know, there may be
security implications that IT
department has, that the
business never would have
thought about, any number of
things, but I think as long as
you guys are communicating, and
these things don't happen in a
vacuum, I think it solves that
problem.
Keith Hawkey: That is leading
into a great conversation around
digital transformation, which is
another one of these buzz
phrases. Here at IT matters. We
like to cut through the
buzzwords and just get to what
they mean with their meaningful
descriptions as much as
possible. And earlier, Kevin, I
remember you alluding to, how
budget conscious credit unions
are. The idea of being an early
adopter in the technology cycle
doesn't fit your business model,
for the most part, you want the
early adopters, whoever is going
to do this work to ride the
technology trend, or you want to
make sure it's not a phase. And
once you start to see results,
then you guys can take a harder
look at does this technology
make sense for us? Does it
improve our bottom line? Does it
add value to our employees? It
sounds like cybersecurity,
perhaps you have to think of
that category in a little bit of
a different way, since the
consequences are more dramatic
than a 2% increase in efficiency
or something like that. Could
you describe what digital
transformation means to you what
it means to Sharon view how
you've thought about bringing
this about?
Kevin Hughes: Sure. And I think
honestly, it ties back even to
our previous conversation as
well about how we were
integrating with the businesses.
At the end of the day. For us
digital transformation is really
driving efficiency. How can we
drive innovation, to improve
efficiency, make it sustainable,
using technology, at very
simplistic definition of digital
transformation. That's the way
we're looking at it. So you
know, the only way you can drive
efficiencies, you have to
understand what the business is,
you can't improve what you don't
know. So there's no way you can
go into this and say, “Hey,
we're gonna drive this digital
transformation from an
organizational perspective. But
we don't know what the business
needs”. So that's where our
involvement and our ties into
the business and understanding
it's there. How do we do that?
So it's process improvements.
How can we take, once we've
dealt with a particular business
unit, understanding some of
their challenges, we've got
some archaic processes, we have
some things that I think like a
lot of organizations we fall
victim to, well, this is the way
we've always done it. One of the
the pros and cons to being a
great organization to work for
is you tend to have people that
worked for you for 10, 15, 20,
25, 30 years, which is
fantastic. You love that
longevity and people's passion
for your organization. But with
that, you can also fall into
that pitfall of, well, this is
the way we've always done it. So
I never thought about it, why
should we do something
different? And that's where it
now kind of with IT get in
involved? We're getting into
some of these processes and
understanding: “Wait a minute,
hey, I think we can solve this
with technology, maybe we don't
necessarily need what signatures
everywhere. We don't have to
ferry documents back and forth
all over the place, we can start
looking at electronic signatures
, and do things, again, in a
more efficient way. Any
opportunity we have to
programmatically solve an issue.
Let's take that approach. Of
course, any solution that we
really dive into it's got to be
sustainable too. Right? it's not
something that we can just jump
in. And Alright, let's solve
this today. That doesn't really
fit that digital transformation
model. It's okay, this is
sustainable, long term with
whatever our process improvement
is with technology.
Aaron Bock: Yeah, it's certainly
as you're saying, it's far more
than turning paper forms into
bits and bytes. It's a holistic
approach, utilizing those
business technologists that you
helped develop , in all forms a
picture, that digital
transformation can help
illustrate. Do you have an
example that you have undergone
recently of a digital
transformation that's been
impactful for Sharon view? What
has been one of the more
impactful transformations that
you have left recently?
Kevin Hughes: So we've had a few
and again, I think, part of the
the challenge of defining
digital transformation is, it
really can be across the board.
It could be as simplistic like
you said as getting rid of what
signatures and getting documents
into electronic management
systems, things like that, or it
can be more systematic. And I
think that's what we're trying
to look at as well. I'm gonna
take the long way around to
answer your question. So bear
with me for a minute, but I
think in the past, what IT has
done historically is we have
those ad hoc projects We jump
in, we take care of : “hey, this
came up as a project, we do
this, then we do that there's
no real methodology behind
anything”. And it's just all
over the place, then it's gotten
to where we were a little more
organized, we had a little more
of a strategy for my IT
department of,” Hey, these are
the things that we want to do
strategically”. And then the
next step, which is kind of
where we are now is
understanding from the business.
Okay? What does the business
need, this is no longer just an
IT project. This is more of a
business related project. And
that's kind of our next step in
the journey. So with that we
spent a lot of time building
some framework around our Cloud
Vision. What do we keep on prem?
What do we put in the cloud?
What makes sense. And of course,
that's a big discussion. That's
everything from dollars and
cents, to security, you're
talking hardware, all the way
down to having financial
discussions of that changes your
whole financial perspective of
op x versus capex, and what
those challenges are, but I
think for us, we have migrated
some systems and probably more
specifically, our core banking
system to a cloud based system
that really alleviated a lot of
pain points for a lot of the
organization, not just IT. So
it's enabled us to alleviate
some of the challenges with
hardware maintenance, we're
dealing with upgrades, and after
hours, upgrades, and all of
those fun things that we love to
do in IT. But it's also allowed
us organizationally to move
quicker. So if there's things
that we want to do, now that
we're not having to manage the
back end systems so much, we're
able to react quicker to
business needs. And we can
provide those solutions much
quicker today than we could
before when we own the system
and a lot of the administration
on the back end. So that's
probably, I would say one of our
bigger wins here recently is
that migration really to the
cloud, and understanding where
that solution provided more
benefits than just did IT
benefit, it was an
organizational benefit.
Aaron Bock: Yeah, and I think
for all the listeners, we've
talked about this with previous
guests, but the fact that cloud
seems to be coming up, more and
more because SAS platform as a
service, moving into a hyper,
scalar, cloud, private cloud,
etc. A lot of people are trying
to get out of the data center
and manage it themselves. And I
think too many times that gets
kind of coincided with digital
transformation, that can be a
part of it, but there's usually
got to be a reason behind it. So
I love that you talked about how
there's a why behind it. This
is what it's helping us do, to
focus on blank better. And so,
we also kind of asked you look
ahead. So look 5, 10, whatever,
how many years ahead. I'm
curious, your perspective on
let's just call it Rural
Financial institutions, regional
banks, credit unions, other
types of financial institutions
that are kind of chain based,
sort of, like you guys are, what
are some of the trends that you
think you're going to see that
people need to be watching out
for? What are some of the
concerns you have in IT over the
next couple years? Just talk
about, the next five to 10
years? And what you expect to
see in the credit union and
rural bank space?
Kevin Hughes: I think, this is a
reflection of, I think, changes
in society. But of course, goes
back to the credit union in the
business that we deliver, but is
our ever increasing need for
everything immediately. It used
to be acceptable, “hey, if I
need something, it's okay. If
this is a day, or you know what,
if it's a week, that's okay,
that's fine. No problem”. Now,
if you have to wait five
minutes, people are complaining
sometimes, And that's where
we're seeing deliverables. And I
think there's going to be a need
for continued to prove
efficiencies. That's why I think
the digital transformation from
the aspect that we're talking
about, will continue to be a hot
topic and a hot button of how
can we deliver new products as
quickly as possible more
efficiently as things change,
and the economy changes? And we
need to be, in those cases
reactive. How do we make those
changes? And how do we deliver
those services? The pandemic was
probably a great example of that
for us on the credit union side
of, “hey, we went into this
pandemic, and all of a sudden
the world's turned upside down”.
There were some financial
things that we had to do for our
members that we had to do very
quickly. And I think that was a
little bit of foresight into the
future for us that that's not
going to be a one time event.
We're going to have things that
are going to come up to where we
need to be reactive to what is
happening in the world what is
going on either in the economy
world events, whatever the case
may be. So absolutely the
ability to deliver change
quickly, I think is going to
continue to be more and more
important as we move forward
over the next five to 10 years.
What I will be interested to see
is right now, cloud solutions
provide you a lot of that
ability to do that. But as
everything in IT tends to be
cyclical, at what point are we
going to start rotating back to
wanting to bring everything back
in house again, it's going to
become cost prohibitive. And
we've already seen it in some
cases, with the mad dash to the
cloud initially, where all of a
sudden, it became cost
prohibitive. And we suddenly
realized, “whoa, wait a minute.
Hey, guys, everything makes
sense in the cloud. And
depending on billing structures,
it may be far too expensive to
do this, we need to bring this
back on prom. I'm curious to see
how that develops over the
years.
Aaron Bock: You just made
Michael Dell's ears perk up and
you made him smile really big
that people are going to come
back into the data center. I
have to ask because you said
okay, everything's cyclical.
What if we start bringing things
back in house, which Keith and
I, we see customers who are
going coming back, etc. What
about blockchain? Blockchain
for financial institutions? It's
a huge, it's a loaded question.
So I'll kind of throw out it
like, alright, say people are in
the cloud now. But we want to go
to a more distributed
environment than even the cloud
is today. So there's come back
on prem, and manage it
ourselves. There's the cloud.
And then there's this whole
blockchain thing, which has been
sort of we've seen the first
kind of boom, and then now we're
in a bust right now. And I think
a lot of people are speculating,
like, what's going to happen
with it? How do you think that
affects Sharon view and other
financial institutions? And what
do you expect to be dealing with
the blockchain?
Kevin Hughes: And that's
interesting, because I think,
again, every new technology, we
see the same type of approach.
There are the bleeding edges,
that are the cutting edges that
are running to it immediately,
and saying, Hey, this is the
wave of the future. And then we
find out that it's not. And so
then there's a mad dash retreat.
And then there's a slow
migration of understanding what
is the real application for this
technology? Where does it make
sense where it doesn't make
sense? Again, we've seen it
over the years, with hardware,
we've seen it now with Cloud, I
think blockchain is the same way
I think there's a time and place
where it makes sense. Is a catch
all solution for everybody? For
all things? I don't think so.
But I do think there are some
opportunities for it that does
make sense. And I think that's
what we'll see. It'll continue
to be another cog in the machine
that will provide solutions for
people but I don't think it's a
catch all.
Aaron Bock: Okay, so you heard
it here. First, Kevin is not
suggesting putting all of your
future savings into a random
altcoin that you have no idea
what the application utility is?
That's a fair advice. No, we are
not financial advisors on the IT
Matters podcast. So take nothing
we say about the financial
predictions with a grain of
salt. But uh, Kevin, this has
been a great conversation, and
we really enjoy having you on.
And I think there will be others
that would would like to have
you back on to talk a little bit
more specifically on some of
these. We leave all of our
guests with one final question
that we have them answer. And,
this question is around if you
had a platform, and you're
standing in front of 10 million
people, or you're giving the
State of the Union, so it's as
Kevin State of the Union, you're
talking to people of all
different backgrounds, etc. What
is your best advice to them as
it relates to technology?
Kevin Hughes: I think it's
really it goes back to and it's
our entire conversation today.
With technology. It's a
wonderful tool, but understand
the business, you've got to have
an understanding of how to use
the technology, and involve the
people that need to utilize the
technology in determining what
that technology is. So I think
unless you have conversations
with people unless you
understand what their needs are,
what are their challenges, how
can you use technology to assist
them? I think it's a recipe for
disaster to just throw
technology at problems. You have
to have those business
interactions understand what
your customers, whether it's
internal external, what have you
understand what their needs are,
and then start talking
technology but until you
understand what they need, keep
technology in your back pocket.
Aaron Bock: I love it. Kevin,
what's the best way for someone
to get in touch with you if
they're following up from the
show?
Kevin Hughes: You can reach out
to me via email. That is fine.
It's Kevin.Hughes. That's
H-U-G-H-E-S@Sharonview.org
S-H-A-R-O-N-V-I-E-W dot O-R-G.
Please feel free to reach out
via email.
Aaron Bock: Yeah. And we'll put
that in the show notes for you
folks. And I know Kevin's on
LinkedIn as well. Keith, thank
you for joining the show. To all
our listeners. Thank you for
joining us. Make sure to follow
us on Apple podcast, Spotify or
other platforms you listen on,
please share with your friends
and family. We hope that you
have a wonderful rest of the
day. Kevin, thanks again. It's
been our pleasure and thanks for
listening to the IT Matters
podcast.
Kevin Hughes: Pleasure's all
mine. Thanks, Aaorn. Thanks,
Keith.
Keith Hawkey: All right, have a
good one.
Narrator: Thanks for listening.
The IT Matters podcast is
produced by a collar and it
advisory firm that helps
businesses navigate the vast and
complex IT marketplace. Learn
more about Op kalla at
opkalla.com