How CIOs climb from the back room to the boardroom

Today more than ever, technology is transforming how enterprises do business. The IT profession has evolved from being reactionary to proactive, and CIOs now have a seat at the table to drive company strategy.

Greylock COO Tom Frangione catches up with Kim Stevenson, Intel COO for the Client and Internet of Things Businesses and Systems Architecture Group, to discuss how startups can sell to larger enterprises, the importance of IT innovation and what the future of machine learning means for enterprise companies.

CIOs are becoming the expert source on enterprise trends and new innovative solutions to help companies gain and maintain a competitive advantage. IT topics, like security and data analytics, have become part of the boardroom discussions and key components to a successful business strategy.

Even machine learning and artificial intelligence are entering the enterprise market and being looked at as the next opportunity for innovation. “Whether it’s customer support, identifying security issues or greater levels of automated testing, machine learning has wide-ranging use cases,” says Kim Stevenson.

Companies rely on technological innovation to keep one step ahead of the competition, and startups have proven to be a good way to do that. For startups looking to sell to larger enterprises, it’s important to understand the company’s larger roadmap and business needs. The best startups can “deploy well and scale well” while using customer feedback to pinpoint which features are needed. Startups should add exponential value to their customers, and be prepared to scale alongside the larger enterprise as they grow in size and needs.

“Are they a company or a product? Once you won that initial deal, you have to deliver functionality and features rapidly. The best companies listen to us as their customers as to what features and functions we might want.”