Today’s market forces, economic realities, and customer expectations shift constantly. To keep up, companies need the flexibility to pivot fast. In the past, enterprise organizations often tackled digital transformation piecemeal, taking a project-based approach to problems at the business unit level. In today’s world, companies can’t afford a siloed approach. To be successful, they need a holistic strategy for digital transformation.
Over the course of his 30+ year career, Steve Daly has watched that evolution in real time, and with his hands on the keyboard. As a technology leader with experience across a wide range of industries and applications, Steve provides a unique strategic viewpoint, combined with an ongoing commitment to apply emerging technologies to solve business problems.
In his current role as Vice President of Technology at Fusion Alliance, a New Era Technology Company, Steve oversees powerful digital transformation solutions that keep companies moving forward in a rapidly changing world.
CIO Look sat down with Steve, to hear about how his 30-year career shapes his perspective on technology innovation.
Below are highlights of the interview:
What challenges have you had to overcome to reach where you are today?
Being diagnosed as an adult with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) gave me insight into why I always struggled with the longer timelines of digital transformation projects and why Agile processes and methodology have been an absolute game-changer for my career. Developed to facilitate software delivery, Agile’s iterative, incremental approach separates projects into short-term milestones. Applying an agile mindset to projects helps me focus my attention so I can make measurable progress and iterative improvements. In addition to revolutionizing my productivity, this framework helps me surface patterns and anticipate challenges. The Agile framework has helped me turn my struggles into something of a superpower.
Could you talk more about Fusion Alliance? What are its mission and vision?
Fusion helps companies evolve and scale by delivering end-to-end digital transformation solutions that position organizations for whatever the future holds.
How have you impacted the IT sector through your expertise in the market?
Over the course of my career, I’ve worked in a wide variety of industries and had my hands on the keyboard for 30 years of innovation. That broad exposure to different ideas and ways of working helps me approach projects more creatively. I’m passionate about using technology to solve problems and finding ways to bring cross-industry applications to life.
Could you talk about the values and culture that drives your organization?
At Fusion, we’re passionate about digital transformation, and committed to leadership at the intersection of digital, data, and technology solutions. Our people are experts, but they’re also team players who work collaboratively to deliver for our clients.
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in almost every sector. How are you leveraging technological advancements to achieve resourceful and successful solutions?
Our teams stay connected to the leading edge of technology, but we also look for ways to apply those breakthroughs to the daily business problems our clients face. Applying trends to real-world scenarios democratizes technology and helps companies, even in very traditional industries, stay future-ready.
What do you believe will be the next significant shift in IT, and how is Fusion Alliance preparing to be a part of that change?
We’re entering a shift toward smart automation, implementing AI at every layer of technology. This will revolutionize IT operations. Even now, we’re seeing this with natural language processing in code development, self-healing application architectures, and other exciting developments. I think we’ll see this trend toward the adoption of AI in infrastructure and operations continue.
Where do you see yourself in the future?
I still spend dedicated time each day on research, looking for ways to make connections between what’s emerging in technology and how it can make the world a better place. I think that will always be part of my work, but I’ve also started thinking about how to pass knowledge on to others. As I look ahead, I see my work developing into more of a mentoring and teaching role, but I never want to lose that problem-solving edge!
To expand upon this question, what are your future goals for Fusion Alliance?
Fusion does a terrific job of helping mid-market and enterprise organizations evolve their digital maturity. Our near-term strategic moves are geared toward expanding our cross-disciplinary approach and offering more comprehensive partnerships—from strategy to design, implementation, and managed services—so that our clients can access our flexibility to enhance their own ability to pivot to meet the market.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs and professionals who aspire to move into the IT sector?
Technology only works when you understand the business. Too many people in the industry get hyped on the technology, but they fail to achieve lasting impact because they overlook or misjudge the business problem they need to solve.
Anyone who wants to succeed in the technology field of the future needs a strong business background. Understanding how markets work, how to interpret data, and what’s going on in the economy will help you be more empathetic to your clients and gain a better understanding of the impact of your work. You can sling code all day, but until your client knows you understand their context, you won’t be effective.
These are exciting times in technology, with a lot of possibilities just around the corner. Technology is always cool on its own merits, but when you use it to solve real business problems and make the world a better place, that’s when you really see the impact of your work and find deeper satisfaction in what you do.