IT Leaders Quick-5: Craig Williams, Ciena

On this installment of the IT Leaders Quick-5 — InformationWeek’s column for IT professionals to realize peer insights — Craig Williams, vp and chief digital data officer at Ciena, shares how the optical networking and high-speed connectivity supplier is navigating AI. The journey, he famous, “is each exhilarating and humbling. There is not any established playbook for a change of this magnitude.”

Williams, who leads Ciena’s IT, knowledge and analytics, structure and digital transformation group, relies in Raleigh, N.C., throughout the Analysis Triangle Park expertise hub. He highlighted two strategic functions of AI: utilizing AI-supported coding for inner effectivity and utilizing AI to cut back the vitality footprint of digital infrastructure. His group has already examined greater than 250 AI concepts and integrated essentially the most promising into energetic initiatives.

Tech MVP: What’s the one expertise, course of or device that was your MVP this week for delivering enterprise worth?

As I have been centered on studying in regards to the newest multimodal fashions (MMLs), I am genuinely amazed by how rapidly the expertise is evolving. Every of the leaders on this area is pushing developments at a tempo that is robust to maintain up with — nevertheless it’s extremely thrilling to see. MMLs are making it potential to mix textual content, pictures and audio for smarter, sooner insights. 

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I imagine we’re shifting towards a future the place collaboration, analytics and content material creation all occur in a single unified platform, moderately than throughout separate apps like we have used for many years. Staying on prime of those fast modifications is a problem, however it’s clear that the potential for enterprise worth is large.

The Onerous-Gained Lesson: What’s essentially the most invaluable lesson or shock setback you propose to work on this week? 

Navigating our enterprise wants within the AI period is each exhilarating and humbling — there isn’t any established playbook for a change of this magnitude. One lesson that stands out is the significance of steady studying and the willingness to experiment with new approaches. Not each try will succeed, however progress won’t occur with out the hassle.

This week has underscored that even essentially the most superior expertise delivers worth solely when individuals actually perceive and belief it. Main via the AI transition requires balancing velocity with empathy and recognizing that AI is quickly reshaping the talents and processes we have relied on for many years. Adopting a change administration mindset is important; with out it, even the very best expertise will fall quick.

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The Expertise Precedence: What talent, cultural issue or AI-related shift are you prioritizing to maintain your group aggressive?  

At Ciena, we’re doubling down on AI literacy and utilized knowledge fluency throughout each operate. It is not sufficient for less than our IT workers to grasp how AI works; everybody — whether or not in engineering, operations or finance — must know the way to ask higher questions of the info.

We’re constructing a tradition the place curiosity and accountable AI experimentation go hand in hand. An amazing instance is how we have now been utilizing AI in our coding workflows to in the end make our builders’ lives simpler. AI-supported coding helps them produce work sooner by offering higher-quality code checks — for example, it could possibly rapidly inform them what a sure operate does or summarize a code. After all, human oversight remains to be necessary. However integrating AI into our coding course of means our builders spend a lot much less time manually checking code — so time financial savings has been an enormous profit for us.

The Weekly Sign: What information story, market shift or international occasion outdoors your workplace grabbed your consideration this week?  

I have been following the surge in AI-driven breakthroughs in vitality effectivity and knowledge middle optimization. What’s fascinating is how AI is getting used not simply to boost computation, however to cut back the vitality footprint of digital infrastructure — a crucial problem as demand for connectivity continues to develop. 

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The Weekend Recharge: What are you presently studying, listening to or watching that serves as a psychological refresh?  

To recharge, I am about to dive into the audiobook “Look Once more” by Tim Tebow — a reminder to remain curious and open to new views. 

Weekends in Raleigh are my time to unplug and reset, usually by getting my palms soiled with yard work. There’s one thing grounding about tending to the outside — whether or not it is tackling a brand new challenge or just holding issues in form. These moments away from screens assist me clear my head, replicate and return on Monday with contemporary concepts and renewed focus.