8DEC - JAN 2025CFO TECH OUTLOOK8April 2020Technology is transforming at a faster pace than ever. As leaders of the IT function, we need to think of ourselves as innovators and change agents ­as enablers of business strategy ­rather than order takers or cost centers. As a starting point, we need to grasp and articulate the nuances of business strategy, then engineer solutions that deliver on that strategy. In order for IT to lead, business and IT strategy must align. Business strategy should not be hindered by the limitations of existing technology, but rather technology must bring business strategy to life.CoBank provides financing to rural America, from agricultural cooperatives that process and market their farmers' crops to feed the world to a community building a wind farm, and from the communications co-ops that deliver rural broadband to remote homesteads to the providers of electricity, power and solar arrays to the farthest reaches of the country. It is quite amazing how much technology this takes. For example, the systems for irrigating a farm efficiently are high-tech, relying on GPS and remote management via wireless connections, and are ever-changing; the A Report From The Front: Transforming IT to Enable Business StrategyBy Eileen Baines, SVP & CIO, CoBankIN MYOPINION
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