How to Integrate Technology Teams with Bernard Mikael of EY

On Evanta’s podcast, The Next Big Question, we ask a C-level executive from one of our communities to explore a current topic or a forward-looking question. We kicked off our 2023 podcast series with an opportunity to speak with Bernard Mikael, Chief Information and Transformation Officer at EY, about how to integrate technology teams across the enterprise.

Our host Liz Ramey starts off by asking Bernard about what he calls “CIO 3.0,” or his view on the evolution of IT, CIO strategies, and how IT should be partnering with the business. Bernard says, “We are not executing all solutions. We are on the upstream discussing – ‘Let's see how we improve our productivity. Let's see what could be a good solution for your clients or for internal use and so on….’”

This is about a dynamic team… partnering with the business from upstream – from the ideation down to the execution.”

Liz points out that this is a shift for IT teams, saying, "It seems like a shift to not just thinking about the teams integrating into the business, but a shift in the mindset of the teams to know they're not trying to solve a technology problem, they're trying to solve a business problem.”

Bernard agrees and shares, “It is mainly about business, and this requires a real shift in mentality. In my company today, we put a separation between IT and technology… shifting or separating the traditional IT, like support or basic equipment for any user, from technology, which is ‘Let's talk solutions. Let's talk about how to improve our business by innovation and transformation.’”

Bernard also talks about how it’s easy to believe your company is innovating – when perhaps, it’s just purchasing technology, but not changing behaviors or truly transforming. He explains:

“It is so easy today, in the era of disruption we are having, to go and buy IT. You can buy anything with cloud computing, SAAS, etc. You can take your credit card and buy whatever. So, you think you are active in innovation.

But innovation is not about buying technology -- there is a huge difference. Technology is only a layer – the below layer of the transformation and the innovation. The innovation is how to sit together in the business, the expertise of the business, and IT. The technology is to see what is possible or what good technology to use or to facilitate or to enable the ideation.

So, we can see clients that think they are in the era of innovation or transformation because they have good technologies. But are they really transforming themselves? Not always.”

Bernard began his career in engineering work, building skills in IT, engineering, and system architecture. He moved into consulting at Accenture, helping clients with transformational programs and organizational change, and then began at EY ten years ago. Today, he is Chief Information and Transformation Officer for EY France and Chief Technology Officer on a wider scope. Bernard is a member of Evanta’s France CIO Community.

You can listen to his full episode, Why Should Organizations Integrate Tech Teams Across the Enterprise? here, or on your favorite podcast platform.