By Isabelle Chan, ZDNet Asia
05/06/2007
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/insight/cio/0,3800010728,62017761,00.htm

CIO 1-on-1 He has worked as a fry cook and newspaper delivery person, and was once even in a circus. This IT industry veteran, who loves being part of today's tech evolution, is none other than Chuck Trent, Asia-Pacific CIO at networking giant Cisco Systems.

Based in Singapore, Trent says every single one of his past working experiences has had an impact on what he has learnt and accomplished today. "I have used every one of those experiences over my 35 years in technology," he notes in an e-mail interview with ZDNet Asia.

Judging simply from his e-mail responses, one gets a sense of the man's exuberance for technology. "I have always had a fascination and a driving curiosity for technology," Trent says. "I also have a vivid imagination about how technology can impact the way we learn and connect to others.

"I discovered that IT was a place that allowed me to not only quench my curiosity of technology, but also use technology to connect to the people and the things that I care about, no matter where I am located," he adds.

Trent says Cisco is the perfect playground for those who love nothing more than to dream up new possibilities--and, to actually have them materialize.

"I've been very fortunate in my career to have business leaders that allowed me the freedom to look for new ways to marry technology and the business. As it turned out, I'm in the perfect place today with Cisco, because we use technology to change the way people live, learn, work and play," he notes.

In this wide-ranging interview, Trent outlines his regional team's structure and highlights the importance of a good human resource strategy--an area he believes would better prepare IT professionals, including himself, for their careers if it was taught in school.

Q. What is the structure of Cisco's Asia-Pacific IT organization?
Trent: Cisco's Asia-Pac IT organization is structured as follows:

Network and data center services: This group focuses on network services, global data centers, capacity planning, and Cisco IT's deployment of Cisco technologies.

Name Chuck Trent Job title CIO for Asia-Pacific, Cisco Systems Work experience Trent's responsibilities include global service provider/business partner selection, request for proposals, business processes for all technologies and managed services. The 35-year industry veteran joined Cisco in 1998 and, in his first role, looked after design engineering and product lifecycle management for Cisco's internal global multi-service network. Before joining Cisco, Trent was the technical director for the worldwide network at Tandem computers. He was also a key member of the Compaq, Tandem and Digital merger and integration team. Trent retired from Pacific Bell after 21 years where he held several technical and management positions. About Cisco Systems Founded in 1984, Cisco Systems is the world's leading networking equipment provider and has more than 47,000 employees. Its channel partners account for more than 90 percent of Cisco's commercial and enterprise revenue worldwide.

Business services: This team is focused on those IT capabilities and processes that provide the glue to address Cisco's ability to deliver business capabilities holistically across all areas of IT. These include application data management, release management, program management office, software configuration management and business resiliency.

Client services: Their focus is on holistically addressing the individual client experience. For example, laptop and Cisco unified-IP phone support, the technical response center, global shared services, vendor management, client applications such as e-mail, and global service delivery and support.

Operations: This team focuses on incident management, problem management, change management and the operations center.

Technology and architecture: The focus here is on holistic technology strategy, integrating infrastructure, application and experience technologies; aligning with business architecture and strategy; and creating incubation approaches for innovation. These include enterprise architecture, infrastructure architecture, and enterprise data warehouse.

How do you make sure things move like clockwork?
Cisco's IT organization is tightly integrated with the business, and we maintain this focus through four broad initiatives: IT as an enabler for Cisco's business strategy; IT to drive productivity in the company; IT as a facilitator of Cisco innovation; and IT as a showcase for Cisco's technology. We use an IT operating model that encompasses all aspects of how we work--from the company vision to IT operating realities like keeping the lights on.

The first aspect of the operating model encompasses Cisco's vision and strategy. The next aspect of the model is Cisco's business architecture and capabilities. Then we move to technology architecture, which is the heart of IT's functional responsibility. We ensure that Cisco remains agile, reliable and innovative.

Lastly, and most importantly, is resource strategy. Resource strategy is critical to the operating model because everything we do is done by people. It makes sure we have the right people with the right skills, at the right time. Essentially, we pay attention to and invest in people, process and technology. Our ability to deliver to the business is only as strong as each of the elements. Think of this as a three-legged stool. If each leg is balanced and strong, the stool can hold many times its own weight. But, if any one of the legs is unbalanced or weak, it can't even hold its own weight. We pay attention to all three legs.

What are the top three things you've learnt about running an IT organization across a region like the Asia-Pacific?
First, the importance of globalization and standards does not eliminate the need for localization. We need global consistency, but we also need local responsibility, accountability and execution.

Communication is king

Second, communication is the most important tool in our toolbox. It is critical to have the ability to communicate up, down and across the organization. And, you can never communicate too much. Two of the most important elements in communication are the ability to listen to the real messages, which often it is not what is said but what isn't said, and to check for understanding.

Third, no matter the geography, effective leaders do not assume their employees know when they have done well. People need constant encouragement, rewards and praise. The way you do it may be different depending on the culture, but it is a critical element of success.

What is the best way to measure the returns on IT investments?
We see IT as the enabler of Cisco's business strategy. Our vision is to enable everything we do with IT, which means to be successful as a company, we must align IT with the business imperatives at multiple levels. By enabling business operational functionality, business capabilities and growth strategies, IT at Cisco sets the standard for increasing productivity not only by reducing operating expenses, but also through enabling revenue growth and improving our internal client experience.

In a nutshell, we need to enable critical business capabilities for Cisco to move into new geographies, markets and technologies with speed, agility and increased productivity. Cisco IT measures success by tying strategies with growth, business capabilities with experience, and operational functionality with productivity. In essence, enabling every move we make with IT.

What did they not teach you in school that you wish they had?
Resource strategy. That makes sure you have the right people in the right place, with the right skills at the right time. With the complexities of IT today and the competition for top talent, it is a real challenge to create a resource strategy that is flexible enough to meet the ever-changing needs of the business. It means that we have to hire, grow and develop top talent, and to ensure we have our best people working on the most important elements of our business.

What advice do you have for IT managers in Asia who are moving up the corporate ladder and taking on more regional responsibilities?
In a healthy company, it is important to have a mixture of people with different talents, experiences and skills. The challenge is finding ways for different people to work together while understanding and appreciating the uniqueness each person brings. To be successful in a regional role, it is more important to be a conductor rather than an army general. Wherever you have people, to be successful you must create a compelling vision, establish shared values and enable others to act.

You hold a degree in Business Administration, with emphasis on organizational behavior. How did you land yourself in IT?
I have always had a fascination and a driving curiosity for technology. I also have a vivid imagination about how technology can impact the way we learn and connect to others. I discovered that IT was a place that allowed me to quench my curiosity of technology but also use technology to connect to the people I care about, and the things that I care about no matter where I am located. I've been very fortunate in my career to have business leaders that allowed me the freedom to look for new ways to marry technology and the business. As it turned out, I'm in the perfect place today with Cisco, because we use technology to change the way people live, learn, work and play.

What keeps you up at night?
Many companies talk about ways to build a company, and the organizations within the company, to last. I think it is critical to do that. But, what keeps me awake at night is trying to figure out ways to build a company and the IT organization that is adaptable to change. Economies, business requirements, customers and technologies all change. My challenge and the challenge of the IT organization is how to develop the speed and agility to stay ahead of the business.

What do you do to keep sane?
I'm blessed to have the most patient and understanding wife. She is my friend and my soul mate. Susan gently reminds me in a caring and loving way that she knows no one who spent the last moments of their life wishing they spent more time at work.

Tell us something that few people know about you.
This is pretty funny actually. I've been a fry cook, a newspaper delivery person, and I sold fire engines at one point in my career and also ran a large printing press. But, the job I remember the most was working at a circus when I was a teenager. The best part is that I have used every one of those experiences over my 35 years in technology and IT.