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 no established playbook for a metamorphosis of this magnitude.”

Williams, who leads Ciena’s IT, information and analytics, structure and digital transformation staff, is predicated in Raleigh, N.C., inside the Analysis Triangle Park expertise hub. He highlighted two strategic purposes of AI: utilizing AI-supported coding for inside effectivity and utilizing AI to scale back the vitality footprint of digital infrastructure. His staff has already examined greater than 250 AI concepts and included probably the most promising into energetic tasks.

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

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

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

The Laborious-Received Lesson: What’s probably the most worthwhile 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 metamorphosis 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 is not going to occur with out the trouble.

This week has underscored that even probably the most superior expertise delivers worth solely when folks actually perceive and belief it. Main by way of the AI transition requires balancing velocity with empathy and recognizing that AI is quickly reshaping the abilities and processes we have relied on for many years. Adopting a change administration mindset is crucial; with out it, even one of the best expertise will fall quick.

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

At Ciena, we’re doubling down on AI literacy and utilized information fluency throughout each perform. It isn’t sufficient for under our IT workers to grasp how AI works; everybody — whether or not in engineering, operations or finance — must know methods to ask higher questions of the information.

We’re constructing a tradition the place curiosity and accountable AI experimentation go hand in hand. An incredible instance is how now we have been utilizing AI in our coding workflows to finally make our builders’ lives simpler. AI-supported coding helps them produce work sooner by offering higher-quality code checks — for example, it could actually shortly inform them what a sure perform does or summarize a code. In fact, human oversight continues to be vital. 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 information heart optimization. What’s fascinating is how AI is getting used not simply to boost computation, however to scale back the vitality footprint of digital infrastructure — a essential problem as demand for connectivity continues to develop. 

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The Weekend Recharge: What are you at present 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, typically by getting my arms 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 conserving issues in form. These moments away from screens assist me clear my head, mirror and return on Monday with contemporary concepts and renewed focus.