Lexmark International CIO Brad Clay and CTO Tom Eade work together closely, using cloud software and other technologies to build managed print services for enterprises. Collaboration between the two departments wasn’t always so cozy, says Clay, who worked in various IT roles before becoming CIO in 2016.
Rather, the relationship was fraught with mistrust and suspicion, a side effect of a siloed culture ingrained over several years in which “neither thought much of the other,” Clay says.
Lexmark’s IT department built ERP and back-office systems to support the business. The CTO’s office, tasked with researching and developing products, built many of its own technology services, including anything from identity management to portals.
CIOs and CTOs often compete for power, budget and political capital. But such old-school rivalries threaten to fail spectacularly in modern businesses, where co-creation of digital services is key to remaining competitive. For Lexmark, which has shed its inkjet legacy to provide managed digital content services, collaboration between the CIO and CTO has never been more critical.