“In 2024, you really need to get IT leaders and boardroom members speaking the same language.”

This past Wednesday in sunny Fort Lauderdale, UCaaS and enterprise cloud company Avaya took its turn on stage in the Floridian Ballroom at ITEXPO, part of the #TECHSUPERSHOW experience. The above quote is from Avaya’s (News - Alert) Keynote Presentation; specifically, one presented by Avaya CEO Alan Masarek. Masarek’s full presentation, titled “Deciphering the RIght Innovation Language for the Boardroom,” led us in the audience through Avaya’s pillars for differentiating how we describe our innovation-centric goals and business performance-oriented strategies:

• Resetting the Language
• Focusing on the Metrics that Matter
• Innovation Without Disruption
• Changing Views on AI

Essentially (from Masarek’s perspective), customer and employee experiences (CX and EX, respectively) for cloud-native businesses and IT leaders alike of course resonate differently for different people. However, when approaching the often-disconnected space between them and those in the boardroom, chopping through “jargon-filled barriers” is key.

As fellow TMC (News - Alert) writer extraordinaire Greg Taverez wrote, “Starting with resetting the language, Masarek mentioned how important it is to conform the language around business performance, which can be distilled down to providing better EXs so better CXs come, in tow.” Without one, you can neither realistically (nor consistently) can achieve the other, Masarek said.

“IT may focus on the ‘technical day-to-day cohesive operational details,’ but the board’s focuses likely orbit ‘shareholder value, market shares, revenue growth’ and so on. True business performance comes when these two areas align.”

Regarding focusing on the meaningful metrics and disruption-free innovation, Masarek distilled these down fairly simply: “What gets measured, gets managed — and what gets managed doesn’t have to be filled with what is traditionally perceived as disruption.” He added that too many of us suffer from “change fatigue” while chasing nonstop innovations, but also that ‘you don’t have to always rip everything out to get to ‘the good stuff.’ You just have to ask yourself why you’re on the path you’re on, and proceed smartly from there.”

Lastly, AI. “The excitement of AI will translate to ROI,” he said. (Fun fact: I actually wrote about this very topic in another expo story.) “The juice of the AI market is worth the squeeze," the audience was told.

“Be careful, of course,” he added. “OpenAI on its own is spinning the wheels of the AI hype cycle like crazy, and so many are jumping aboard. Be smart, but be careful.”

Learn more everything that took place at ITEXPO 2024 here.