Dairy Processing - May/June 2022 - 35

" It's a whole changing dynamic
and paradigm now that we have
with the business than we had
probably five or 10 years ago. "
Jeff Hurley, CIO, Dairy Farmers of America
or drivers use today that they didn't have a five, 10 years ago,
really is not just the nice to have anymore, it's a need to have. "
Keeping IT as part of the strategic plans of the business
sets your company up for greater success and profitability.
" There is a tremendous amount of opportunity, in terms of
where IT sits, " said Richard Scheitler, CIO, Darigold. " What I
see has evolved over the last several years and continue to do
is, I have, frankly, less and less technology and conversations
and more and more business conversations, which is the way
it should be. "
Companies are defining roles related to IT to remain
competitive, which means earning to stay up to date with
rapidly changing technology.
" We had some visionary leadership within our C-suite that
said, 'What can we do to really make IT be the competitive
advantage?' And so we started looking at the modernization
effort and the digitalization effort as well, " said Jenny Drake,
vice president, business technolgy at Grande Cheese Co.,
Fond du Lac, Wis. " As we started that progression, we got
lucky. Right before COVID hit, we were far enough along
that we were able to take full advantage of some of our
infrastructure and investments that we had made, and it's
really just catapulted us to have the competitive advantage
that the organization was looking for. So, we're able to prove
that the investments we've made over the last few years are
helping the organization and providing the return that we
aspired to get. "
in technology monitoring systems, things like that, because
the world itself is changing. "
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Companies also want to know technology is top of mind when
working with other organizations, keeping up, not just with
security, but with the tools to ensure efficiency.
" In order to remain competitive and be a crucial supplier
... you need to have some sort of stickiness with them or
some sort of competitive advantage that you are offering that
maybe somebody else doesn't have, " Hurley said. " Even if
you're a medium-sized company, technology has advanced
so much now in the application side, the hardware side,
infrastructure side, even with just tools that merchandisers
STAYING SECURE
According to Cyber Security & Infrastructure Security Agency
(CISA), as of 2021, there is a ransomware attack every 11
seconds which has risen dramatically from every 39 seconds,
as reported in 2019. Small businesses are the target of nearly
43% of all cyber attacks, which is up 400%.
Getting hacked isn't just a direct threat to the data
companies need. It can also ruin relationships with
customers and even place them in significant legal jeopardy.
With new technology being implemented throughout an
organization, from self-driving vehicles in warehouses to
systems monitoring product safety, the dangers of cybercrime
becomes even more serious.
DAIRYPROCESSING.COM | MAY-JUN 2022 35
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Dairy Processing - May/June 2022

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