During a Walmart leadership meeting in 2017, CIO Clay Johnson witnessed a seminal moment in IT-business relations. When someone suggested making the technical terms of the retailer’s IT strategy more accessible for business line leaders, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said something novel.
He said, “Business people need to start speaking the language of technology,” Johnson said recently on a panel at the 2018 Forbes CIO Summit. “Hearing that was a pleasant surprise.”