Jon Harding is the Senior Vice President and Global Chief Information Officer at Conair LLC, a multibillion-dollar consumer products company. In his role, he has driven major initiatives, including implementing a global SAP system and other eCommerce platforms. Before joining Conair, Jon held senior leadership IT roles at Kellogg Company, where he spearheaded enterprise system transformations across Europe and the US. In 2023, he was recognized as the New York CIO of the Year in the enterprise category. 

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [1:39] Jon Harding discusses his background in enterprise IT at Conair and Kellogg’s
• [4:20] Why IT achievements often go unnoticed and how to integrate IT with other C-suite business functions
• [7:04] The importance of change management and collaboration for technology adoption
• [16:04] How Jon governs and prioritizes AI initiatives at Conair
• [23:08] Strategies for maintaining executive support and alignment during major organizational changes
• [27:13] Technology integrations that will drive down costs in 2025
• [31:05] Jon shares his excitement about future advisory roles and bridging tech vendor gaps

In this episode…

Enterprise IT leaders are often expected to maintain flawless systems while simultaneously driving innovation. As digital tools evolve, companies must adopt new technologies while avoiding disruption and risk. How can organizations balance innovation with stability and strategic alignment?

When managing IT transformation at the enterprise level, veteran technology executive Jon Harding recommends aligning tech initiatives with clear business outcomes rather than chasing the latest trends. This requires initiating early cross-functional collaboration in tech planning, focusing on change management, stakeholder buy-in, and long-term thinking. To integrate AI efficiently, Jon suggests prioritizing high-ROI use cases like customer support automation and content creation while maintaining governance and budget control.

In this week’s episode of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant talks with Jon Harding, the Senior Vice President and Global CIO at Conair, about enterprise-level tech stack innovation and digital transformation. Jon shares change management strategies, vendor selection considerations, and the future of enterprise advisory work.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Aaron Conant on LinkedIn
• BWG Connect
• Jon Harding on LinkedIn 
• Conair LLC 
• Max Sinclair on LinkedIn
• Ecomtent
• Spencer Millerberg on LinkedIn
• DetailPage
• Justin Leigh on LinkedIn
• Workflow Labs
• Zach Riegle on LinkedIn

Quotable Moments:

• “You need to make a decision at a point in time with the facts available.”
• “It's important to collaborate first and produce it together… that creates a lot more ownership.”
• “We're doing it because it's the latest cool technology? I'll stop there.”
• “We can't keep changing the same thing year after year after year. It creates chaos.”
• “Technology leapfrogs all the time… the vendor you selected last month hasn’t got the coolest thing.”

Action Steps:

1. Collaborate early on tech initiatives: Engaging both IT and business stakeholders at the outset ensures alignment and shared ownership of outcomes. This collaborative approach increases project success rates and minimizes wasted resources on misaligned priorities.
2. Focus on business-driven technology decisions: Prioritize projects that directly support measurable business outcomes like efficiency, revenue, or customer experience. This keeps technology investments purposeful and justifiable to all stakeholders.
3. Choose AI use cases with clear ROI: Start with targeted implementations like customer service automation or content generation that offer tangible returns. Focusing on ROI helps build organizational confidence in AI and ensures sustainable investment.
4. Maintain transparency during change initiatives: Discussing challenges openly in meetings fosters trust and keeps leaders engaged in the process. It also prevents surprises and improves cross-functional decision-making.
5. Avoid constant tech stack turnover: Make informed decisions and allow time for systems to mature before reevaluating. Frequent changes can overwhelm teams, reduce productivity, and increase long-term costs.

About BWG Connect...

BWG Connect provides executive strategy and networking sessions that help brands from any industry with their overall business planning and execution. We network and knowledge share together to better understand and adapt to the newest trends, strategies, and pain points shaping growth in the digital space. BWG Connect, in conjunction with BWG Strategy, has built an exclusive network of 125,000+ senior professionals and hosts over 2,000 virtual and in-person networking events on an annual basis.

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If you are interested in getting involved with any of our current or past events, you can find them here. If you are looking for help & would like to set up some time to chat with our team, you can schedule a time or reach out directly to Aaron@bwgconnect.com or Tiffany@bwgconnect.com.