Technology Adoption Hinge on Ecosystems, Says CTO Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis, the Chief Technology Officer at Management Controls, revealed critical insights about technology adoption during his presentation at the CIO Association of Canada’s Peer Forum in Ottawa. He emphasized that in complex ecosystems, where multiple stakeholders interact with the same technology, a single misstep can jeopardize not only resources but also the overall adoption of solutions.

In his nearly two decades of experience building software for large industrial companies, Lewis argued that success is not just about features. The real challenge lies in ensuring that owners, vendors, and end-users all see the value in the technology being implemented. This requires Chief Information Officers (CIOs) to maintain rigorous checkpoints and actively listen for any signs of friction before it escalates into failure.

Importance of Structured Feedback

Lewis underscored the necessity of structured feedback, even when it may seem to delay progress. His team relies on a quarterly advisory board that minimizes bias and ensures that ideas remain rooted in practical realities. He shared a cautionary tale about a mobile timesheet tool that, while initially deemed foolproof by internal experts, collapsed during testing with actual users. The advisory board’s intervention prevented the premature rollout of a product that was destined to fail.

“The product management team is going and refactoring that idea, right? But without that checkpoint, we would have invested resources in a solution that wouldn’t have performed well in the market,” Lewis explained. He noted that nearly 40% of his employees have prior experience as customers themselves, offering valuable insights that can be misleading if they overshadow external validation.

Learning from Failures

Not all initiatives yield positive outcomes, a reality that Lewis openly acknowledges. He recounted a significant miscalculation involving a nine-month evaluation of a reporting tool that ultimately had to be abandoned in favor of Power BI, which users insisted was superior. During a tense leadership meeting, Lewis admitted the mistake, highlighting the importance of flexibility in decision-making.

“We’re going to live with this solution for a really long time. Unless I come in and tell you this and we switch, we’re going to be living with this pain for years,” he remarked. This experience reinforced a crucial lesson for CIOs: sunk costs should not dictate the continuation of ineffective systems. Having an internal services group using the software daily provided Lewis with the necessary evidence to alter the course of action.

Generative AI in Ecosystem Design

Lewis also discussed how ecosystem design influenced the application of generative AI within his team. He described a chatbot that offers real-time support to vendors and allows authorizers to access contract terms without delay, addressing a common issue where procurement files were often inaccessible. This tool not only provided timely assistance but also reduced friction caused by high turnover rates among contractors, where training does not always transfer effectively.

“At first, when we started talking, I thought we were just doing a chatbot for the sake of it. But when you understand the business problems you’re trying to solve, it adds substantial value to what you’re delivering,” he stated. This approach earned his team a CIO 100 award, showcasing how generative AI can resolve real challenges when aligned with specific business needs.

Lewis further illustrated how AI helped reshape traditional contracting practices. He recounted a lump-sum project valued at $600,000 that initially estimated 10,000 hours of work. Upon reviewing the data, it was revealed that only 4,900 hours had been logged, effectively doubling the hourly rate. The procurement team found it challenging to contest these figures without solid evidence.

By employing generative AI to reconcile contract language, workforce data, and market benchmarks, Lewis’s team provided transparency that had previously been lacking. “We’ve determined that your blended rate should be $61 an hour, not $122.45, and here are all the itemized rates we derived from market assumptions,” he explained. This insight not only empowered owners to challenge inflated rates but also assisted vendors in demonstrating compliance with labor regulations.

The overarching message from Lewis is clear: ecosystems amplify both risks and rewards. For products to succeed, multiple stakeholders must be invested, necessitating CIOs to establish processes that reveal friction early, acknowledge failures when they occur, and ensure that new technologies address genuine problems faced by users.

“Ecosystem-type products require input from various user communities, making the importance of these considerations even greater,” he noted. The takeaway for leaders is that meticulousness is not akin to bureaucracy; rather, it acts as a safeguard. Implementing structured checkpoints, previews, and honest reversals may slow progress, but they prevent wasted efforts and foster trust in the system.

Ecosystems elevate the stakes for decision-making. A feature that may benefit one group but fails another can lead to systemic breakdowns. The margin for error diminishes when adoption relies on multiple communities. Acknowledging a misstep early is far less costly than forcing the adoption of an ineffective tool. Leaders who can pivot in response to evidence, rather than ego, not only spare their teams from future frustrations but also enhance their own credibility.

In environments where the consequences of failure can escalate quickly, implementing guardrails such as checkpoints and previews is essential. These mechanisms provide leaders with the opportunity to identify blind spots before they become critical issues, thereby promoting better decision-making in complex technological landscapes.