This is a cross-promoted blog post, originally posted under the title ‘Agents of Change: Liberty Global’s Colin Miles Believes Change Must Be Constant’ on the VMware blog. View the original blog post here.
VMware’s Agents of Change initiative celebrates smart CIOs who challenge the status quo. By harnessing the transformative power of technology, they are creating unlimited possibilities for their businesses.
Here’s the next individual in the Agents of Change Series: Colin Miles, Vice President of Data Center Technology, Liberty Global.
As VP of Data Center Technology at Liberty Global, one of the world’s largest cable companies, Colin Miles has seen huge disruption in his industry over the last 10 years. Liberty Global has been fast to react to those changes, and with the pace of change accelerating over the last few years, it embarked on an ambitious multicountry digital transformation to better respond to the market and drive efficiencies in its business.
Cloud is more than infrastructure
Reflecting on the huge changes the organisation has been through, Miles acknowledges there were challenges. Moving to a cloud model was an essential, foundational piece, but at times Miles found it tough to get key stakeholders to change their mindset and see beyond the technology. “Cloud is so much more than just infrastructure or achieving more with less. It’s about business transformation and agility,” he said. “Convincing people of that can be tough.”
But of course, true business agility does not come from a one-off transformation programme. “CIOs must drive continuous improvements through continuous change. Without it, the business stops, particularly in this industry,” he said. “So for us, change is a given. We have to keep evolving and we have to do it fast.”
Hear more insights from Miles in the video below, then read on to learn about his personal motivation.
Personal resilience
When asked about his personal motivation to drive such programmes, Miles says, “It is simply a reflection upon myself. I don’t like boredom, I don’t like standing still. I absolutely like energy and I like pace. I enjoy recognizing the business challenges, and finding creative solutions.”
“To manage these programmes successfully, you have to be resilient. When I look back at my life, I’ve been told a million times that my idea is never going to amount to anything. But you have to believe in yourself, in your goal, and keep going no matter what. Views can always be changed,” he concludes.
