Above: The InterWorks IT team gathers for the 2017 IT Summit.

You may remember us mentioning our annual BI Summit back in December. Well, they’re not the only ones ascending metaphorical peaks. Just last Friday, the InterWorks IT team gathered at the OSU Alumni Center in Stillwater, Oklahoma, to discuss the events of 2016 and our vision for 2017. It was a day packed full of strategy, discussions and plenty of mixed drinks.

The Cliffs Notes

We covered a lot of ground at this year’s IT Summit, more than can be covered in a single blog post. In the spirit of brevity, I’ll boil down the events.

The day began with CEO Behfar Jahanshahi recapping 2016, discussing our success and areas in need of improvement. 2016 was a fantastic year for us all around, and IT was no exception. That said, we’re always mindful of how we can get better at everything we do.

Following Behfar, Director of Employee Experience Brandi White covered how InterWorks will take an even more active role in employee growth. Namely, we want to make sure our employees have more training opportunities in their chosen specialties so they can better serve our clientele.

Above: Behfar presenting at the IT Summit.

CMO Dalton Parsons took the podium next to discuss how InterWorks plans on improving internal communication. With an emphasis being placed on clear and consolidated communication, we hope to improve the way we work with each other.

After lunch, we continued on the topic of communication. Richard Klees, President of Communication Power, gave a presentation on effective communication strategies, specifically when working with clients. We plan on working closely with Richard on these in the coming year.

Following Richard, InterWorks’ Director of Enterprise Solutions Daniel Holm spoke on our new reference architecture and new opportunities presented by the Dell EMC merger. In short, we’re about to get far more involved in the world of enterprise IT infrastructure.

The day closed out with client success stories from Solutions Architect Johnathan Lundin, a vision statement from COO Johnnie Hurns and the obligatory reminder not to “burn the place down” from our General Council Will Joyce.

What Does This Mean for Clients?

There are a lot of different moving parts to our 2017 IT strategy, but it all boils down to serving our clients better and in more ways. We know that the investment we make in our employees will directly translate into better relationships with our clients. Plus, we generally want to keep our people happy and growing in their careers.

By also focusing on more strategic opportunities, we hope to help more clients than ever while doing work we truly love. That’s what it’s always been about at InterWorks, and we plan on living out that mantra with greater zeal than ever before.