IT Life: Paul Chapman, Box CIO

Each week we profile a leading CIO, CTO or IT manager from the world of technology and beyond to see where their career has taken them and what issues are affecting them today.

What is your role and who do you work for?
I’m the the Chief Information Office (CIO) at Box.

How long have you been in IT?
I’ve been in IT for a very long time – since 1987. Back in those days, it was called data processing.

What is your most interesting project to date?
That’s a hard question as I’ve worked on so many interesting projects over the years. If I had to choose, I’d pick a major global program which I ran some years ago. We were responsible for revamping the entire customer experience and lifecycle for a multi-billion dollar software company which had 50,000+ customers all over the world. I love getting to know the customer and making their journey as simple and pleasant as possible, so the project was perfect for me.

What technology were you working with ten years ago?
A decade ago I was surrounded by Oracle technology: Oracle ERP, Oracle Middleware, Oracle EDW, Oracle CRM, Oracle Databases.

What is your favourite technology of all time?
That changes frequently but I have to say that today it is my iPhone. I love the ability to go anywhere in the world and still be productive, still have access to information and manage my life. That flexibility gives me back the most precious commodity: time.

How will the Internet of Things affect your organisation?
For the internal workforce we have already started with proximity sensors to enable workplace productivity through location-based services. These include step-by-step directions, auto conference room check-ins, proximity alerts and messaging etc. I anticipate a continued drive on taking the work out of work and enabling a much more productive workforce.

What smartphone do you use?
iPhone 6.

What three apps could you not live without?
Box (obviously!), Slack and LinkedIn.

What new technology are you most excited for a) your business and b) yourself?
From a business perspective, it’s all about the ability to integrate/assemble multiple micro services to accelerate time to curated experiences. We can essentially distill this down to the new popular expression: the internet of APIs.

Personally, it’s all about productivity, productivity, productivity. Any technology, which gives the gift of time to be more productive, is top of mind for me. I especially like what’s happening in the AI and Bots space. We already have IoT, and we’re now headed for the Internet of Bots!

If you weren’t doing the job you do now, what would you be doing?
I love adventure and the open sea. I’m a shark diver so I would own a SCUBA center in central America, or on one of the Polynesian islands. I would spend time exploring the underwater universe which I love so much.