Name: Roly Smoldon Title: General Manager IT Services, Ricoh New Zealand Twitter handle: @RicohNZ What business technology issue is your role focusing on? Making the complex (i.e. technology) simple and predictable so our customers can focus on their business. What are your interests away from work? My daughters, aged 7 and 10, take up a great deal of time with sports and activities. I’m a long suffering Warriors season ticket holder and I’ve recently encouraged my daughters t accompany me to share the pain. Keeping active, gym, cycling and indoor football (soccer). What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? From my great Grandfather: “Always spend money on good shoes and a good bed as that’s where you spend most of you time.” I also like the saying: facta, non verba, which translates as deeds, not words: “A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds” Professionally, who do you admire most? No one professionally springs to mind, but Muhammad Ali is a person I admire greatly for his unwavering self-belief and ability to challenge the thinking of a generation. He is the ultimate self-starter. Muhammad Ali: He is the ultimate self-starter. How long have you been working in your field? How did you get into your role? I’ve been working in IT for 20 years. I started in sales working for 3Com in the UK. If you weren’t working in your field, what would you be doing? I’d be a business advisor and/or a board member. I’ve had the pleasure of being a director for a few not-for-profit organisations in the past and I really enjoyed providing input and direction to help the organisations grow and transform. Send news tips and comments to divina_paredes@idg.co.nz Follow Divina Paredes on Twitter: @divinap Follow CIO New Zealand on Twitter:@cio_nz Sign up for CIO newsletters for regular updates on CIO news, views and events. Join us on Facebook. Related content feature Key IT initiatives reshape the CIO agenda While cloud, cybersecurity, and analytics remain top of mind for IT leaders, a shift toward delivering business value is altering how CIOs approach key priorities, pushing transformative projects to the next phase. By Mary Pratt May 30, 2023 10 mins IT Strategy IT Leadership opinion Managing IT right starts with rightsizing IT for value While there are few universals when it comes to saying unambiguously what ‘managing IT right’ looks like, knowing how to navigate the limitless possibilities of IT is surely one. By Thornton May May 30, 2023 6 mins Digital Transformation IT Strategy IT Leadership brandpost Designing the campus of the future starts with high-quality 10Gbps connectivity By Huawei May 30, 2023 4 mins Network Architect Networking Devices Networking feature Red Hat embraces hybrid cloud for internal IT The maker of OpenShift has leveraged its own open container offering to migrate business-critical apps to AWS as part of a strategy to move beyond facilitating hybrid cloud for others and capitalize on the model for itself. By Paula Rooney May 29, 2023 5 mins CIO 100 Technology Industry Hybrid Cloud Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe