CATHERINE ALLSHOUSE
FOCUSED ON THE PEOPLE

Catherine Allshouse, Global CIO, Head of Cloud Operations for Veeva and 2021 CIO Tomorrow Conference Planning Committee Chair has a different perspective when it comes to the future of tech - she focuses on people.

Editor's note: Catherine Allshouse, CIO of Veeva and the 2021 CIO Tomorrow Committee Chair, was the featured leader at IT Martini Today on August 30th, 2021.

CIO Tomorrow is attended by a variety of tech leaders, practitioners and even students, especially with its focus on scholarships for students in tech related fields.

Because Allshouse, as an adjunct professor and in the workforce, sees students on both sides of the spectrum, she has a unique perspective on what higher education gets right with student education and where there are opportunities for growth.

“One thing we are getting right is internships and co-ops,” Allshouse said. “Getting real world experience, there’s just no substitute for...taking what you learn and applying it to real life.”

Allshouse said that before there was a focus on internships and co-ops, students would enter the workforce with the academic background needed but without many of the soft skills needed. For example, handling team communication when multiple people are checking in code and collisions happen was a problematic issue for new graduates. Now, with internships and co-ops taking off, practical application and soft skills of navigating team collaboration are reaching students before they graduate. 

Where there is room for growth, Allshouse said, is in mirroring workplace expectations and standards in the classroom. 

“Over the long arch of all my level of students, especially in higher ed, I feel like I saw it too much - ‘oh you can get another chance, oh you can turn that in again, oh you can have another month to write that paper...that doesn’t happen in the workplace,” she said with a laugh. “Let try to hold students to a similar level of accountability.”

The Future Of Disruption 

When asked about the future of disruption, Allshouse looked to Veeva’s most recent successes to predict the future. 

In February of 2021, Veeva was the first company to convert to a public benefit corporation (PBC). It’s still publicly traded and the only thing that is different, Allshouse said, is they have added a public benefit purpose to their corporate charter. Now the board, CEO and other stakeholders are responsible to that purpose along with their responsibilities to the company, shareholders, etc. 

Allshouse describes their charter addition as “easing human suffering and extending human life through innovation and life sciences and driving life sciences forward.”

“I think we are going to see more of that going forward [from other companies]. It’s really attractive to people interviewing with Veeva because it’s different than saying we want to make great software - it’s saying we want to make a better world.” 

That focus on giving back and being a part of something bigger is what keeps Allshouse excited about her work.

“I love this company. For me it’s coming home because enterprise software is the first place I went out of college. The thing that’s most gratifying for me is what we do. Veeva provides software to life sciences companies so Pfizer, Moderna...we were a small part of helping those companies bring those [COVID vaccines and treatment] products to market. 

“One of the things that I’m kinda of an insider on, [when people have] hesitancy on the that fact that the vaccines were approved really quickly is I can explain that. The supply chain got leaned down and our software was a part of that. It was all the stuff - the paperwork [from] the trials, the reading...all got completely compressed by digitizing it.  

Allshouse explained, before Veeva helped to digitize the process, the paperwork from research, trials, applications, etc. was all actual paper that had to be moved from place to place. Additionally, digital signatures became acceptable for clinical trials removing a big barrier to the approval process. 

Another change that proved successful is Veeva’s “Work Anywhere Policy” for staff, Allshouse said.

“We have really got it right in the last year in a half ... it’s flexible to what works for the person,” she said. “We are not divesting from our facilities - we are actually investing in our facilities. We are building more offices and we just expanded our Columbus office, actually. We offer free lunch for our employees everyday that’s produce forward, nutritious, so we feed them everyday and we make [our offices] places you can come and collaborate if you want to and it’s really taken off.

Allhouse said that trusting employees is what’s behind their Work Anywhere decision and that companies worried about what their employees are doing or worried about retention are worried about the wrong things. Creating a culture where employees have the tools they need to be successful and trusting your people is how you create a workplace place where people thrive, she said.

“That’s what we are going to see in the future, just a lot more movement and flexibility with people arranging work into their lives and not their lives into their work.”

Bridging Work, Life & CIO Tomorrow

That disruption for the betterment of people continues at the CIO Tomorrow Conference. Allshouse said CIO Tomorrow conference-goers should disrupt their usual patterns when attending this year’s conference and learn about something outside of your expertise.

“Learn from someone in an industry totally different from yours, learn from someone junior to you. It’s easy to learn from someone senior to you, do the opposite with someone who has a fresher perspective. Learn from a company that’s ten times your size, learn from a company that’s an agile start up that doesn't have the clutter and weight of the company around them. 

“It’s that spark of insight coming from an unexpected place is what we are trying to create with this year’s conference so the topics are not your typical ‘stand and deliver about my product’...it’s all this bridge discussion on what’s the biggest problem you haven’t solved yet? Taking that time to learn from someone that’s not like you, whose company is not like you is what I’ve been thinking about lately.”