Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 34 | Page 50

CIO OPINION “ THE MOST SURVIVABLE SPECIES IS THE ONE THAT IS MOST ADAPTABLE. extended, and trying to ensure that decision makers both understand and have a global view of the issues they are deciding is tough. Fortinet was a small firm comprising a few dozen staff, communication was a breeze among the team members. Larger organisations may also need to manage conflicting agendas from different members of the team. These constraints delay the entire decision making process, or worse, lead to the wrong decisions. Things changed as we evolved to become a 5,000-staff company, and I expect further changes as we head towards the 10,000 mark. Related to this is communication, which typically slows down or gets distorted to a greater extent as a company grows. When 50 INTELLIGENTCIO Figuring out how to get the entire 10,000 workforce to align behind the company’s goals, letting each individual understand what his role is, and securing his buy-in to work together effectively as a team to deliver on the bigger corporate goals, are some hurdles I see us needing to cross. On the R&D front that I primarily look after, there is the challenge of maintaining our pace of work as the company grows. Researching, innovating, developing and testing products quickly were a relative cinch when we were small. Now, it requires significant investment to maintain the speed (or ‘Forti-Speed’ as we call it) of this process, and that investment continues to rise as we expand. www.intelligentcio.com