Magazines spring 2018 cover crop smaller | Page 14

C
raig Cunningham was hired earlier this year as
Servi-Tech’s Chief Technology Officer. We sat
down with Craig and asked him about his job,
what he hopes to accomplish, and
his thoughts on challenges facing
agriculture.
What are the best opportunities for technology at Servi-
Tech in the future?
Servi-Tech is founded on technology from our traditional
lab services and our scientific approach
to crop analysis and consulting to the
innovations being developed by STEPS.
We are recognized as a leader in advanced
agronomics and innovation. Because
of our size, capabilities and stability, we
have opportunities in advanced imaging,
applying analytics in predictive agronomics
and advancing innovations in sense
and feedback automation of production
processes.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I started out on a small farm in the
Texas panhandle, studied Zoology
and Chemistry in college but also
loved computers and tech. I joined
IBM directly out of college and
eventually wound up leading business
and digital transformation for several
Fortune 100 companies including
What are some challenges that
AT&T, PepsiCo and Walmart. My
technology in agriculture faces?
wife and I are longtime residents of
There is currently a technology explosion
Amarillo, where she is a realtor. We
going on in agriculture and advanced
Craig Cunningham
have one son who lives in the Dallas/
agronomics. With the proliferation of
Fort Worth area. For fun I play golf,
open-source and low barriers to entry
play bluegrass music and work on the
provided by inexpensive advanced cloud
family farm. My wife and I love to travel.
services in areas of infrastructure, analytics and micro
I joined Servi-Tech because I believe in the mission and
services, there are literally hundreds if not thousands
the value this business provides to our nation’s farmers and
of startups vying to be the first to market with new
I believe I can play an important role in helping to expand
technologies. The problem is that most will not succeed
our services globally.
but along the way, failures in delivery and execution will
cause significant erosion of confidence in the marketplace.
Explain your role in Servi-Tech.
There will eventually be a cycle of consolidation that will
As Chief Technology Officer, my primary purpose is to
stabilize the marketplace and standards will emerge. In the
partner with the business to align business and IT strategies meantime, the most significant challenge for tech in ag will
and maximize the value of technology investments. In order be proving a clear business value of a given technology and
to do, this I’ll be focusing on three key areas:
convincing the market that it’s worth the investment.
• Assessing technologies and designing technical
architectures to increase business agility and manage
How do you see IT and STEPS, under your guidance,
complexity.
working with Servi-Tech’s owner cooperatives?
• Management and delivery of efficient IT services and
The Servi-Tech owners are also resellers of our services.
solutions to support the business while managing risk and
As owners they receive a share of the net income attributed
protecting core assets.
to the purchases by owners in a given fiscal year in the form
• Driving innovation through transformational change to
of a patronage dividend. The focus of IT will be to drive
business architecture, strategy, operations, and technology.
higher revenue and increase profits which should provide a
As the CEO of STEPS, I have overall responsibility for
higher return for the owners.
the STEPS business, insuring delivery of our expanded
As resellers, our owner cooperatives are providing their
premium services and advancing innovations in ag
customers access to the most comprehensive agronomics
technology to enhance our visibility in the industry and
offerings available. We believe our STEPS technology
expand our footprint in the marketplace.
— See page 15

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