Maybe it’s the pace at which technologies are scraped and replaced, but companies are finding that pooling insights from all staffers is necessary to stay ahead of the curve, according to Hayley Tabor (pictured), vice president of global industries at Dell EMC.

“I think it has a lot to do with the people and the plan,” Tabor said during the recent Association for Corporate Growth in Silicon Valley’s U.S. Trust GROW! Awards event in Mountain View, California.

Breaking silos is a huge contributor to adaptability and growth in the Digital Age, she told Lisa Martin (@Luccazara), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile live streaming studio. (*Disclosure below.)

“It’s been really about the right research being done to say, ‘What are we going to then go and develop that’s going to impact the business?'” Martin said. “We” is the operative word in that sentence. The so-called “solution-izing” of software and information technology demands that many parts of a technology gel and are able to talk to each other; and the humans inside an organization must follow suit.

CIO at the center

To translate all this talking, the chief information officer is growing into a new role, Tabor stated.

“Now you’re seeing the CIO almost like [a] broker of information and becoming much more aligned with the innovation of business. And I think it’s a change agent; it’s a critical role,” she said.

“Coopetition” among businesses in the same market is another sign of this melting and melding in Silicon Valley. “When you look at the role that collaboration plays in culture today, it’s completely different than it was 20 years ago,” Tabor said.

Businesses that work with competitors for common good and drive collaboration within their companies are reaping tangible rewards, according to Tabor’s analysis.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s independent editorial coverage of ACG Silicon Valley U.S. Trust GROW! Awards. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner at the ACG Silicon Valley U.S. Trust GROW! Awards. The conference sponsor, AGS-SV, does not have editorial oversight of content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE