>> Announcer: Live from Orlando, Florida
it's theCUBE,
covering Grace Hopper's Celebration of Women in Computing,
brought to you by SiliconANGLE Media.
>> Welcome back to theCUBE's coverage of the Grace Hopper
Conference, here in Orlando, Florida.
I'm your host, Rebecca Knight.
We're joined by Vipul Nagrath.
He is the Global CIO at ADP,
a provider of human resources management software
in New York.
Welcome, Vipul. >> Thank you.
>> It's great to have you on the show.
So, before the cameras were rolling, you were talking about
how this is your first ever Grace Hopper.
How do you find things?
>> I think this is exciting.
Just the sheer numbers: 18,000 attendees,
all the various different companies
that are represented over here, the talent.
I'm here with a sizeable team, there's about 30 of us.
Many of my colleagues have been walking the floor
and they've been just thoroughly impressed
with the talent that they're meeting
and the people that they're talking to.
We're here actively recruiting.
We've actually been doing on-site interviews.
So, we're looking for top talent
and if we can find it right here at the show, we'll do it.
>> So, there are a lot of tech conferences that you attend,
but what is it about Grace Hopper in particular?
>> Well, this one specifically,
one of our initiatives is around diversity and inclusion.
So, what better place to come than Grace Hopper
if you want to talk about diversity and inclusion?
In addition to that, is we were talking earlier, right?
The marketplace that engineering and tech
and computer science is going to go into,
the need is actually only increasing.
Everything is run by software today or very shortly will be.
In the end, every company's becoming a software company
and offering some other services with it.
We're all headed that way.
Yet, the talent pool's actually getting tighter and smaller,
yet more jobs are going to be created in that industry.
So, I think it's a phenomenal and wonderful opportunity,
and specifically from a Grace Hopper perspective
and the Anita Borg perspective,
is get more women involved in this.
The pie is going to get bigger,
and I think women have an opportunity to gain more of
that share of that pie.
>> So, is ADP doing anything to actively engage more women
earlier in their career trajectories
to get them interested in this area?
>> There are a number of multiple-
Sorry, there's a multiple set of initiatives that we have.
In fact, I was joined here at this conference
with our Chief Diversity Officer.
She's also responsible for corporate social responsibility.
So, diversity and inclusion is really huge for her,
not just for us at ADP,
but she actually has a larger message
for the entire industry.
So, she's pushing that agenda.
So, there are actually many different things
that we're working on.
>> And as a human resources company
that message can get through. >> Exactly.
>> So, talk to me.
We always hear about the business case
for diversity and inclusion.
How do you view it?
>> How do I view it, is I start with,
again, top talent, and then it's thought diversity.
When you bring multiple disciplines in together,
bring people with multiple backgrounds in together,
even a different point of view,
you realize,
or I think you
open up and realize
that you might have had some blinders on some things.
Now you start really getting rid of those blinders.
Instead of them being blinders,
they turn into opportunities.
I think if you have too many people thinking exactly
the same way, doing exactly the same thing,
you fall into a not-so-good method, right?
You fall into a not-so-good idea of just really channeling
the same idea over and over
and over again. >> The groupthink that is
a big problem in so many companies.
So, how do diverse teams work together in your experience?
You talked about seeing wider perspectives
and different kinds of ideas and insights
that you wouldn't necessarily get if it's just
a bunch of similar people from similar backgrounds,
similar races, all one gender, sitting in a room together.
How do these teams work together in your experience?
>> Well, what I believe in is you got to put
these teams together and you got to empower them.
Absolutely, there's a stated goal.
There is an outcome.
There is a result we have to achieve.
Give 'em the outcome, give 'em the goal,
give 'em a loose framework,
and then give 'em guiding principles.
Then, after that: team, go ahead.
You're empowered to do the right thing.
But, these goals will be aggressive, right?
We may want to make something two orders of magnitude faster.
That's no small task.
We may want to
expand our capabilities so that we can handle
six times the load that we handled today.
That's no small task.
So, they're very large goals to achieve,
but they just have to go out and do them.
If you leave that creativity to the team,
and you let everyone bring in what their different
viewpoints, some that have expertise today,
and some that don't necessarily have expertise in it
but they're really good programmers
or they're really good software developers.
So, they can learn from those folks that have the expertise,
then develop a new solution that's more powerful
than the one that exists today.
>> What are some of the most exciting things
you're working on at ADP right now?
>> Well, me personally, we're going through
a huge transformation in my group within ADP.
That transformation is really just implementing more
of what I just talked about,
is these small, nimble teams
that are multidisciplinary, and they're given,
again, guiding principles and goals,
and they go out and be creative and be innovative,
and figure out how to do this.
>> So, what your customers expect on the pipeline though,
in terms of products coming out of ADP,
and helping them manage their human capital?
>> Sure, well actually, we have a lot of exciting, new,
and innovative products coming out of our company,
which in the coming months, in the coming years,
will be released and put into production.
But, basically, they should expect a better way to work.
'Cause that is our job.
We're really out there to make work better.
>> Rebecca: And more inclusive, too, and more, okay.
>> All those things actually just go into being
and making work better.
Inclusion is in there, diversity is in there,
creativity is in there, innovation is in there,
stability is in there.
But, all of that makes work better.
>> Is there more pressure on a company like ADP
to walk the walk?
Because, you are a human capital management company.
That is your bread and butter.
>> I believe there is, sure.
Just naturally, yes, there is.
>> So, what is your advice to companies out there?
I know you said your Chief Diversity Officer had
a wider message to companies about the importance
of diversity and inclusive teams.
What would you say from your perspective as CIO?
>> From my perspective, again, I do believe
that diversity, that inclusion, makes for
a more powerful team, makes for a wider understanding
of what we're actually trying to do.
So, I would just encourage others to do that, too,
and not be very narrow-minded. >> Great.
Well, Vipul, it has been so much fun talking to you.
Thanks for coming on theCUBE.
>> Thank you.
>> We will have more from
the Orange County Convention Center, Grace Hopper,
just after this.
(light, electronic music)