In a recent “all-hands” meeting, Krzysztof Soltan, CIO of Vulcan Materials, announced his IT organization would continue its “laser focus on digital transformation.”
Digital technology, he explained, would remain a central focus of the construction-aggregates industry and would underpin customer-grade experiences increasingly expected from industry leaders. Vulcan, based in Birmingham, Ala., is the nation’s largest construction aggregates company, producing materials such as crushed stone, sand, and gravel, with strategic downstream assets like asphalt and ready-mixed in select markets. Soltan, previously a tech leader at Johnson Controls, ABB, and GE, became the company’s first CIO just two years ago and is at the forefront of the company’s digital transformation efforts.
Soltan and his fellow leaders attribute Vulcan’s success to many things, but chief among them is the company’s attitude toward key activities like operating and selling — “The Vulcan Way,” as it is widely referred to within the company. This orienting force has become so strong that, to Soltan and his team, it seemed only right that they should rethink IT in terms of how it might amplify the approach. As Soltan explains: “If we were going to keep up with the pace of change in the industry, IT would have to be recalibrated.”
