In this installment of the IT Leaders Fast-5 — InformationWeek’s column for IT professionals to gain peer insights — Craig Williams, vice president and chief digital information officer at Ciena, shares how the optical networking and high-speed connectivity provider is navigating AI. The journey, he noted, “is both exhilarating and humbling. There’s no established playbook for a transformation of this magnitude.”
Williams, who leads Ciena’s IT, data and analytics, architecture and digital transformation team, is based in Raleigh, N.C., within the Research Triangle Park technology hub. He highlighted two strategic applications of AI: using AI-supported coding for internal efficiency and using AI to reduce the energy footprint of digital infrastructure. His team has already examined more than 250 AI ideas and incorporated the most promising into active projects.
Craig Williams, CDIO, Ciena
Tech MVP: What is the one technology, process or tool that was your MVP this week for delivering business value?
As I’ve been focused on learning about the latest multimodal models (MMLs), I’m genuinely amazed by how quickly the technology is evolving. Each of the leaders in this space is pushing advancements at a pace that’s tough to keep up with — but it’s incredibly exciting to see. MMLs are making it possible to combine text, images and audio for smarter, faster insights.
I believe we’re moving toward a future where collaboration, analytics and content creation all happen in one unified platform, rather than across separate apps like we’ve used for decades. Staying on top of these rapid changes is a challenge, but it is clear that the potential for business value is huge.
The Hard-Won Lesson: What’s the most valuable lesson or surprise setback you plan to work on this week?
Navigating our business needs in the AI era is both exhilarating and humbling — there’s no established playbook for a transformation of this magnitude. One lesson that stands out is the importance of continuous learning and the willingness to experiment with new approaches. Not every attempt will succeed, but progress will not happen without the effort.
This week has underscored that even the most advanced technology delivers value only when people truly understand and trust it. Leading through the AI transition requires balancing speed with empathy and recognizing that AI is rapidly reshaping the skills and processes we’ve relied on for decades. Adopting a change management mindset is essential; without it, even the best technology will fall short.
The Talent Priority: What skill, cultural factor or AI-related shift are you prioritizing to keep your team competitive?
At Ciena, we are doubling down on AI literacy and applied data fluency across every function. It’s not enough for only our IT staff to understand how AI works; everyone — whether in engineering, operations or finance — needs to know how to ask better questions of the data.
We are building a culture where curiosity and responsible AI experimentation go hand in hand. A great example is how we have been using AI in our coding workflows to ultimately make our developers’ lives easier. AI-supported coding helps them produce work faster by providing higher-quality code checks — for instance, it can quickly tell them what a certain function does or summarize a code. Of course, human oversight is still important. But integrating AI into our coding process means our developers spend much less time manually checking code — so time savings has been a huge benefit for us.
The Weekly Signal: What news story, market shift or global event outside your office grabbed your attention this week?
I’ve been following the surge in AI-driven breakthroughs in energy efficiency and data center optimization. What’s fascinating is how AI is being used not just to enhance computation, but to reduce the energy footprint of digital infrastructure — a critical challenge as demand for connectivity continues to grow.
The Weekend Recharge: What are you currently reading, listening to or watching that serves as a mental refresh?
To recharge, I’m about to dive into the audiobook “Look Again” by Tim Tebow — a reminder to stay curious and open to new perspectives.
Weekends in Raleigh are my time to unplug and reset, often by getting my hands dirty with yard work. There’s something grounding about tending to the outdoors — whether it’s tackling a new project or simply keeping things in shape. These moments away from screens help me clear my head, reflect and return on Monday with fresh ideas and renewed focus.
