Interview: Cynthia Stoddard, CIO, Adobe

Adobe CIO Cynthia Stoddard chats with Computer Weekly at a hotel near Blackfriars Bridge in London and reflects on her time running IT for the technology giant. In 2026, she’ll have been in the role for a decade. Stoddard says there’s still lots to achieve.

“I want to change how we work,” she says. “We’re doing some strategic initiatives right now with setting the baseline and then it’s going to be all about, ‘How do we help Adobe scale better, and how do we change how people work, so when they come to the office, they are even happier than today?’”

Computer Weekly last spoke with Stoddard in 2023. She says the past two years have been focused on boosting productivity. Whether using data to create insights, improving user experiences or helping the company hone its external products and services, Stoddard’s team has been busy building a platform for lasting digital change.

A crucial supporting element has been the reorganisation of the technology department. Stoddard says CIOs have a long-standing desire to build closer bonds between IT and the rest of the business. Her reorganisation aims to make alignment a business-as-usual activity.

The internal IT organisation has been renamed Adobe Technology Services (ATS). ATS staff are aligned with business units, such as the Creative Cloud and Document Cloud product divisions, back-office functions, corporate shared services and employee experiences. Stoddard has reporting CIOs assigned to those units.

“They’re all focused on working on strategy, planning and delivering value to the business units,” she says.

“They have programme and product managers reporting to them, and then we have a common engineering team that serves up resources into the units. The idea is to promote connectivity with the business and to focus on delivering value.”

Breaking down silos
Stoddard says the move to ATS began about 16 months ago. So, how is the new way of working bedding in?

“I say pretty well because it’s a mindset change in the company and not just a mindset change in my organisation – it’s about how we work with the business,” she says.

“We’ve been doing things to help the business so they can understand the value of technology. We’ve implanted some people in the business to work side by side and learn how they work.”

Stoddard’s team has tried to ensure that key concepts, such as user experience design, are treated end to end from the business to ATS and back in an iterative manner. They tell as many people as possible that great experiences mean breaking out of your siloed way of working.

“You must break down those walls between the different business units,” she says. “I would say the business has been very open to working in that way because it helps everyone to look at IT across the board, and we’re trying to identify those choke points and different areas that we can improve along the way.”

Stoddard says the future of enterprise technology is about ensuring IT professionals work with their business peers to define great user experiences. Then, as joined-up teams go through the delivery process, they should focus on value, because too many IT organisations still focus on project milestones rather than end goals.

“I’m not saying those short-term targets aren’t important, but they should be focused within the framework of what value we are delivering, and how we figure out the right thing to do,” she says. “Many times, a business user may ask for something, and you don’t understand the art of the possible. So, we’re trying to break down the silos that way.”

Enabling process change
Stoddard reflects on the changes to her IT organisation and advises other CIOs eager to create a business-aligned approach to technology for the digital age to focus on two areas: structure and change management.

“If they don’t have an organisation that focuses on user-experience design thinking and the components of that approach, then they should get educated,” she says. “They should educate themselves first, so they understand the benefits, and then they should think about how they structure their organisations within that process.”

For change management, Stoddard says it’s crucial to recognise that technology is just one component of a long-term digital transformation programme.

“The important part is putting yourself in the shoes of the internal user and understanding their pain points,” she says. “Understand why they might be afraid, design the process and help them to change.”

“The important part is putting yourself in the shoes of the internal user and understanding their pain points”

Cynthia Stoddard, Adobe

Stoddard says ATS has centred its efforts on some core areas during the past year and a half. The team is helping the business exploit its data. Rather than just concentrating on projects that boost data availability, she says IT professionals analyse business workflows, the roles people fulfil and how data helps people to complete their tasks.

“We have to put power in the hands of our business users,” says Stoddard. “For example, we must think about how we can use generative AI [GenAI] to unleash the power of data.

“So, instead of people having to plough through data and look for things, we’ve been able to design text-based prompts that say, ‘Find me this, find me that, or give me the answer to this’.”

Adobe uses a range of AI-enabled technologies, such as Microsoft services and its AI-enabled products that are sold to customers, to build a GenAI strategy. So far, the approach is paying dividends. The alignment between ATS and the rest of the business means technology projects focus on improved data access.

“We’ve translated that process into back-end technology and given people answers,” says Stoddard. “So, instead of having staff stuck in the data looking for things, we have them use AI as part of their natural workflows – and then we enable them with tools. We do this work by understanding their end-to-end processes.”

Embracing experimental ideas
Stoddard says the application of AI spreads beyond the IT department and into other lines of business. The finance group uses emerging technologies for forecasting and analysis, while the treasury department uses AI to investigate customer payment requests.

“We’re using AI in many different ways,” she says, explaining how Adobe uses automation to remove repetitive tasks from work processes.

“AI helps people to deal with some of the busy work, as I call it. Our philosophy is not to replace the human but to supplement the human with tools so they can focus on more strategic work.”

Stoddard explained how Adobe has a range of mechanisms to help surface game-changing technologies. ATS runs hackathons and innovation weeks. The approach has also spread to other functions beyond IT. The aim is to help staff identify tech-based solutions to business challenges and to help supplier partners to develop potential production systems and services.

Last time Stoddard spoke with Computer Weekly, she mentioned Lab82, Adobe’s employee experience experimentation engine. The initiative began as a physical space in the firm’s San Jose headquarters. As with hackathons and innovation weeks, the vision for Lab82 has now expanded to become a broader approach that explores the future of work.

“We have a Lab82 week, where we bring the company in to see new technologies and we bring in some of our key partners so they can demonstrate their tools,” she says.

“Video technologies are big on the list of what we’ve been experimenting with to make everybody feel included, regardless of location. We’ve also created a satellite Lab82 to test the differences between being remote and in the office.”

Unlike some technology rivals, Adobe hasn’t mandated a five-day office week. Staff are expected in the office about three days a week. Stoddard says face-to-face time is important. She came to Europe to meet with some of her global team. After speaking with Computer Weekly, Stoddard attended an event supporting women in IT.

“We have a lot of people coming into the office these days, and it’s nice for collaboration because you can do what we’re doing right here – you can talk face to face,” she says. “Being in the office helps with onboarding employees. They feel a bit more like they’re part of the team.”

Continuing to learn
Stoddard reflects on the rapid pace of change in the IT profession over the past couple of years and suggests emerging technology will continue to affect user experiences.

“As an industry, we must look at the end-to-end process or people will be left behind, especially with generative AI,” she says.

“If you look at things in isolated pockets, you won’t get good results. So, there will be a lot of focus on how IT professionals enable good user experiences going forward.”

Stoddard says emerging technologies, such as AI, automation and machine learning, will also affect the role of IT professionals. Adobe is already starting to have important debates about the role of developers and engineers in an age of AI. She says big companies must work with universities to consider how to educate the next generation of engineers.

“What we need tomorrow will be different than what we have today,” she says. “IT professionals will have tools available at their fingertips. Rather than spending time on mundane activities, they will focus more time on the creative and value-adding parts of their roles. The software engineering world will be significantly different in a few years.”

Stoddard concludes by suggesting the IT profession is set for tumultuous change. However, in many ways, constant change has been the narrative that’s defined the technology sector from the very beginning. She reflects on experiences from her career and advises up-and-coming IT professionals looking to climb the leadership ladder to stay open to change.

“Continue to learn,” says Stoddard. “Make that capability part of your DNA. Don’t settle on what you know today. Always question and always look for that next opportunity.”