“The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is weaving technology into its concert hall to promote access to education around classical music,” writes Naomi Eide in Monday’s (11/26) CIO Dive. “Jody Harper, senior director of Technology & Infrastructure at Detroit Symphony Orchestra, was confronted with two sides of the DSO’s technology use when he joined the team [five years ago]. The orchestra has a long-standing history of weaving in technology to make music more accessible.… The same technology [used by] modern business operates in nonprofits, though resources are more limited, requiring … creative solutions. The specifics for the head of IT are ‘easy and terrifying’ at the DSO; CRM’s [customer-relations management] need attending to and finance and fundraising departments require support. But with live concert webcasts at play, Harper also has to ensure the internet line remains up with redundancies in place…. It took two years to ‘rip and replace everything,’ but Harper guided the server infrastructure down from 24 physical machines to five…. Executives and higher management are constantly looking for ideas on how to expand the DSO’s brand and impact the community, Harper said. ‘I want to make sure we’re prepared to do that in any way, shape or form.’ ”
Posted November 28, 2018
