Raju Shah becomes DISA’s new chief experience officer

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has named Indian American Raju Shah to a newly created role of chief experience officer (CXO) to prioritize enhancements to customer experience across DISA.

Shah, DISA’s director of enterprise engineering and innovation, was tapped to take over the new role on June 1, according to MeriTalk, a website focused on news for senior government IT leaders.

“Empowered to shape strategy and provide guidance on technical and financial decisions impacting customer interactions, the CXO centralizes responsibility for experience management under one leader,” DISA was quoted as saying.

“This strategic focus encompasses customer experience improvement for key stakeholders, mission partners, and employees, alongside initiatives in transformation, organizational culture, and employee experience within the agency.”

Shah will continue in his current role as the engineering lead while also serving as the CXO. He will still report to DISA’s Chief Information Officer Roger Greenwell.

“The decision to appoint Mr. Shah as CXO delegation was based on his extensive experience and demonstrated achievements, particularly in understanding customer pain points and operational insights,” DISA said.

Shah, according to MeriTalk, told reporters during AFCEA International’s TechNet Cyber event in Baltimore that his two roles at DISA in leading engineering and customer experience are “closely aligned.”

“Shah has been instrumental in enhancing end-to-end engineering processes, leveraging simulation and modeling to optimize operations. His leadership ensured the delivery of secure, reliable, and cost-effective technical solutions, alongside proactive monitoring and the deployment of sensor and analytics technologies. He spearheaded initiatives in intelligence automation, driving AIOPS to preemptively address issues and significantly reduce mean time to restore services,” DISA said.

“These efforts directly contribute to minimizing disruptions for warfighters and end users, aligning closely with our mission to provide secure and reliable IT infrastructure that enhances battlefield lethality,” the agency said.

Shah told reporters last week that he will leverage his two roles within DISA to integrate more AI and emerging technologies into the agency.

“It’s a data-driven, AI-enabled department to ensure that our warfighters’ needs are met,” Shah was quoted as saying. “Particularly in that area, we are going to really home in on the sensors. So, we are deploying the sensors throughout our network and driving that enterprise operation to digital, data-driven operation and make the decision based on data that has been learned using machine learning and then apply the AI logic where necessary, so it’s a hybrid digital ops environment.”