Shining a light: Using Technology to Bring a Brighter Future in View

Mano Paul, Chief Technology Officer, Driven Brands

Recently, while browsing the Smithsonian National Postal Museum website, I was intrigued by something I noticed on a stamp. 

The stamp, titled 32c St. Joseph single and released in 1995, shows an illustration of the St. Joseph North Pier lighthouse site on Lake Michigan. In the center of the image, a strong, geometric lighthouse rises above the rocky, surf-sprayed foundations of the pier. Yet despite the word single in the stamp’s title, closer scrutiny reveals a second, smaller lighthouse in the image, down at the end of the pier and farther from shore. I was bewildered: why two lighthouses, instead of just one?

I went on to learn that these two iconic lighthouses were constructed in the early 1900s and served for a century through all manner of conditions, including brutal winter storms that often leave the smaller lighthouse completely covered in ice. The second lighthouse may be vulnerable out there on the pier, but that’s specifically because of its purpose: it was built, some years after the first, as a complement to the original one, to extend their combined reach across the water.

These two lighthouses got me thinking.

I joined Driven Brands as the Chief Technology Officer in July 2022. In addition to contributing to the company’s accelerated growth, I’ve been thrilled to immerse myself in the organization’s success-driven culture. A culture of dreaming big, driving value, and working hard is infused throughout Driven. Even more special is a sense of family and purpose among our employees, customers, franchises, brands, and shareholders. This was evident almost immediately in all members of our executive leadership team. 

As Driven Brands continues to pursue a data-driven approach to our business, it’s been exciting for me as CTO to work with colleagues who are oriented around that approach. It starts with our CEO’s vision of unlocking the data potential to better serve our customers. It flows through to our broader technology team and our mission to digitally modernize our technology solutions and services and unlock an improved customer experience. It extends to our approach to investing wisely with an enterprise view in mind as we control costs and maximize our return on investments. 

 "​I joined Driven Brands as the Chief Technology Officer in July 2022. In addition to contributing to the company’s accelerated growth, I’ve been thrilled to immerse myself in the organization’s success-driven culture"

It’s hard for me to think of a department or colleague whose work isn’t impacted by our data-centric mindset and shared focus on merging data with strategy. 

 Since joining the company, I’ve seen tremendous opportunities to empower and enable more business, moving our corporate mission – to become the best automotive franchise company in North America – forward. These opportunities make my job exciting – and important. At Driven Brands, the role of the Technology Office is two-fold: one, to shine a light on potential challenges that can impede us in our mission; and, two, to create innovative and transformative solutions to help our franchises, customers, employees, and company in our journey as we experience burgeoning growth.  

Traditionally, IT stands for “Information Technology,” but I strongly believe and advocate that IT should really stand for Innovation and Transformation, as it pertains to its primary components: people, processes, and technology. We leverage these three components – both within our technology team and company-wide – to complement and extend the reach of our corporate vision so that all our stakeholders, internal and external, can navigate toward our goals.

Working alongside my colleagues, my job is to continue developing a successful technology strategy, streamlined operating model, and solid technology infrastructure to serve as that second lighthouse – that complementary light that illuminates every risk and opportunity we face. As we approach this work within and across teams, with everyone aligned to probe deeper into the darkness than ever before, we are well on our way to a spectacular and bright future.

Mano Paul is CTO at Driven Brands. He is a veteran IT professional with over two decades of entrepreneurial and enterprise experience leading technological digital transformation. He is a recognized cybersecurity author and industry influencer. Outside of work, he spends his time with his family, reading, playing ping pong, doing Kung-Fu (Mano is a 3rd degree Shaolin-Do Kung Fu Blackbelt), hanging out with friends, and doing theological podcasts.