"Tech Talk USA" with Bron McCall from Extra Space Storage

Each week on “Tech Talk USA,” our host Jeff Hootselle sits down with experts in the information technology world. This week, Jeff spoke to Bron McCall from Extra Space Storage.

Extra Space Storage, headquartered in Salt Lake City, is the second largest self-storage operator in the US.

To learn more, visit https://www.extraspace.com

Short company description: Extra Space Storage, headquartered in Salt Lake City, is the second largest self-storage operator in the US. As of December 31, 2020, the Company owned and/or operated 1,921 self-storage properties, which comprise approximately 1.4 million units and approximately 149.2 million square feet of rentable storage space offering customers conveniently located and secure storage units across the country, including boat storage, RV storage and business storage.

What is your competitive differentiator?: Our differentiators are the quality of our portfolio of properties and the customer experience we offer.

How did you get started in the technology field?: Went to college to become a computer programmer. Over my career my responsibilities continued to grow.

What do you consider to be the biggest challenge when bridging the gap between IT and the overall business for most companies?: I think the challenge for most companies is understanding how technology can deliver the outcomes they strive for and then the IT leadership and vision to actually execute on and deliver those outcomes.

What is the best or most worthwhile technology investment that you have made in the past 10 years?: Moving to the cloud, I'm 90% there now at Extra Space and by end of year I'll be 100%. The cloud offers so many advantages.

What are the areas of technology that you see as being the most impactful to the business world in the next 5 years?: Automation. I realize this is really broad but what I mean is the automation of not only IT tasks like the datacenter, CICD, quality, but other parts of the business, call center, accounting, etc.