To Dan Canzano, there’s more to being the vice president of IT at Paychex than understanding technology. “I am not a technologist per se,” he says. “I have a master’s in business and I’ve been smart enough to surround myself with very capable and smart technical people.”

At Paychex, those technology brains are hard at work developing the unique suite of applications that forms the basis of the company’s payroll services business. According to Canzano, that software is one of Paychex’s most important business assets. “Virtually everything we do is made up of three significant components: sales, operations, and technology. Those three pillars, so to speak, are the underpinnings of our success,” Canzano says.

In managing the almost 700 employees in Paychex’s IT department, Canzano makes sure that technology solutions are deployed in a manner that aligns with business objectives. After that’s done, he says, all that remains is to set the machine in motion.

“If there’s a philosophy in there anywhere,” Canzano says, “it’s to make sure that I’ve got the best technical minds available to me around me, and try to give them some guidance and direction from a business perspective and then, quite frankly, get out of their way.”

Dan Canzano, Paychex