1. The 21st Century Technologist
DONALD TABONE
12/03/2015
DTABONE@GMAIL.COM
2. A story of tech evolution
1986, Memotech 512s2
1990, Goldstar 286 12Mhz PC
1994, dan 486DX 66Mhz PC
…
To a state wherein each family member (inc. my four year
old) now has two or more electronic devices we use on a
daily basis – connected to the web
Have we all evolved into technologists?
3. Some recent stats..1
Sources:
We are social - Social, Digital &
Mobile in Europe, Feb 5 2015
In total we spend
close to
6 Hours online!
Necessity vs. habit
4. Some recent stats..2
Regular internet
users are 73.2% of
the population
aged 16 to 74
Sources:
Internet access in 81% of Maltese
households, Maltatoday, Mar 3 2015
We are social - Social, Digital &
Mobile in Europe, Feb 5 2015
5. “
”
A thirsty crow found a pitcher containing some water,
albeit too little and low to reach. As it seemed she would
die within sight of the remedy, so the crow struck upon
an idea to drop pebbles into the pitcher. The water level
rose and the crow was able to drink.
Necessity is the mother of invention – Aesop
The crow and the pitcher
And as tech continues to evolve so do businesses and the way we do business.
Lest we forget, so does the technologist (out of necessity) …
6. Define: technologist
Pronunciation: /tɛkˈnɒlədʒɪst/
A specialist in the field of Information
Technology
Information technology (IT) is the
application of computers and
telecommunications equipment to store,
retrieve, transmit and manipulate data,
often in the context of a business or
other enterprise
Which gave birth to what we like to call the IT professional …. (generically)
7. Zooming in
CTO/CIO
Systems/Infrastructure Engineer
IT Manager
Systems Administrator
Systems Support Executive
Developer / Software Engineer
Technical Architect
Information Security Analysts
Database Administrator
Network Engineer
Some duties include:
Ensuring business continuity
Ecommerce development
Establishing Legal safeguards
Managing teams
Improving process efficiency & effectiveness
Developing an IT and digital strategy
The identification & communication of IT risks
Budgeting
Major distinction is between technologies that a firm
seeks to actually develop to commercialize itself vs.
technologies that support or enable a firm to carry out
its ongoing operations
8. The challenges
RESOURCES Limited technical, human and financial resources
FOCUS Changing landscape of the business
PEOPLE Team management – performance and people problems
QUANTIFICATION Quantifying risks and proposed solutions
IT GOVERNANCE Policy implementation / establishing standards
SECURITY Justifying the need for security
CHANGE MANAGEMENT Acting as agents for change
SOLUTIONS AND TECHNOLOGY new technologies in favour of legacy systems
ANALYTICS Leveraging big data, BI and data mining techniques
& TIME
!
10. Resources
There is a technical solution for everything… BUT
clearly we need
TIME TO DEVELOP / IMPLEMENT SOLUTIONS
FINANCING
HUMAN RESOURCES + KNOWLEDGE + ADEQUATE
SKILL SETS
ADEQUATE SUPPOTING TECHNICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
How should we manage expectations?
COBIT basic principle and identified IT resources
Applications, Information, Infrastructure, People
11. Focus
Companies change focus too often
Adopt a ‘react or die’ approach
Doing things by default
As a consequence
Resources are spread thinly
Not dedicating enough time for any one project
Motivation & demoralisation issues ?
Overworked & underutilised staff ?
Productivity issues?
Perhaps we should be making our highest contribution
where it really matters.
Image source: http://www.amazon.com/Essentialism-The-Disciplined-Pursuit-Less/dp/0804137382
13. People
The organisation
of team dynamics
Skill sets that are
hard to find
Flexitime
Mobility
Device
independence
Company
hierarchy structure
constraints
15. Quantification (of risks)
Adopting a risk based approach to quantify risks is difficult to drive
Risks can be quantified when looked at from various angles:
Financial (though cost/benefit analysis)
Reputation
Business
Customer base
Loss of market share
Indirect / direct dependencies
Legal liability
Risks would always be relative to the business
Such an approach is also beneficial to prioritise
16. IT Governance
COBIT5 enables a
company to take
a holistic
approach to IT
Governance
Provides a
structured control
framework
against which you
can benchmark
the activities in an
IT Department
17. Security
Information security is often
Downplayed
Misunderstood
Taken for granted
Assumed to be only applicable in the digital world
Security awareness sessions are rare and very fruitful
The answer to – How secure are we? – is vague at the very minimum
The result of security exercises (when done) are often left on shelf 13
Sometimes we actually prefer NOT TO KNOW..
Security policies are rarely upheld or embraced and controls are ineffective
Balancing security and usability is a feat…
We prefer to take a reactive approach rather than proactive
The business always wins…
Quote source: Executive Priorities – Balancing Security and Usability, Rafal Los, 17 Mar 2015
"No one should ever have
to fight against a set of
security tools to
accomplish their job.
Ever.”
“ without security the
business still most
likely can survive.
Without the business,
security is
unemployed.”
18. Change management
General resistance to change
The old adage of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ still very much applies
Image source: Applying COBIT framework in change management,
Madhav Kulkarni, CISA
Accelerants to the process of change
management
Revamping of business strategies such as
diversification, acquisitions, mergers
Competitive pressure
Rising customer expectation
Emergence of new tech
19. Solutions and technologies
We are living in a mobile-fist, cloud-first
world
Cloud computing is driving business agility
(positively)
Reducing (if not eliminating) capital
expenditure
Transforming
Domiciling information out-of-the-office
But also creating increased dependencies on
third parties
Image source: Harvard Business Review, the digital transformation of business
20. Solutions and technologies
Internet of Things (IoT)
There is more risk being
seen as wearables and
other connected
devices are increasingly
making their way into
the workplace
Embracing the
benefits requires:
Preparation
Education
Governance
Source: ISACA, Internet of Things: Risk and Value
considerations
21. Analytics
Business Intelligence is driving management to take data driven
decisions
BIG data allows management to gauge and benchmark performance
in a wider context (rather than just local)
Analytics through data mining
Further allows the company to get to know its online audience
Provide better targeted products vs. a one size-fits-all approach
Understand and respond to customer concerns
Embrace customer engagement (on social media)
(Market) trends are easily deduced over time
Facilitates decisions related to diversification efforts
There must be an effort to transform data into information through
management systems
SOME FACTS
Data is increasing
at nearly 50-80%
year over year
Storage capacity is
doubling every 18
months and
dropping in cost
by 50% a year
Fact source: Introduction to Associative Information Systems, Jean Michel Letennier, CTO AtomicDB Corp.
22. With doubt, with MANY CHALLENGES!
A plethora of designations to choose from (related to IT)
A warrantless profession that is continually evolving
And in need of several skill sets
Managerial
Business (development) oriented
Legal oriented
Technically savvy and up to date
Sanity is achieved with structure – by adopting a framework such as COBIT
Training, leading by example and a general can-do aptitude are essential
Communication in general is vital for survival
Conclusion
Where does all this leave the technologist?
A FEW LESSONS LEARNT
