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1、INDEPENDEN T P U B L I C AT I O N BYRACONTEUR.NET06/03/2022#0788The modern CIO is continually engaging in partnerships,both internal and external,and developing collaborative solutions that reduce operational friction and align with their organisations immediate needs and future direction.”Danny Ree

2、ves is another former CIO who has moved up to the top job.Having worked as CIO and director of client services at construction giant Balfour Beatty,heis now CEO of data management company Exonar.He argues that CIOs should be gaining all the skills they require to become CEO in the course of their wo

3、rk.While Reeves believes that“being a good CIO does not necessarily make you a good CEO,you do experience the complexities ofpeople,operations,marketing and sales(usually to internal stakeholders)and budgets,all of which lead well to the CEOs role.For my money,the most important skills are managing

4、people and developing inclusive and positive cultures.Thats the same whether youre navigating the twists and turns of startup life or dealing with corporate complexity.”Caroline Sands is a partner at executive search company Odgers Berndtson,where she heads the CIO and technology officers practice.D

5、rawing on her experience of working with firms to appoint former IT chiefs to CEO positions,she says that the pandemicinduced uptick in digital transformations has“led to a new appreciation for the skills that CIOs can apply holistically to organisations”.Sands observes that the strong appetite amon

6、g corporate boards for digital transformation has“necessitated the appointment of leaders with a deep understanding Silicon ceiling:why the ultimate career step is the hardestCIOs are wielding more strategic influence than ever,yet relatively few goon to lead their firms.Whats hindering them from be

7、coming CEOs?he role of the CIO is evolving.Historically pigeonholed as tech bods,CIOs are making highvalue contributions that are often inseparable from their firms wider business strategies.Its natural to wonder whats next for them as their work becomes ever more pivotal:given their growing influen

8、ce as strategic decisionmakers,surely theres a strong case for more of todays CIOs to become tomorrows CEOs?While those in the top job typically emerge from the operations and finance functions,are there qualities that are unique to CIOs that could strengthen their leadership credentials?“The people

9、 overseeing the data and technology strategy in a company make good candidates to be its next CEO.But it is not their tech or data analytics skills in isolation that are important,”stresses James Berry,lecturer and director of the MBA programme at University College London School of Management.“A go

10、od CEO will not only understand the function and potential of technologies;they will also have a broad enough understanding of the wider business to know how the data produced by those technologies will be used by the organisations core functions.”There is no denying that relatively few CIOs become

11、CEOs,especially outside the tech industry.One reason could be that the CIOs realm of expertise may not be broad enough.A common view is that CIOs dont get as much exposure as most of their Clevel colleagues do to other key functions in the business,which is seen as a necessary precursor to gaining t

12、he top job.Jon Faulkner is the founder and CEO of design consultancy 6bythree Digital,having previously served as CIO at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.He suggests that entrenched attitudes about what someone whos come up through the IT function can bring to the party are hinderi

13、ng the further progress ofCIOs.“I have had many IT leadership roles,”Faulkner says.“But there was a general belief that,because of my technical background,I didnt have all the right skills forstepping up to a broader role as a CEO(or even COO).Ive since gone on to set upand grow two digital agencies

14、.Today,I have full accountability,covering finance,sales,marketing,general management,leadership and our delivery of strategy and consulting services.”He continues:“CIOs absolutely do have the right skills to step up,as theyll invariably have significant financial responsibilities,albeit perhaps not

15、 full profit and loss.Katie ByrneA freelance business journalist with a focus on careers.Alison ColemanA writer and editor covering technology and transformation.Sam ForsdickRaconteurs staff writer,specialising in technology andthe future of work.Christine HortonA journalist focusing on the impact o

16、f tech on business.Nick MartindaleA freelance journalist specialising in small business and supply chain matters.Rich McEachranA freelance journalist covering the intersection of business,technology and sustainability.Emily SearesAn awardwinning editor and journalist who covers retail,transformation

17、 and leadership.Ouida TaaffeThe editor of Financial World,the magazine of the London Institute of Banking&Finance.Megan TatumAn awardwinning freelance journalist covering business,technology and health.Emma WoollacottA journalist covering business,technology and science.of enterprise technology.In s

18、ome cases,this appetite has been voracious and has required leaders who understand when budgets should be allocated to technology projects just as much as when they should not.Its making a compelling case for CIOs stepping up as CEOs.”But are they fully equipped to handle some of the other demands o

19、f the top job?Sands argues that,although they may be Distributed inPublished in association withAlthough this publication is funded through advertising and sponsorship,all editorial is without bias and sponsored features are clearly labelled.For an upcoming schedule,partnership inquiries or feedback

20、,please call+44(0)20 8616 7400 or e-mail .Raconteur is a leading publisher of special-interest content and research.Its pub-lications and articles cover a wide range of topics,including business,finance,sustainability,healthcare,lifestyle and technology.Raconteur special reports are published exclu-

21、sively in The Times and The Sunday Times as well as online at .The information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources the Proprietors believe to be correct.However,no legal liability can be accepted for any errors.No part of this publication may be reproduced with-out the prior

22、 consent of the Publisher.Raconteur Media/future-cio-2022raconteur/raconteur_londonTHE FUTURE CIOR E C R U I T M E N TS U S TA I N A B I L I T YT H E M E TAV E RS EHiring IT talent has never been harder.CIOs need to learn what todays candidates really wantWhy tech teams have a key roleto play in hel

23、ping UK plc to achieve its net-zero targetsIt may have great potential,butit is too soon for CIOs to beplanning for its arrival?Christine HortonTContributorsFEW TECH SPECIALISTS HAVE STEPPED UP TO LEAD THE UKS BIGGEST BUSINESSESBackground experience of FTSE-100 CEOs There was a general beliefthat,be

24、cause of my technical background,Ididnt have all the right skills for stepping upL E A D E R S H I PLead publisher Farihah ChowdhuryDeputy editorFrancesca CassidyReports editorIan DeeringSub-editorNeil ColeHead of productionJustyna OConnellDesign and production assistantLouis NassDesignKellie Jerrar

25、dCelina LuceyColm McDermottSamuele MottaSean Wyatt-LivesleyManaging editorSarah VizardDesign directorTim WhitlockIllustrationSara Gelfgren Harvey Nash Group,202165%of digital leaders are a member of the operational boardfocused on technology,CIOs are still functional leaders.This gives them a good g

26、rounding for taking certain strategic initiatives from their CEOs.Such assignments might include“leading on a companys inclusion and diversity strategy,its approach to sustainability or the cultural aspects of a digital transformation”,she says.“In an ecommerce or B2C business,for example,CIOs may a

27、lso have the opportunity to get involved in product development.”Sands continues:“We often advise CIOs to seek ways of showcasing their strategic knowhow.Such opportunities commonly include turning around a failing business unit and bringing a new product or service to market.Technology underpins al

28、most every aspect of a business,which means that theres plenty of scope for a CIO to gain broad leadership experience.”Offering a different view,Matt Cockbill,managing partner of the IT and digital leadership practice at Berwick Partners(part of the Odgers Berndtson group)questions why CIOs would fe

29、el a strong need to seek out the top job.“Theyre capable people who have a box seat at the forefront of the future of work,”he says.“Where they may have sought the COO/CEO path in the past as they outgrew an inwardlooking role,todays CIOs are adept leaders with the capacity to add value to colleague

30、s and customers.Some will continue exploring that path.But,where businesses are utilising the ever more dextrous leadership skills of their CIOs,enabling them to broaden their role and maximise their contribution,why would someone in that role change lanes?”The increasing pace of digital transformat

31、ion has put CIOs in a unique and elevated position.As Sands notes,they have been required to“build bridges between disparate business units;sell the story of transformation to the whole business;and manage any cultural fallout caused by the implementation of new technology.These tasks call for the f

32、undamental skills of people management,communication and leadership that any CEO would need.”13%14%15%17%52%Robert Half UK,2019FinanceEngineering and/or miningRetail and/or hospitalityTechnologyMarketing and/or advertisingPercentages total more than 100 because someCEOshad experience in multiple fie

33、ldsT H E F U T U R E C I O02Commercial featuren 2020,digital transformation leapfrogged seven years of pro-gress in a matter of months.This was the fi nding of a McKinsey research report released in the autumn of 2020 that went viral enough for most business execs to be able to recite its top fi ndi

34、ng.Of course,they didnt need to be told they were leading it.For CIOs and other leaders who had long fought to accelerate the momentum of digital transformation in their organisa-tions,the Covid-19 pandemic presented an extraordinary window of opportunity.The window that was initially opened due to

35、a necessity to continue operating through unprecedented lockdowns,however,is yet to close.The necessity lives on,driven by a realisation that digitisation is about far more than just enabling remote work.In a follow-up survey by McKinsey last year,just 11%of companies said their current business mod

36、els will be econom-ically viable through 2023.To stay rele-vant,they must take digital transforma-tion to the next level,in some cases even building new digital businesses.What Intel refers to as the four super-powers namely cloud,AI,edge and 5G fuel digital transformation and the dig-itisation of e

37、verything.In this landscape of rapid digital disruption,technology has become more critical than ever before.Yet while the upper echelons of practically all organisations now recognise the crucial importance of digitisation,and are ready to invest the sums necessary to transform their business,there

38、s a sting in the tail.Most of the key challenges involved in executing digital transformation successfully are not related to technology per se,but to people or rather the lack of them with the necessary skills.And few are currently overcoming the talent challenge.How open leadership supports digita

39、l transformationEfforts to accelerate digital transformation are being held back by challenges fi nding the right talent.At a virtual roundtable sponsored by Red Hat and Intel,senior leaders said a more open culture is required.To watch the full roundtable on demand,visit to face the challengeIt is

40、against this backdrop that a round-table,sponsored by Red Hat and Intel,was convened on 24 February.It brought together business and technology lead-ers from different sectors to share their experiences and discuss how traditional approaches to leadership must evolve.“The last two years have given a

41、 signif-icant boost to our digital transformation progress,”said Steven Zuanella,group chief digital offi cer at Generali.“But by increasing the volume of work in this area,the amount of people required with the right skills has also grown.We were already facing shortages of specialist skills like d

42、ata scientists and automation engineers,but that has accelerated,and the range of skills we need is broadening too.“There are plenty of people out there with an in-demand skill set,but applying that in a business context with business rationale and customer-centricity is not as easy.Attracting peopl

43、e that can do that is a real challenge because there is so much choice for them.There are lots of sexy companies to join and as a more established legacy business we arent always top of the list,so we have to fi nd other ways to foster those skills,such as upskilling internal resources.”Upskill and

44、awayOver the last 12 months,Generali has enrolled more than 7,000 employees,about 10%of its workforce,in internal upskilling programmes.The fi nancial services com-pany,which is one of the largest global insurance and asset management provid-ers globally,has also introduced new role schools,which ar

45、e mini university courses built specifi cally to upskill people in key areas of demand such as CRM,smart auto-mation,analytics and AI.Organisations must,however,ensure their focus on gaining new skills doesnt cause them to drop the ball elsewhere.Amidst a widespread uplift in people leav-ing their j

46、obs in recent months,which the media has labelled the great resignation,companies must be equally concerned with retaining existing skill sets and ensuring people are happy and engaged.“Youve got to be careful that you dont cul-tivate an A and B culture,where the A team is the people youre trying to

47、 attract from the outside and the B team is those already in the organisation saying what about me?”said Gavin Laybourne,CIO APMT,IoT,and strate-gic brands and fl eet at Danish shipping com-pany Maersk.“Thats what were focused on:not just attraction of new talent but reten-tion of existing talent.La

48、ybourne also pointed to the shift in cul-ture needed for successful transforma-tion.“People say transformation is about the removal of existing systems.But its not just about an IT system,its about systems of thinking.People will often say when do we fi nish this transformation programme?But transfo

49、rmation is continuous and open lead-ership is a way of shifting thinking and behav-iours to align with that.Weve been focus-ing on fostering an engineering-led culture.Engineers want to be great engineers,so give them the space to develop the best tools and practices.Managers shouldnt be telling the

50、m the tools they should be using,but what we can do is empower people and foster the right open culture.”Open for businessWhether they label it in this way or not,most organisations are now championing the idea of open leadership.According to the Open Organization,it embodies prin-ciples such as tra

51、nsparency,inclusivity,adaptability,collaboration and commu-nity,which should be interconnected.Open organisations empower people at all levels to act with accountability.Open leaders,meanwhile,commit to transparency about both their goals and constraints,and to creating more inclusive workplaces by

52、bringing together diverse groups of stakeholders in environments they can thrive in.Crucially,open lead-ers constantly seek to align their teams actions and behaviours with the overall mission and goals of the business.Red Hat,which has been a pioneer of open leadership,dismisses the traditional way

53、 of calling somebody a leader when they are appointed to a senior position or given a certain title.Instead,Red Hat employees earn their leadership status when they adopt open leadership behav-iours and mindsets.Defi ning these prin-ciples enables Red Hat to cultivate a cul-ture in which they are no

54、rmalised and where passionate teams enable the best in each other.“Open leadership has been crucial ever since the start of Red Hat,”said Hans Roth,EMEA general manager at Red Hat.“You cant force people to work effi ciently they need to be passionate about doing it.Open leadership creates a safe env

55、ironment and allows diversity of opinions so people feel really connected to what theyre doing.We do a lot of diversity and inclusion work across different minority groups within Red Hat,but its also important to have diversity in mindset.That means enabling people to speak out without consequences.

56、“We have built a culture of open leader-ship partly by actually measuring the perfor-mance of managers against open leadership principles.At Red Hat we have four core values:freedom,accountability,commit-ment and courage.They are the elements we use to benchmark both our business and our people.Ther

57、es a formula that says strategy times execution to the power of trust equals results.The only way to scale is to scale with trustful,integrated leadership positions where you can look in the eyes of colleagues or partners today and tomorrow.Leaders are catalysts that empower your teams to trust each

58、 other.”Colin MacHale,EMEA territory director,distribution,partners and programs at Intel,added:In addition to open leader-ship,what weve seen Intel focus on is an open ecosystem being equally important.Innovation thrives in an open,democra-tised environment where people can con-nect,communicate,and

59、 jointly respond to situations.Now more than ever,the world faces many challenges that demand inno-vation and transparency.Sit down,speak upRoman Beilhack,head of new technolo-gies and internet of things underwriting at Munich Re,one of the worlds leading reinsurers,is a keen advocate of open lead-e

60、rship,and told the roundtable partici-pants it gives every member of his team a seat at the table.He focuses on creating opportunities to ensure people are heard,which means removing the traditional hier-archical management structures that deter them from speaking up.“Open leadership works by having

61、 very fl at hierarchies,delegating decision powers and having agile methods which allow teams to arrange themselves as much as possible,”Beilhack said.“Open leaders are transparent and talk openly about what works well and,equally important,what doesnt work so well.Thats easier said than done becaus

62、e a lot of us have worked in a business culture and environment where we pretend to be the best.“If you want to improve,you have to continuously talk also about what isnt going so well and why.That is very impor-tant because the role of the manager changes dramatically.A good manager is no longer th

63、e person who apparently knows best.A good manager really needs to become a coach of the team and an arranger of good teams.The manager becomes the servant,but that requires cultural change.Introducing new meth-odologies and processes is also impor-tant but if there is no cultural change,open leaders

64、hip wont work.”Swinging the pendulumIt also wont work if there is a mismatch between empowerment and alignment with necessary guardrails.Its crucial to both digital transformation and retain-ing talent that leaders give their teams the freedom and agility to solve prob-lems how they want.But swingin

65、g too far on the pendulum of fl exibility can open up vulnerabilities or cause issues that are counterintuitive to successful transformation.This spectrum can often bring tension.“The concepts of open leadership and digital transformation are no longer solely the domain of technology specialists.The

66、y need to be embedded across the organi-sation,”said Simon McKinnon,chief digital and information offi cer at the Department for Work and Pensions.“But for that to happen,we must have balance between empowerment and alignment to ensure we share data and technology across lines of business or product

67、 areas.That is another cultural shift were having to go through.”There are many challenges ahead as organisations continue on their digi-tal journeys.The leadership principles they embrace will differ from company to company.But one thing they must be united on is their conviction to continue the pa

68、ce of digitisation.“The tools continually evolve to enable us to do different things,but we as people and leaders also need to collectively evolve to take advantage of them,”said MacHale.“The pandemic has accelerated digi-tal transformation through sheer neces-sity but,if were not careful,returning

69、to a mindset of inertia will set us back.The opportunity is now to lead our organisa-tions forward.That sounds simple but its not that easy to do.Its incumbent on us to continue the momentum from the last couple of years and drive transformation for the good of everyone.”There is no start and end to

70、 transfor-mation it is a continuous process.With the right leadership,culture and a steady foot on the pedal of innovation,organisa-tions put themselves in the best position to succeed.For more information,visit concepts of open leadership and digital transformation are no longer the domain of techn

71、ology specialists.They need to be embedded across the organisationMcKinsey 2021of companies said their current business models will be economically viable through 202311%IBen RossiOur panel onWhat does it mean to be a successful leader in 2022?Panel Steven Zuanella,group chief digital offi cer,Gener

72、aliGavin Laybourne,CIO APMT,IoT,and strategic brands and fl eet,MaerskHans J Roth,EMEA general manager,Red HatColin MacHale,EMEA territory director,distribution,partners and programs,IntelSimon McKinnon,chief digital and information offi cer,Department for Work and PensionsRoman Beilhack,head of new

73、 technologies and internet of things underwriting,Munich ReSteven ZuanellaIt means creating a culture of inclusiveness and sustainability,empowering our people to innovate,and equipping them,most importantly,with the skills and ways of working for the digital age.Colin MacHaleBeing a successful lead

74、er in 2022 is about enabling our people to be the best that they can be.Gavin LaybourneThe environment is going to be fl uid,and it will continue to be fl uid,and it will continue to be disruptive.And I think,as a leader,its how you give that clarity to the people around you so that they can be succ

75、essful,so that they dont need to worry about the noise.Simon McKinnonIts about making sure that everyone understands the outcomes youre trying to achieve,and then empowering and supporting the individuals to deliver them.Hans J RothIt starts with being a catalyst,in order to empower the teams to tru

76、st each other and foster that acceleration or scale of business or scale of working together.Its all about the working models.Roman BeilhackBeing a successful leader in 2022 means being wide awake and humble.R A C O N T E U R.N E T03Remote workingOffshoringHOW TO OFFER THE BEST ONGOING SUPPORT FOR S

77、TAFFShare of CIOs planning actions to help their IT teams worldwide in the short to medium termHOW TO PREPARE FOR THE MEDIUM TERMShare of CIOs planning changes to investments in IT staffing worldwideAs many businesses grapple with the logistical and cultural complexities of the hybrid working regime

78、s they have adopted,IT chiefs have taken responsibility for ensuring that the digital working experience is as effective as it can be.Despite this,a significant proportion of remote workers are still struggling with accessibility,while even more have proved vulnerable to cyber attacks.How should CIO

79、s respond?of CIOs say that“improving remote work experiences”is one of their CEOs top priorities for them to help firms persevere through Coviddisruptionsof businesses cite limitations in the pool of available IT workers in the region as a factor behind the difficult recruitment marketShare of CIOs

80、in March 2021 expecting their workforce to be permanently remoteof CISOs say their businesses have seen more targeted cyber attacks since enabling widespread remote working37%35%31%60%IDG Research Services,2020Computing Technology Industry Association,2021Wikibon,2021Proofpoint,2021Computing Technol

81、ogy Industry Association,2021Sapio Research,Citrix,2021Educate on best practices for remote workInvest in communications /collaborationImprove laptop distributionInvest more in remote connectivityEducate managers with remote employeesMigrate more applications to thecloudImprove smartphone distributi

82、onFlexera Software,20213%3%36%43%4%10%24%7%DECREASE SIGNIFICANTLYDECREASE SOMEWHATINCREASE SOMEWHATINCREASE SIGNIFICANTLYHOW TO THINK ABOUT THREATSShare of US and European CISOs citing concerns about remote workCyber attacksHuman errorCloud computing vulnerabilitiesMobile device securityLoss of corp

83、orate dataLoss of employees personal dataBusiness continuityIoT intrusion(end-user security diligence)Insider threats/untrustworthy employeesWeb apps and API protectionSecurity risks in the supply chain0%10%20%30%40%50%40%41%39%37%37%35%30%HOW HAS WORKING CHANGED SINCE 2020?Share of enterprise IT wo

84、rkers by type of employment,March 2020THE CIO AND HYBRID WORKFlexera Software,202030%40%20%10%HOW TO GET THE TEAM UP TO SPEEDUseful remote working solutions according to IT decision-makers worldwide,by organisation sizeTraining sessions for employeesUse casesTraining documentation for employeesRetur

85、n-on-investment reportsTestimonials from workers using thesolutionsVery small/smallLargeMediumDFGIACFlexible purchasing arrangementsAll-in-one packages with software andhardware services bundledTestimonials from others in my industryEHBOther32%Lenovo,202138%43%40%37%42%47%22%20%28%22%27%24%22%29%33%

86、28%34%37%30%33%37%30%36%38%31%36%34%Full time remote14%Full time in the office54%0%HGFEDCIABThought leadership from original equipment manufacturersT H E F U T U R E C I O04Commercial featureWith the right sort of teaching,anyone can learn anythingSince finding a fun and profitable way to teach peop

87、lehow to use spreadsheets,Kat Norton has hadto widen her own income column.She offers CIOsa winning formula for learner engagement at Norton wants to shake up the way we feel about learning.Better known on TikTok and Instagram by her user name,Miss Excel,Norton has been adding her distinctive brand

88、of youthful exuberance to Microsofts venerable spreadsheet program since she started posting usage tips on the videosharing networks in June 2020.Short videos such as Scrub Data,Time Trick and Heat Map Magic,set to popular R&B tunes and accompanied by a beaming Norton dancing to thebeat,have helped

89、her to attract well over 1.3 million followers to date.This product of a pandemic lockdown has turned into a successful enterprise for the 27yearold Long Islander,providing the springboard for her online academy,which opened in November 2020.This offers videobased learning for businesses and individ

90、uals who want to improve their knowledge of Microsoft packages and selected Google applications.More than 10,000 people have enrolled so far on courses ranging from Word with Miss Excel,priced at$297(220),to Complete Microsoft Office Suite at$997.The concept of Miss Excel sprang from Nortons genuine

91、 passion for the program.Having started using it as a primary school pupil,she began to get“really good”at Excel while studying for her MBA at Binghamton University in upstate New York.She was then able to“put the dots together”while conducting securitisation reviews for banks as an employee of Cali

92、forniabased global consultancy Protiviti.“I used spreadsheets daily in my work and would constantly be combining tricks in innovative ways to solve problems in my capacity as the companys Excel subject matter expert,”Norton recalls.“As a passion project,I developed an internal training programme.I w

93、ent on to spend years hosting Excel courses around the US.”When the lockdown put paid to her travel plans,Norton suddenly had more time on her hands.She realised that the power of social media could enable her to help so many more people feel“more comfortable and empowered”when using the software.Th

94、eres a simple principle underpinning Nortons approach to teaching a topic thats widely seen as prosaic:make it memorable.“Many companies use stale training methods that are taught in a more traditional style that loses the attention of the participants,”she says.“I use the learning method espoused b

95、y Jim Kwik the author of Limitless:upgrade your brain,learn any-thing faster and unlock your exceptional life.He believes that information plus emotion equals memory.In essence,I create content that combines three things I love:Excel,helping people and dancing.It became this superfun creative outlet

96、 for me that people enjoyed learning from.I think its why my courses have been so successful.A lot of education misses out on the emotional spark that helps learners to recall information.”When Norton describes her courses as“so successful”,shes not exaggerating.Since she uploaded her first video to

97、 TikTok(in which she showcased Excels left/right function while dancing to Drakes Toosie Slide),Miss Excel has become a sevenfigure business.Sales of her B2C courses alone have generated more than$1m.While female whitecollar workers aged under 35 comprise the biggest customer base for Nortons course

98、s,she believes that anybody,regardless of demographic,can get the most from this sort of material as long as theyre open to it and confident enough in their ability to pick up new skills.“With the right sort of teaching,anyone can learn anything,”she says.“But self belief from the learner is critica

99、l.Its why I work hard to empower my students and keep them engaged.”Norton believes that creativity is crucial for any CIO seeking ways to inform colleagues in other functions about important techrelated matters that may seem arcane.The dangers of phishing,say,can be made more fathomable if theyre c

100、onveyed in a way that extends beyond the standard allstaff warning email,which is likely to be forgotten quickly by many recipients.You neednt start throwing shapes on MS Teams(unless you want to,of course),but your message will have far more impact if you can make it an engaging learning experience

101、 that your target audience can relate to.Whether youre trying to school your CEO on ransomware or the wider business on the merits of Trello,consider beforehand what approach is likely to resonate with the recipients.How did you learn about the topic?What,if anything,would you change about that expe

102、rience to make it more appropriate for an audience of nonexperts?While creating a sense of energy and excitement around topics will make them instantly more appealing,keeping things simple and to the point will also help.Socalled microlearning is another increasingly popular approach that CIOs shoul

103、d look to tap into,according to Norton.Bitesized training sessions as opposed to,say,a threehour marathon on a Friday afternoon allow for heightened focus and better knowledge retention.“If your classes are too long,theyll tend to drag.People will zone out,”she warns.From a teachers perspective,Nort

104、on recommends analysing all of the material you want to share and working out how it can be divided into chunks,before“infusing Katie Byrne Many companies use stale training methods,taught in a more traditional style that losesthe attention oftheparticipants If your classes are too long,theyll tend

105、to drag.People will zone outI N T E R V I E WKONLINE LEARNING IN THE UKShare of adults using online learningmaterials,byage group65+25-345%24%16-2446%35-4427%45-5422%55-6417%each piece with as much creativity and fun as possible”.This approach enables bigger topics to be broken down into more digest

106、ible subtopics,with each matched to a creative idea.Remember that your colleagues are only human which means that making a connection with them is crucial,she stresses.“In all of my courses,you will always see me on your screen,”Norton says.“Its as though you and I are having a conversation,one on o

107、ne.”Need for speed:accelerating the journey to operational excellenceEnabling people to work quickly,and orchestrating change at pace,is the key to achieving resilience and operational excellence.But existing processes are slow and costlyhe CIO agenda has shifted sig-nifi cantly over the last couple

108、 of years as organisations have accelerated their embrace of hybrid work-ing and the democratisation of technology and data.The fundamental,underpinning technology required to support the crit-ical business drive for modernisation,not to mention cost effi ciencies,is cloud com-puting.But the transit

109、ion isnt easy.The challenges involved in migrating hundreds or even thousands of workloads to the cloud are plentiful,and diffi cult to overcome in the traditional enterprise way of hiring a systems integrator and throw-ing lots of people and existing processes at the various obstacles.Companies mus

110、t get smarter at executing change without delays,risk and spiralling budgets.That is especially the case if they want to close the worrying resilience gap exposed amidst lockdowns and exacerbating cyber threats.It is now common for boards to question the CIO on what the damage to core business servi

111、ces would be if a data centre or cloud provider went down.Whatever their mix of infrastructure,CIOs need to be able to show they can recover services quickly after a disaster scenario.And thats before even proving they have the systems and capabilities in place to achieve the boards competitive desi

112、re for operational excellence.The biggest challenge of all is that while businesses reap the rewards of hybrid working and data democratisation,these ways of working have also made it harder for CIOs to have visibility across a dis-persed IT estate.And visibility is key to both resilience and operat

113、ional excellence.“We refer to it as the dark matter in the enterprise,”says Ky Nichol,CEO of Cutover,the leader in work orchestration and observability.“A consequence of democ-ratisation is people are doing a lot of things with customer critical data without the right processes and visibility.Meanwh

114、ile,theres this need to facilitate change quickly.You cant just get in some business analysts and consultants in a few months.The business might need something done in the next fi ve hours.”Cutover is the only platform that provides full organisational visibility into dynamic fl ows of work,bringing

115、 them out of the dark matter of the enterprise to enable teams to move quickly with confi dence.The solu-tion eliminates outdated approaches like static-spreadsheets and weekend calls so teams can accomplish the work quickly and effectively.This helps enterprises better plan,orchestrate and audit th

116、e human and automated activities that drive critical events,such as technology releases,resil-ience testing,operational readiness and major incident recovery.The speed of the orchestration and enhanced visibility enables organisations to change,modernise and transform at far greater speed,while beco

117、ming gen-uinely resilient and operationally excel-lent.Whether it is quickly fi nding the bot-tlenecks in a cloud migration,recovering rapidly from major outages or orchestrat-ing teams at times of immense pressure,Cutovers orchestration and observability platform is helping enterprises succeed in t

118、he digital age.“Theres a mountain of stuff to get done in the enterprise today that isnt addressed by solutions built pre-pandemic,”says Nichol.“Its about enabling proper delin-eated orchestrations,joining teams,tech-nology and automation together to get stuff done,and avoiding ad hoc phone calls,sp

119、readsheets and emails.Cutover is like an intergalactic to-do list.You codify like you would build a task list,and Cutover joins it all up in a simple UI to enable you to get going very quickly.“If you want to do operations anywhere and allow people to work quickly,you need these guardrails,especiall

120、y to take the focus of highly paid humans away from coordinat-ing spreadsheets and onto more high-value,critical activities.Then its all automated and easy to observe by any stakeholders,who can watch it play out like a live tennis match on their phone.Businesses have to push the boundaries to succe

121、ed today and as part of that CIOs must enable maximum freedom for people to enact change quickly.We provide that capability.”For more information,visit TVisibility is key to both resilience and operational excellenceR A C O N T E U R.N E T05High on tech,low on talentith the great resignation well un

122、der way and the IT sector already facing significant skills shortages,recruiting and retaining staff has,arguably,never been more important.CIOs must think more deeply than ever about how they can attract the talent required to deliver the IT infrastructure and innovation that will improve their fir

123、ms bottom lines.Salary remains the most important element of any decision on which job to accept,confirms James Hallahan,director of Hays Technology in the UK and Ireland.According to its Hays Salary&Recruiting Trends 2022 guide,57%of tech professionals expect to move jobs this year.The top reason f

124、or doing so,cited by 34%,was to obtain better pay and benefits.Both figures are higher than the average for all UK employees.But Hallahan warns that CIOs shouldnt make pay their focus in attracting applicants.IT professionals also want roles with clear potential for career development.“Your employer

125、 value proposition is the key to retaining talent,with opportunities that promise a rewarding future in the organisation,”he stresses.Shivkumar Gopalan,CIO of software company Unit4,reports that the youngest candidates tend to have different expectations about career development from those of their

126、predecessors.“The generation entering the workforce now are digital natives,comfortable with all forms of technology,”he says.This means a career in IT is no longer just about developing specialist technical skills.Candidates want to develop a broader knowledge of how an enterprise works and of ITs

127、role in driving a business forward.“If CIOs want to attract these candidates,they must show that they can offer immersive experiences that enable employees to collaborate with a wide range of expert colleagues drawn not only from IT,but from all parts of the business,”Gopalan says.The broader packag

128、e is also important,notes Sarah Bennett,CIO of Mercator IT Solutions.“The basic salary needs to sit well in the market,but it needs to be topped up with a good pension,access to healthcare programmes and an allencompassing benefit scheme,including subsidised gym membership,retail discounts and cinem

129、a tickets all things that improve lifestyle,”she says.“Holiday entitlement should also be competitive and,possibly,increase after a certain length of service.”IT professionals expect to be allowed to work flexibly,including a degree of remote working.Harvey Nashs Digital Leadership Report 2021 has f

130、ound that twothirds of CIOs expect most of their team members to work two to three days a week from home.Robert Rutherford,CEO of QuoStar,who oversees the IT consultancys recruitment,believes that its important to give people the chance to work flexibly or to alter their package to fit their preferr

131、ed working style.Because an employees needs and focus canfluctuate throughout their career,employers must be willing to adapt and work around these changes,he says.But Rutherford adds that not all employees will place a high value on flexibility,which is why its worth targeting different groups with

132、 different strategies.“It can pay to focus on offering different compensation pack ages and even to splittest recruitment advertising to appeal to candidates with varying preferences,”he suggests.Company culture is another area that comes under scrutiny.This is where IT teams have a chance to develo

133、p cutting edge propositions that will appeal to their potential recruits.Helena Nimmo,CIO of Endava,says companies can harness IT to differentiate their offering.She cites Google as an example,highlighting how it recently adapted its office environment to meet the demands of a hybrid working model b

134、y incorporating collaboration spaces and inclusive meeting rooms.“A priority for CIOs should be to think about how to create a virtual experience that mimics the physical,”Nimmo says,suggesting methods such as“intuitive connectivity capabilities that bridge the gap between rapidly advancing technolo

135、gy and realworld applications”.The importance of culture extends to an employers broader values too.Issues such as sustainability and responsible business are becoming a higher priority for the newest generation of IT professionals.Mark Mamone,group CIO of digital identity firm GBG,reports that he i

136、s“increasingly seeing this on an equal footing with the financial package”among candidates.Mamone believes that CIOs need to think more about the wider world,what prospective employees care about and how the organisation can engage with them.Companies must establish robust policies on environmental

137、and social issues,as well as sound corporate governance in areas such as diversity and inclusion,the green agenda and charitable giving.GBG gives employees time off to support local community projects,for instance.Bennett suggests that CIOs should focus more of their efforts on keeping their existin

138、g team members,nurturing them and preparing them to assume more technical and/or senior roles within the company.“They may lack certain skills,but these can often be taught,”she says.“What they bring to the table is knowledge of the business and its clients,which should never be underestimated.The a

139、bility to demonstrate that the business tries to upskill its employees will also help to attract new people.”Recruiting and retaining IT professionals has never been harder.CIOs need to look beyond reward packages and understand what todays candidates really want from an employer Other options inclu

140、de targeting specific groups of candidates,such as returning parents and older workers,but such approaches are unlikely to be anything more than a stopgap measure,according to Rutherford,who says:“While there has recently been another push to hire from these pools,there is not enough resource to fil

141、l the roles that CIOs are recruiting for.”The simple truth is that employers need to develop a wellconsidered strategy for attracting,developing and retaining people that will prove effective over the longer term and give them a competitive edge in the war for IT talent.“This will probably take a fe

142、w years to get up to speed,”Rutherford warns.“It will entail approaches such as building internal academies or talent funnels too,but all this will be necessary if companies are to achieve sustainable success.”Nick MartindaleR E C R U I T M E N TWhe perception of IT has come a long way over the past

143、 two decades.It may have started with an image of nerds staring at their screens in the basement,but digital techno logy today is integral to the performance of every business function.The head of IT evolved from a service delivery manager to a multifaceted strategic leader reflected in the CIO job

144、title and,later,chief digital offi cer,chief innovation officer and chief transformation officer.The CIO became the change agent in the C suite,combining technological expert ise with project management knowhow and organisational development skills.The modern CIO understands what true value looks li

145、ke for their business and is able to communicate that vision through every layer of the organisation.They are responsible for building internal support and for implementing a digital culture across all business units.The pandemic has solidified that role,but the widespread adoption of remote working

146、 has also disrup ted internal lines of communication and company culture and generally not in a good way.Offices have closed and the tools that have rep laced them are task oriented.Remote working and rational workflows may suit many of us who work in IT,but the effective CIO needs to be connected w

147、ith all dimensions of their enterprise.With everyone working from home and office communication reduced to Zoom sessions,we have been missing out on essential social interactions from chance watercooler conversations to the afterwork drink with our colleagues.We have lost the venues where the inform

148、al discussions and unplanned interactions took place,where new insights and ideas emerged and where careers were made.We need to reclaim and rebuild these socalled third places.The concept of the third place a communal space between work and home where people can meet on an equal footing was introdu

149、ced by urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg in his 1989 book The Great Good Place.Starbucks popularised the concept and it became an integral aspect of peoples visions of the future of work.Web 2.0 startups dressed up their offices as third places,with the help of bean bags and pingpong tables.Freelancer

150、s and consultants worked from their laptops at coffee shops.Management teams would meet at private clubs or hipster spots such as the Ace Hotel.As the end of the Covid crisis approaches,many employees do not want to return to the office just to sit at a desk they can do that at home.Organisations ar

151、e trying to reimagine offices as spaces for collaborating,teambuilding and developing company culture,taking cues from third places such as coffee shops and hotels.Coworking spaces that were created in the Web 2.0 era had done the same,but some,like WeWork,crashed and burned before the pandemic.When

152、 Covid arrived,it put paid to many more venues.Ace Hotels UK outpost in Shoreditch,east London,has not reopened since the first national lockdown forced it to close its doors in March 2020,for instance.IT leaders need new locations for working with their teams,conversing with managers in the wider b

153、usiness and also networking with their peers.CIOs all have similar challenges to tackle.As Alex Farr,CIO of Strictly Education,notes,he and his fellow ITleaders want to know“how we can grow our businesses and do more faster with less cost and risk to the business.Peertopeer communities mean that we

154、can share realworld experiences with likeminded business leaders.This is invaluable.”Nicholas Woods,CIO at Manchester Airports Group,agrees.“Finding a community that you trust provides invaluable opportunities to share your experiences and exchange knowledge,”he says.“The power of a CIO network is k

155、ey,”adds Barbara Gottardi,former CIO at HSBC and Vanguard Europe.“Were all trying to solve very similar problems.Collaboration among peers ultimately helps the end customers.”Professional networks,trade associations and conferences are filling the void to create new third places,complementing the re

156、designed offices and cool communal hangouts in the city.No matter where they manifest themselves,venues enabling conversation,communitybuilding,professional dev elopment and continuous learning are vital for techdriven innovation.As the end of the Covid crisis approaches,many employees dont want to

157、return to theoffice just to sit at a desk they can do that at homeAndrew Pryor and Daniel Warburton Co-Founders,CIO WatercoolerO P I N I O NT Your employer value proposition is the key to retaining talent,with opportunities that promise a rewarding future in the organisationPERSONNELS PRIORITIESShar

158、e of HR professionals citing areas they were planning to invest in/develop in 2021CodinGame,20215%10%12%14%22%25%27%43%49%55%GDPR complianceCollaborative hiringHR analysisSocial recruitingRecruitment marketingHR technology and toolsExpanding the talent poolEmployer brandingTalent retentionCandidate

159、experienceT H E F U T U R E C I O06As UK businesses work towards the ambitious goals theyve set themselves for carbon reduction,all functions will need to play their part and the IT department is no exceptionlmost a third of British businesses have signed up to the United Nations Race to Zero campai

160、gn,while all large companies registered in theUK are required to disclose their plans for achieving netzero greenhouse gas emissions before next year.Each firm will be expected to calculate its carbon footprint,establish long and shortterm reduction targets with a sound basis in science,allocate fun

161、ds and monitor progress.They must consider not only the operational emissions under their direct control(scopes one and two),but also the scopethree emissions that arise at each end of their value chains.Upstream scopethree emissions include those generated by suppliers.Downstream ones include those

162、 created by the consumption and disposal of its products by customers.This is a huge change that will require strategiclevel input from every member of the C suite including the CIO.“The CIO and their team play a crucial role in their companys carbonreduction programme.This is especially true when t

163、hat company,like ours,is a tech firm with a digital offering,”says Roy Aston,group CIO at online payments provider Paysafe.“They can factor environmental considerations into their entire technology strategy,including ensuring that they are adopting a green approach with their IT infrastructure how t

164、hey build their tech,store data and recycle equipment.They have influence in so many areas.”One of the biggest environmental wins can come from shifting to a public cloud computing service.In a 2021 study commissioned by Amazon Web Services(AWS)a major provider of cloud services analysts at 451 Rese

165、arch reported that cloud servers are roughly three times more energyefficient than the computing resources of the average European company.They also found that most businesses dont prioritise the sustainability of their data centre infrastructure,including its associated energy costs.“Switching to c

166、loud computing reduces the electricity consumed by data centres by consolidating platforms and transferring more transactional systems to the provider,”Aston says.“At Paysafe,we have moved about 70%of our workload into the at Coutts,which achieved B Corp status last year.One of the advantages of see

167、king such certification,he says,is that the socalled B Impact Assessment tool(BIA)“gives us a clear idea of what we need to change,such as processes and frameworks,to enable us to become a more sustainable business.The output BIA scores then help us find a way to track our sustainable progress.”A gl

168、obal poll of CIOs by IBM late last year found that 42%of respondents expected technology to have a significant impact on sustainability over the next three years.Hu notes that,given how technology is“embedded in almost every aspect of any organisation,the CIO can ensure that environmental efforts re

169、main front and centre in much of their companys decision making.Were often at the table when setting objectives and key performance indicators,so we can advocate for measuring the enterprises climate impact as part of our performance metrics.”He adds:“The easiest wins are likely to come in areas tha

170、t the CIO can control directly internal decisions to prioritise greener technologies.”scopethree emissions throughout its value chain by 25%.Given that many CEOs wont be in the same post in years to come,their companies would be well advised to set their environmental commitments in stone to ensure

171、continuity of effort under new management.This can be done by signing up for projects such as the Science Based Targets initiative or the B Corporation certification scheme.Mohammad Kamal Syed is chief investment officer and head of asset management Emma Woollacott The CIO can ensure that environmen

172、tal efforts remain front and centre in much of their companys decision-makingS U S TA I N A B I L I T YACommercial featureColm HaydenCTOAnaekoSvetlana VidenovaTechnology Director for Data&AITPXimpactGemma ElsworthHead of DataScience&AnalysisDWP DigitalRobin SutaraCDOMicrosoft UKdigileaders#PSIWeekVe

173、nkatesh BendigeriDelivery Head for Internet of Things and EngineeringCognizantJacqueline de RojasCBEPresidentDigital LeadersPUBLIC SECTOR INSIGHT WEEKOnline 7th 11th March 2022Showcasing top CIOs,CDOs and CTOs innovating UK Public Services Find solutions,build your network and learn from the best Jo

174、in 144 experts live and free Five days jam-packed with expert opinion Earn badges and so much more.Hard drive:how tech chiefs can propel their companiesto net zero cloud and consolidated or decommissioned many of our old systems and data centres.”According to the 451 Research study,AWSs clients coul

175、d potentially cut the greenhouse gas emissions of an average workload by up to 96%once the company meets its goal to be powered by 100%renewable energy,which it says its set to do by 2025.Google has pledged to do the same before 2030,while Microsoft reckons that it will actually be carbonnegative by

176、 that time.CIOs should also review how they work with their partners,advises Martin Riley,director of managed security services at Bridewell Consulting,a cybersecurity specialist that has been carbonnegative since October 2021.“The right partner will show a commitment to being carbonnegative through

177、 offsetting and communityled renewable energy initiatives,enabling companies to balance out their own footprints,”he says.Establishing a sustainable supply chain means considering not only direct suppliers but every link beyond them,informing these players about best practice and providing them with

178、 sustainability training.And,says Arthur Hu,CIO of electronics manufacturer Lenovo,a code of conduct and clear targets need to be established from the start as part of a formal process.“Make environmental,social and corporate governance considerations part of your procurement process for example,upd

179、ating your evaluation scorecards to include an ESG component,”Hu advises.“Communicate clearly and ahead of time via executive interlocks with suppliers,so that they can prepare.In this way,you can extend your influence beyond your company and into an ecosystem that reflects the organisations priorit

180、ies.”Lenovo,he reveals,is on track to be purchasing 90%of its electricity from renewable sources and removing 1 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its supply chain by 2025.The company has set itself a deadline of 2030 for cutting its scopeone and two emissions in half and reducing 51%of d

181、igital leaders recognise that technology is crucial in reducing a firms carbon footprint22%are reducing the carbon footprint of the technology itself9%say that their boards prioritise improving sustainability with technologyOnlyHarvey Nash Group,2021How to remove network complexity for CIOsWith busi

182、nesses now operating in a complex web of interdependencies with their digital supply chains,CIOs must find a way to manage their network infrastructure more efficientlyhe pace of innovation is accel-erating across industries as organisations race to optimise their processes and embrace new busi-ness

183、 models befitting of the digital age.On the hunt for greater agility,efficiency and speed to market,companies have gravi-tated to scalable technologies that help them thrive among an increasingly inter-connected ecosystem of digital supply chains,partners and channels.Automation is the most powerful

184、 means of making interdependencies more effi-cient-and the rise of the cloud has helped democratise access to its capabilities.In recent years,businesses have transformed how they consume infrastructure,software and platforms through an on-demand,web-based as-a-service model under-pinned by the clou

185、d.Most businesses use dozens of software-as-a-service(SaaS)applications to run their business,while renting public cloud infrastructure from hyperscalers like Amazon and Microsoft.Although these multi-cloud environ-ments are bringing great benefits to busi-nesses by connecting more things outside th

186、e control of their own environment,they are also adding complexity to the already interconnected ecosystem they operate within.A high-quality,agile and scalable network is the saviour,but traditional hub-and-spoke wide-area networks(WAN)are no longer fit for purpose.It is the turn of the network to

187、embrace the cloud.“The configuration and the structure of the enterprise network is changing,”says Neil Templeton,vice-president of marketing at Console Connect.“Historically,organisa-tions would periodically go out to a vendor with a request for proposal,implement a WAN service,have it for three or

188、 four years and then go back out for another vendor proposal to augment or change it.They were stuck in a cycle of long contracts for fixed bandwidth and predictable traffic flows.“Those days are gone now.It just doesnt work anymore because it doesnt suit the way businesses are operating.Theres now

189、a big push both from the enterprise,as well as from the supplier,to change the model.”Just as other parts of the IT estate have embraced the as-a-service model,CIOs are now saying goodbye to inflexible networks,which are difficult to reconfigure and tied into long contracts.They are instead con-sumi

190、ng a more efficient and agile network-as-a-service(NaaS)offering.Leading the charge in offering this new generation of services is Console Connect,which offers a tier-one network with a fibre backbone supporting a leading global MPLS that has underpinned large enterprise networks for more than a dec

191、ade.Having automated that network,Console Connect now makes it available in a simple and flex-ible point-and-click NaaS environment that businesses can purchase,configure,provision and connect to through a web-based portal or API in a matter of minutes.“The enterprise doesnt have to suffer the compl

192、exity of having to set up,config-ure and manage all of those interconnec-tions,they can just plug into our network,spin up an application and get it to market very quickly.It rapidly accelerates time to market,”says Templeton.“Weve already connected every major cloud provider,many SaaS providers,and

193、 lots of businesses and partners around the world.Its a vast,growing ecosystem and the automation and pay-as-you-use model drives significant cost reductions and efficiencies.“Businesses only pay for what they use and can flex their connections up and down on-demand.Crucially,however,this is deliver

194、ed over a high-quality private net-work.Were not talking about connecting clouds and applications over the public internet,which is great for some basic applications but you have no control over traffic routing,speed and efficiency.“To connect the critical business cloud-based applications businesse

195、s now rely on,companies need the SLA assurances that only a high-performance private net-work can deliver.NaaS is the future of net-work infrastructure,enabling companies to embrace the pace of innovation in the years ahead.”For more information,visit T NaaS is the future of network infrastructure,e

196、nabling companies to embrace the pace of innovation in the years aheadR A C O N T E U R.N E T071998-2004Consultant at KPMG.She worked on projects for the Bank of England,fixing various technical problems associated with the millennium bug.2004-11Senior manager at Accenture.2011-19Head of transformat

197、ion and online atVodafone.2019-20CIO(group functions)and chief of staff at Centrica.She also chaired the companys womens network,serving as an advocate for female employees across the business.2020-CIO at Three UK,where she is overseeing the firms IT transformation.Chris Wanstrath,the co-founder and

198、 former CEO of GitHub,once declared that“the future of coding is no coding at all”and hisprediction is already becoming a reality.A number of new platforms are offering people with little to no development experience the ability to design,build and launch applications,without the need for a crash co

199、urse in coding.These no-code and low-code applications are growing in popularity,as businesses seek to empower more of their workforce to undertake tasks that would traditionally have been left to a development team.Gartner has predicted that 65%of application development activity will be low code b

200、y 2024.The solutions remove much of the challenge of app creation bymaking the process more visual,often through drag-and-drop interfaces.Low-code and no-code applications can be used to design websites,to create programmes for processing customer transactions or even to build simple automation proc

201、esses and machine-learning models.By democratising the creation aspects,businesses can develop apps that more closely fit their requirements and get them to market more quickly and cost-effectively.But,rather than replacing developers entirely,the movement promises to free them up towork on more cha

202、llenging projects.Belinda Finchs career path at a glanceThree UKs Belinda Finch shares her principles for a successful digital transformation and explains why the no-code movement could make the IT chiefs role as we know it redundanthen she joined Three UK to lead itsIT transformation programme,Beli

203、nda Finch was acutely aware of the scale of the challenge awaiting her.Work on the project had started before her appointment as CIO in September 2021,but members of the 130strong IT function she was taking on were still scattered across the business and working in silos.“The digital team would be i

204、n one location and data reporting would be somewhere else,”Finch recalls.“The programme was split and we had IT delivery and IT operations working independently,so my main focus when I started was to create a proper endtoend team.”She swiftly brought the companys IT professionals together as the new

205、ly renamed CIO team.“Previously,wed had very different systems and processes.We were even using different suppliers across departments that were literally doing the same thing,”says Finch,who was previously CIO at Centrica.“We need to be working the same way,because were all doing IT.It doesnt matte

206、r whether its digital or data.”But the IT department wasnt the only fragmented and isolated function.Threes together more quickly than I would otherwise have done,”Finch says.When companies decide to implement new IT infrastructure,the business case can often be an afterthought a“classic mistake”,sh

207、e says.“To transform the organisation,and for people to want to use the new systems and understand what we were trying to deliver,we needed to change the focus of this project and ensure that it would be a businessled initiative.The IT team can often get preoccupied with all thetechnical aspects,whe

208、reas a business focused transformation is more concerned about the results that will be achieved.”Having sought contributions from all functions of the organisation,she noticed an immediate change.Senior executives in departments ranging from finance and HR to sales and marketing participated in the

209、 transformation programme,making it the broader collaborative effort that she had been seeking.“My whole strategy is to devolve as much control to the rest of the business as I possibly can.When everyone concerned in the project is a decisionmaker,its much easier for me than trying to force change o

210、n an organisation,”Finch says.“For instance,involving a representative from the finance team,who can explain their requirements and push back if a feature isnt needed,is far better than IT saying computer says no.”The businessled approach requires the CIO to understand how the changes theyre proposi

211、ng will improve processes across the company and enhance the customer exper ience.To this end,Three has gathered digital transformation programme was being run by another team that was operating in seclusion on a separate floor of Threes head office.Finch,who had already led the digital transformati

212、on of rival telco Vodafone,knew that the whole organisation would have to get involved to ensure that the programme would deliver maximum value.One of Finchs initial challenges was to recruit senior managers to her team while the companys Coviddriven remote working policy was still in place.Intervie

213、wing people on a video link made it harder for herto“pick up on the vibe”of candidates.But,having since met all of her new recruits in person and seen how well they have acclimatised to the companys culture,she has changed her view of remote hiring.“It made the recruitment process faster and meant t

214、hat I was able to bring my team Sam Forsdick There are certain elementsof the role that will always require a datascience degree to really understand itI N T E R V I E WWCommercial feature There will be a time when the CIO is nolonger needed consumer feedback via focus groups and surveys to inform t

215、he projects managers.“This means youll end up with something much more wellrounded,rather than installing a new best of breed system just because Gartner has decided to include it in its Magic Quadrant reports,”Finch says.The project has recently passed the halfway mark.She reports that its“shaping

216、up well”now that the goals of the whole organisation are properly aligned.While Threes main focus is on completing the transformation and settling into its new HQ in Reading,part of the companys longerterm strategy is to make the digital team a more commercially led department.Finch is a proponent o

217、f low and nocode application development(see panel,below).This enables people with little or no programming knowledge to create and modify enterprise applications through more intuitive platforms.Although its not part of the current phase of the transformation,it is something that shes aiming to imp

218、lement at Three in due course.Seeing no reason to keep tasks such as web development and application updates under ITs jurisdiction,she says:“There are some things that you want to keep within your teams control,of course,but there is a lot of stuff that doesnt have to be handled by IT every time.Ev

219、eryone is techsavvy these days,so they can solve their own problems.The technology is not like it used to be 20 years ago,where you needed to be a deep Cobol programmer if you wanted to do anything.Most of us can learn how to use it these days,so its very oldfashioned to keep everything under ITs co

220、ntrol.”Finch recognises that this change could have dramatic consequences for IT departments and could even put her out of a job.She foresees“a time,10 or 15 years from now,where the CIO is no longer needed.Companies will employ multiskilled teams with enough IT knowledge to solve most of their own

221、problems and launch their own products.IT departments will be much smaller.Their main focus will be on maintaining the systems.”So where would this scenario leave the CIO?The job could go in one of two directions,according to Finch.Those with a commercial mindset will go on to lead the multidiscipli

222、nary teams that she describes.To succeed in such a role,they will need to possess both commercial acumen and technical ability.Those lacking in the former will remain focused on technical aspects such as ensuring the stability of their companys digital infrastructure.“There are certain elements of t

223、he role that will always require a data science degree to really understand it,especially with the emergence of technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing.These are never going to be handed over,”Finch says.“But tasks such as launching a product on a website can be handled by

224、 techsavvy people in the commercial team.That shouldnt require ITs involvement.”Although her vision for IT departments remains a distant prospect,tech teams will need to become increasingly comfortable with relinquishing control and managing the associated risks.“A whole rulebook will need to be wri

225、tten to allow that to happen,”Finch says.Perhaps she will be the one to write it.When everyone concerned in the project is a decision-maker,its much easier for me than trying to force change on an organisationBringing coding to the massesWHY DO TRANSFORMATION EFFORTS STALL?Share of global companies

226、citing factors that hindered their digital transformation(DX)programmes20%Resourcing problems14%A lack of strategic clarity7%An ineffective or misinformed DX strategy15%A lack of core digital skills in house7%Ineffective DX designs18%Misaligned cultures and ways of working14%Insufficient commitment

227、to DX across the organisationMcKinsey,2020The role of IT in the future of workThe democratisation of IT enables great agility but also brings new threats,says Sridhar Iyengar,managing director at Zoho/ManageEngine EuropeWhat role has technology played in transforming workforce models?Technology adop

228、tion has been rampant,especially in the last two years.What was optional before 2020 has now become a way of life.Everything is just a click away and remote work is not going anywhere.Were already seeing companies embrace that as part of a hybrid model post-pandemic.From an enterprise perspective,IT

229、 teams are not working behind the scenes any more they are now the front-runners of organ-isational functions.From cloud adoption to remote collaboration,AI to machine learning,the democratisation of IT will shape the future of work.By democrati-sation,we mean the ever increasing ease of access to t

230、echnology and services.What matters now is how you unify ser-vices across business functions,auto-mate and integrate workflows,and,most importantly,democratise data without compromising security.Expanding on your last point,how has IT democratisation impacted cybersecurity?Cyber threats have been go

231、ing up for some time,but they acceler-ated throughout the pandemic during which time some 83%of organisations in the UK reported more attacks,our research found.Simply put,with more democratisation comes more attacks and data breaches.Its very difficult to make technology and data more acces-sible t

232、o employees without also making it more accessible to everyone else,including cybercriminals.However,there are numerous things you can do to reduce the attack surface without compromising on user experience.They include controlling access from man-aged and unmanaged devices,moni-toring behaviour ano

233、malies to reduce insider attacks,enabling single sign-on,implementing multi-factor authentica-tion and minimising user privileges and network access.Companies have to take a balanced approach.However,identify-ing and investing in the right technology is still a major challenge,as is remaining compli

234、ant with standards and regula-tions like ISO and GDPR.How is ManageEngine helping companies work in both an agile and secure way?The most successful companies are working towards an agile IT infra-structure,where the aim is to achieve seamless service delivery with friction-less security.Integration

235、 of machine learning algorithms and AI in cybersecu-rity applications will also improve real-time threat detection and automated incident response.A hybrid IT approach to monitoring and management requires visibility over the IT stack including ready-made,custom and software-as-a-service application

236、s,as well as beyond the firewall.ManageEngines IT opera-tions management(ITOM)suite helps organisations gain visibility across the IT estate including network,databases,applications and storage devices.Using our hybrid tools,companies streamline workplace services,automate tasks and increase flexibi

237、lity,improving employee collaboration and productivity.Being 100%safe is a myth,but organi-sations can do a lot to minimise the attack vector.Deploy device security policies,implement good identity and privilege access management solutions,and have a proactive incident response system in place.Peopl

238、e are also incredibly impor-tant so its essential to train your teams.We are a big advocate in adopting a zero trust approach which protects users,devices and resources from threats and attacks,irrespective of the location.ManageEngine helps companies imple-ment a zero trust model across the entire

239、product stack.What is the future of work from an IT perspective?The future of work is all about being multifunctional.Its self organis-ing,highly transformational and digi-tally dexterous.Businesses have to keep up to remain relevant.Complications in future hybrid work scenarios range from employee

240、motivation,innovation and interactions,to ensuring security and regulatory compliance.Organisations will ultimately have to upgrade policies,procedures,processors and technol-ogies to overcome these challenges to thrive in the future.ManageEngine helps achieve exactly that,allowing enterprises to de

241、mocratise IT without compromising on security,monitoring,employee inter-action and personalised experiences.We unify services across business functions and build an identity-based security framework for remote work.We will con-tinue to strive for agility in our solutions in this rapidly changing wor

242、ld.For more information,visit manageengine.co.ukQ&AT H E F U T U R E C I O08Commercial featureSpread a little happinessTheres a demonstrable connection between employee engagement and customer satisfaction.CIOs can harness technology to make profitable links between EX and CX for their companiesoud

243、be hard pressed to find a CIO who wouldnt agree that improving the customer experience(CX)is integral to their role.From creating AIdriven virtual assistants that augment customercare teams to replacing legacy tech when its no longer serving the needs of users,CIOs work hard to ensure that omnichann

244、el platforms work smoothly for consumers.But what about the employee experience(EX)?According to prepandemic research by Salesforce,a significant proportion of CIOs didnt have EX on their todo lists.Only 52%of IT leaders said that they prioritised it,while only 22%had a defined EX strategy.Those per

245、centages are likely to have risen during the Covid crisis,but it is clear that,while virtually all CIOs recognise the significant impact that technology has on customer engagement,far fewer have joined the dots when it comes to its effects on employees.Thats an oversight,according to Colleen Berube,

246、CIO at Zendesk.“There is a direct line between happy,engaged employees and satisfied customers,”she says.For instance,a study by Forrester and SAP Concur(also before the Covid crisis)revealed that companies with the most engaged employees enjoyed 81%higher customer satisfaction than average and expe

247、rienced half the employee turnover a Megan Tatumcombination that represents a significant competitive edge.“In the Covid era,theres another important reason to focus on EX,”Berube says.“Businesses are operating in an incredibly highdemand labour market,so they need every advantage to attract and ret

248、ain employees in a sustainable way.”In both respects,CIOs can make a key contribution,she adds.“They can have a meaningful impact,as technology factors are strong predictors of employee engagement.Their role is no longer simply about running the companys technology.Now its about guiding and governin

249、g choices;defining architecture and solutions;and developing the right services to connect employees,so that they can better serve their customers.This is the true end goal.”There are many ways in which CIOs can enhance EX.The wholesale migration to hybrid working,for instance,has seen firms adoptin

250、g an abundance of technologies to support remote workers.There has also been a wave of digital wellbeing platforms that claim to support EX online while providing feedback on peoples mental health to management teams.And then theres the changing role of HR,in which AIpowered chatbots help personnel

251、teams to handle basic requests from employees.All of these technologies fall under the CIOs remit.Perhaps the most overlooked way in which CIOs can bolster EX is to focus on the impressions created each time an employee engages with an internal system a digital trail sometimes referred to as the DEX

252、(digital employee experience).CIOs can discern much about the mood of the workforce by analysing the DEX.They can learn of employees frustrations with clunky tech and gauge their productivity by analysing peoples output and the time they spend on digital distractions such as social media.“An employe

253、es digital footprint can provide an IT team with great insights into how to improve its EX strategy,”observes Helena Nimmo,CIO at Endava.“Mapping employees technology touchpoints and journeys throughout the system,measuring the time they spend on certain tasks and local ising journey interruptions c

254、an all help to improve their experience and alleviate their frustrations.”She continues:“The key is to ensure that such data collection doesnt cross into surveillance territory and that it actually benefits employees.For this to happen,the wider leadership team needs to be involved to understand wha

255、t the company wants to achieve and how an improved EX strategy can help.Being transparent about data collection,running smaller tests and anonymising data will be more beneficial than going big and collecting everything.This will create a more compelling EX strategy that will attract the right talen

256、t and,ultimately,improve staff satisfaction and retention.”CIOs can even go further by implementing tech aimed at measuring EX more effectively and creating new channels through which to view digital footprints.Robert Ordever is managing director of OC Tanner Europe,a specialist provider ofemployee

257、recognition programmes.He cites the example of one company whose annual staff survey found that female employees felt less appreciated than their male counterparts.There was nothing the firm could see in its data that highlighted any variance in how the contributions of men and women were acknowledg

258、ed.“Using advanced technology to analyse this data more closely,the company found a difference in the words that employees used to recognise each others performance,”he says.“It turned out that male employees were receiving recognition with stronger positive statements at a higher magnitude than fem

259、ale employees.”The firm then went one step further by blending data from its staff survey,recognition programme and performance management system.“An analysis of this data revealed that female employees received less than fair performance reviews and were more likely to feel disconnected from the or

260、ganisation,”Ordever says.“This insight informed targeted training for leaders that was costeffective,manageable and impactful in addressing the root causes of disengagement and feelings of exclusion.”The bottom line is that more CIOs need to recognise the significant role that technology plays in em

261、ployee engagement and how it can be used to underpin a winning EX strategy.Pierre Lindmark is the founder and CEO of Winningtemp,which has created an AIpowered EX platform that gives employers an uptotheminute view of how their people are faring.He observes that,as long as“digital innovations contin

262、ue disrupting business models and cultures,CIOs need to work more closely with HR teams to ensure their successful implementation.CIOs who equip themselves with people analytics or insights are in a unique position to drive business transformations,as they can show hard data to support EX strategies

263、.”Its no longer a question of whether EX should be on every CIOs todo list.Its a question of why it isnt near the top.CIOs who equip themselves with people analytics or insights are in a unique position to drive business transformationsHOW TECHNOLOGY IS SHAPING THE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE Share of CIOs

264、citing significant tech interventions relating to remote working during the pandemicNational Association of State Chief Information Officers,2021E M P L OY E E E X P E R I E N C EYExpanded the use of digital collaboration platformsEnhanced videoconferencing facilitiesEnhanced encryption and security

265、 for online work on home devicesIntroduced monitoring tools to track productivity67%86%92%2%n todays digital-first environ-ment,CIOs are facing chal-lenges from all sides.Under pressure to help their organisations deliver market-leading customer expe-rience(CX),their businesses are never-theless str

266、uggling to bring together dis-parate data sources,having to work with out-dated tech stacks and operating in the face of reduced staff and budgets.Despite research from Precisely and Corinium Intelligence finding that 60%of executives cite the need to invest in data integration,integrity or enrich-m

267、ent technologies as a priority in 2021,businesses are not moving the needle on CX as much as they think.Research from analyst firm Aspire has shown that while 80%of companies believe they offer superior CX,only 8%of customers would agree.Considering that the same research found one in eight(15%)con-

268、sumers would switch providers because of poor CX,businesses need to act more decisively than they do now.Thats not to say executives are entirely unaware of the challenges in front of them-and they certainly have an appe-tite for change.One executive quoted in a recent McKinsey report stated:“Im mor

269、e concerned about not being bold enough than being too cautious.”However,the Precisely research also reveals that nearly half of executives find building company-wide support for CX investments very challenging,even when leadership know it is a priority.Boston Consulting Group found that 70%of digit

270、al transformation projects fall short of their goals,even when lead-ership is aligned.Where in-house customer communication management falls shortSo,if the desire is there,and the need is clear and the support unequivocal where is it all going wrong?“Customer communications is at the heart of delive

271、ring exceptional customer and digital experiences,but many organ-isations have been attempting to build and manage their own solutions which has placed a great burden on capabil-ities and resources,”says Greg Van den Heuvel,executive vice-president and general manager at Precisely.“Nearly three-quar

272、ters of organisa-tions that start a legacy system modern-isation project dont finish it because they lack the ability to plan compre-hensively or deal with the complexity of the project on their own.Whether its down to staff not getting on board with new systems,not upskilling enough people internal

273、ly to manage the tech-nology or a lack of understanding of exactly what tech will be most instru-mental in moving the business forward,its clear companies need help in real-ising their bold ambitions.”Certain innovations are coming together to help CIOs meet their busi-nesses CX demands,in particula

274、r the ability to build on tech stacks via APIs and a much greater use of the cloud.Infoworld calls it a“career killer to not leverage cloud computing”,citing reser-ach that most CIOs have at least 20%of their applications and data moved to the cloud,with 10%to 15%sched-uled to move in the next year

275、or so,as of December 2021.One of the key advantages of plugging into cloud-based solutions,compared to on-premise alternatives,is the ability to partner more closely with the vendor and enjoy the benefits of a hosted man-aged services offering.This sector is growing as a whole,and in customer commun

276、ications management(CCM),its increasingly the norm.“Our recent research found that 65%of the executives we spoke to are invest-ing in new CCM technologies to improve CX.Of those,45%are reviewing their approach to outsourcing and this is even higher in the highly regulated and com-munications-critica

277、l financial services sector,with 54%saying theyre reviewing their outsourcing arrangements follow-ing Covid-19,”Van den Heuvel explains.Why leading companies are moving to hosted,managed solutionsThis move to the cloud with subscrip-tion-based,hosted managed services is not altogether surprising.Whi

278、le bring-ing CCM in-house may give the illusion of control,the issues mentioned above mean that it often risks becoming yet another unfinished,unsatisfying and expensive white elephant.In fact,busi-nesses consider excessive overheads to be the greatest inhibitor to better communications and it can t

279、ake nearly a year for stakeholders working with an in-house model to make even simple changes.It typically takes up to two years to fight through a major version upgrade.Some of the companies that have attempted it report a lack of a coherent,centralised approach to CCM.A third of executives surveye

280、d by Aspire state that a lack of coordination between internal teams becomes the biggest obstacle to communications transformation.A fur-ther quarter cited unclear ownership of communications and inaccurate or conflicting customer data as their big-gest hurdles.“In fact,43%of businesses expect to sh

281、ift to subscription CCM by 2022,”says Van den Heuvel.“A single platform like Preciselys EngageOne RapidCX ensures compliance and governance,as well as the implementation and expertise to operate on the clients behalf,saving them time and money.”Precisely can already point to a number of successful r

282、oll-outs,particu-larly in the tightly regulated and complex financial services industries.One finan-cial,retirement,investment and insur-ance company was operating among a tangle of communications siloes and solutions.It had to deal with multi-ple print vendors increasing fulfilment costs,a lack of

283、consistency,no single source of information for call centre agents and a wide range of composition tools and vendors,all of which was ulti-mately undermining its digital presence.By moving its output to a single print vendor,creating enterprise-wide communication design standards and allowing non-IT

284、 resources to make changes quickly,the company trans-formed the internal experience of its 800 call centre operatives and 75 back-office users in as few as 11 months.By using EngageOne RapidCXs hosted managed CCM,the company now man-ages 10,000 templates across five call centres,five print sites and

285、 13 million customers,all while making an annual saving of$11.6m.“Naturally,companies are concerned about security and compliance as well as being able to use new technologies effectively,”Van den Heuvel concludes.“But with a hosted managed CCM solu-tion like EngageOne RapidCX,we exten-sively worksh

286、op with staff and the CIO/CTO teams to make sure that everything isnt just comprehensively migrated to the new system,but that the organisa-tion can make the most of its broad and effective range of CCM solutions.”For more information,visit customer communications excellenceWhy cloud-based hosted ma

287、nagement is the way forwardCommercial featureI A single platform like Preciselys EngageOne RapidCX ensures compliance and governance,as well as the implementation and expertise to operate on the clients behalfCUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE PROVIDERSWhen evaluating service providers for customer com

288、munications,what are the most important factors for your organization to consider?Best price-to-valueSpeed of implementationCustomer success storiesExperience and skillsPricing flexibilityTechnological strength and innovationResponsivenessDepth and breadth of service offeringsLowest overall costSize

289、 and financial healthCustomer intimacyAspire,202044%38%37%31%31%29%29%23%22%9%8%R A C O N T E U R.N E T09eb 2.0 brought us usergenerated content and interactivity think Twitter,Facebook,Slack and Zoom.It enabled online startup Dollar Shave Club to build global recognition in 2012 with a YouTube vide

290、o that cost a mere$4,500(3,300)to produce.The company rattled the previously bombproof incumbents in its market to such an extent that Unilever reportedly paid$1bn to acquire it four years later.Web 3.0 has brought us even more disruption,in the shape of technologies such as blockchain,big data and

291、machine learning.Companies are understandably keen,therefore,to get ahead of Web 4.0.Definitions of it vary,but this iteration promises immersive and highly personalised online services,blurring the physical and the digital.What will that look like?The metaverse is both the biggest Web 4.0 promise a

292、nd the biggest threat.Its a threat to incumbents such as Facebook(now Meta),largely because of its decentralised nature.Its a promise to startups because they may be able to harness the tech in ways that could give them a competitive advantage.All sectors are keen to get on the front foot.Microsoft

293、recently spent$68.7bn on video game company Activision Blizzard.JPMorgan,meanwhile,has created its own metaverse lounge in which visitors are greeted by,of all things,a virtual tiger.A less headlinegrabbing matter is what CIOs need to do to make such technology work well.Companies that offer augment

294、ed reality(AR)and virtual reality(VR)in the metaverse will almost certainly have to reconfigure their computing power for the experiences to feel properly immersive.Centralised cloud computing provision,however punchy,wont be enough.The reason for that is latency the time lag on the network.Swedish

295、telco Ericsson has pointed out that timecritical video games,such as firstperson shooters,need no worse than 30 millisecond endtoend network latency to ensure a highquality experience.The further away the data centre is from the end device,the greater the latency.Even onthe fastest fibre links,there

296、 is a latency of 5 microseconds(0.005 milliseconds)for every 1km of cable travelled by the data,according to research by Infinera.That is why serious gamers use expensive hardware that can do the processing then and there.The problem for companies is that consumers are unlikely to want to spend much

297、 on special hardware to access metaverse services.What to do?Edge computing,where the processing muscle is placed closer to the data being crunched,is the next step from the cloud.“People have been talking about the edge for two decades,but it has been limited to niche use cases,”says Ishu Verma,eme

298、rging technology evangelist at Red Hat,a provider of opensource enterprise software.“Now the idea of placing computing and storage closer to the data sources is being adopted more widely across industry and consumer applications.”One important reason for this is that data systems have become much mo

299、re capable,costeffective and energyefficient,so deploying them at the edge on a large scale is far more feasible than it was.“In the cloud,you scale up capacity.At the edge,you scale it out to millions of In the cloud,you scale up capacity.At the edge,you scale it out to millions of sitesCompetitive

300、 edge:solving the wait andsee of latencysites,”says Verma,who adds that there is demand across all sectors that need low latency services or simply want to avoid batch processing.Some industries are already far ahead of the pack.Manufacturing companies,for example,use edge computing to construct dig

301、ital twins intelligent virtual replicas of physical infrastructure.RollsRoyce,for instance,can offer its clients a virtual aircraft engine in flight that responds as the physical machine does.The sensors on the engine send back data via a satellite link,although most information is collected after t

302、he plane has landed.Machinelearning models inform the digital twin and,by extension,the end goal,which is better physical engine design and maintenance.RollsRoyces chief information and digital officer,Stuart Hughes,says that this simulation facility is important to the company,because some of the t

303、hings it does are“really on the edge of physics”.Having a virtual replica of an engine enables the testers to put it through many more scenarios than they could do physically.The firms longerterm aim is to have an engine that is“increasingly connected,contextually aware and comprehending”,Hughes say

304、s.As things stand,most firms have their main computing capacity in the cloud,although there are everyday instances of edge computing.Each ATM is a tiny data centre,for instance.And the user interface on Amazons voiceactivated virtual assistant,Alexa,doesnt rely on roundtripping every piece of data t

305、o the cloud.Some of it is analysed on the machine.The offerings provided by Amazon Web Services(AWS)are a continuum all the way down to the internetofthings sensors on the users premises.So says AWSs director of product development,George Elissaios,who adds:“Edge computing is cloud computing.”Organi

306、sations that arent cloud hyper scalers tend to still make a clear distinction between the cloud and the edge.The rule ofthumb is that the cloud offers economies of scale,more control of processing and greater computing capacity.“Training and developing machine learning models happens in the cloud wh

307、ile inferencing with realtime data happens at the edge,”Verma explains.Companies also have more than latency to consider when they look at the edge.Data sovereignty,for instance,is a thorny issue.As Meta is finding in the EU,some jurisdictions dont like to see data being moved to servers beyond thei

308、r borders.Security is another key consideration.“The approach to take is trust nobody,”Verma advises.“Any data from a remote device is suspect.”That is partly because remote devices can easily be tampered with unlike those on the cloud or on the premises.Will edge use displace cloud use?The consensu

309、s among experts is that it wont.“I dont think the edge competes with the cloud,”says Matt George,director of segment marketing and enterprise transformation for Equinix in EMEA.“As you move along the path towards more realtime services,what you want is the most agile and flexible IT setup you can ha

310、ve.”Web 4.0 businesses will,in theory,offer highly immersive customer experiences.The high-speed processing demands of providing these will oblige many to transcend the cloud and adopt edge computingMOVING TO THE EDGEShare of CIOs citing key benefits they expected to gain from their edge computing s

311、trategies451 Research,2021Ouida TaaffeT E C H N O L O GYCommercial featureW38%35%34%33%32%29%Expand use of collaboration platformsImprove monitoring,response and site reliabilityImprove customer experienceOptimise data collection and transferAchieve cost saving and optimisation for network communica

312、tionCreate/expand revenue-generated opportunities or servicesithout technology and IT departments,it would have been impossible for many businesses including Brother to function properly during the pan-demic.Collaboration tools like Teams and Zoom kept us connected and allowed companies to not only

313、con-tinue communicating,but to continue trading.In some cases,efficiency actu-ally improved.And many employees appreciated the chance to create a better work-life balance.Because of these discovered ben-efits,firms are increasingly shifting to long-term hybrid working.But what does this mean for CIO

314、s and their teams?And how can they ensure that their companys IT equipment is fit for purpose across a distributed work-force?I have a lot of experience of this,having recently been the chief archi-tect of Brother UKs own hybrid policy and office redesign.First and foremost,CIOs need to know exactly

315、 what tools and equipment people require to perform well both in the office and away from it,and then deliver a seamless experience across the organisation regardless of location.Thats already been a priority for many IT departments for years with senior white-collar workers already working on the m

316、ove.But the rapid scaling of the number of people working remotely has put pressure on systems such as VPNs,for example,where capacity levels quickly become stretched.Staying secureSecurity is a key concern for us all in this new world of hybrid working.Employees are increasingly using their own dev

317、ices,both at home and in the office,which need to be properly pro-tected from the overwhelming number of hostile attacks now facing networks.All the new equipment that has been purchased to support home and hybrid working has expanded the attack layer available to cybercriminals.Keeping track of the

318、 shadow solutions people are using in the home environment is key and IT teams must remain vigilant in the face of this increased threat.Keeping policies up to date and contin-ual education is key,it seems easier to justify shortcuts at home,something to be acutely aware of.Thinking about the entire

319、 informa-tion management environment,this vigilance should also extend to printed documents.What print authorisations do users have when working from home?What if a sensitive document printed in a home office accidentally finds its way onto a network printer as someone for-gets to change the driver

320、settings?What happens to paper-based sensi-tive information in home environments?These are questions that we must be able to answer now that decentralised printing is the norm.Furthermore,they should also ensure they have the right tools in place to flag unauthorised print activity without unnecessa

321、rily restrict-ing or disrupting peoples work.Weve provided small,secure,locka-ble units for colleagues to put sensitive paper-based material into,for storage or recycling for example.We also have push-pull printing applications on our network connected devices in the office.Rising costs of ITCost-ef

322、fectiveness will also be high on the agenda for many CIOs this year,after a period in which large sums have been spent on equipping people for home and hybrid working.New laptops,printers,monitors and microphones have helped teams to transition to dif-ferent ways of working.But the drive to properly

323、 kit out home offices,coupled with the supply chain issues facing many equipment providers,has led to shortages and increased prices which means budgets are stretched.Vendors are having to deal with multiple challenges from chip and parts shortages,rising shipping costs,and people shortages in manu-

324、facturing and logistics environments.Costs are on the rise.This means that CIOs may need to balance requests for home equipment in future,while still aiming to provide that consistent,professional experi-ence for every employee across the organisation.Expectations are high that technology experience

325、s should not be second rate when working away from HQ.As an example,weve seen this in sales of more advanced home-office printers being deployed under man-aged print estates for remote workers.Equipping the officeTo create a truly effective hybrid work-ing environment,the office needs to change too.

326、There has been a change in expectations from hybrid workers and the role/function of the office is shift-ing to more of a social space for people to come together.A key principle we now have is that the office experience has to exceed the pain of a commute for our hybrid workforce.From the soft furn

327、ishings to the technology it all forms part of the organisational value proposi-tion(OVP),which is key to attract and retain people As your people walk through the door,the end-to-end employee experience must always be kept front of mind.Id encourage all CIOs to be fully engaged with their people eq

328、uivalents to ensure all the dots are joined up.Small frustrations soon build,particularly if technology isnt doing its bit.With such an active jobs market,its too easy to move employers,and these inadequacies cannot be allowed.Creating hybrid meeting environments where internal and external partici-

329、pants can easily connect and have a shared meeting experience has been key.Weve addressed this through equipping all of our meeting rooms with MS Teams capability so colleagues can simply walk in and get going.Everything is connected with MS 365 so that the experience is quick,integrated and painles

330、s.By observing,listening and talking to people,we identified this as a pain point.Also of issue was the noise pol-lution people were experiencing as a result of video calls at hotdesks.We solved this through the provision of single person acoustic pods;the mod-ern-day internal telephone box,book-abl

331、e via an app.Weve also built studios dedicated to host web-conferencing calls via MS Teams or Zoom.Theyre equipped with all the technology our people need when talking with customers and part-ners,including high-quality micro-phones,cameras and lighting,branded backgrounds and adjustable desks.Theyr

332、e designed to simply walk in and plug in via a single USB.You can be up and running in less than 30 seconds.Hardware aside,there is also a net-work concern.Wandering around the office,it became apparent that our own network infrastructure needed upgrading to cope with the large number of concurrent

333、Teams users.This wasnt seen at the service desk;it was more about getting feedback from people as they returned to the office.Dropped calls and Wi-Fi speeds were becoming a theme,so our IT people got straight onto it and upgraded the rout-ers.Speed of response was key.As Ive found myself,much of the success of hybrid working strategies comes down to engagement.CIOs and other leaders across the org