Data may be “the new oil” for the manufacturing world but it cannot be taken for granted This interesting piece in the Journal of Petroleum Technology made me think, not least because it does not mention in any way the data security imperative that needs to be at the heart of any data-driven digital transformation process. I have not written much around OT security, but it keeps coming across my desk, and it is undoubtedly one of the hot topics of the moment, with countless tech vendors jumping on a band wagon they assume will be lucrative. If we were to play the prediction game, I would argue ..read more

Enterprise automation is about “making independently designed systems work together” to automate business processes, synchronise data across different systems and support API strategies, increasingly incorporating AI capabilities. However, although AI technology is also making enterprise automation technology extremely approachable, IT leaders still struggle to justify strategic investments in these technologies. The post How to Justify Investments in AI-enabled Enterprise Automation first appeared on CIO WaterCooler ..read more

In the realm of data management, the debate over whether data governance is primarily a service or an enabler has sparked discussions and diverse opinions. So I decided to, conduct a poll on LinkedIn, seeking insights from the Data Governance community to understand their perspective on this question. The results were interesting: 83% considered data governance an enabler. 12% viewed it as a service. And 6% expressed indifference to the terminology. Before we take a little deep dive into these differing views, let’s understand how data governance can be viewed as a service or as an en ..read more

You cannot expect the CISO on their own, bottom-up, to reverse widespread business dynamics, where short-termism prevails everywhere across the business. I have written at length about the difficulties many large organizations encounter with cybersecurity, and their endemic execution problems when it comes to protecting themselves from cyber threats. While the diagnostic is relatively clear in my view, there is one aspect that needs repeating, and frames the entirety of the problem in many firms. You cannot expect cybersecurity projects to deliver in firms where projects – in general – don’t d ..read more

Introduction Rapid technological shifts create turbulent environments, disrupting business models and redefining competitor dynamics. Recent McKinsey research shows that the tech sector faces the highest magnitude of looming industry disruption. As a CIO overseeing the growth of capability, I’ve found that navigating unrelenting change has become imperative. This post gathers insights from my role leading digital change alongside fellow IT leaders to highlight key strategies I recommend for anticipating disruption, mobilising responses, and ultimately steering organisations to thrive amid this ..read more

Digital Transformation needs a solid foundation to succeed, but can SD-WAN provide a secure, robust platform for Enterprise businesses to depend on? Or is there still a place for MPLS to provide the quality and security needed? In this digital boardroom, we looked at Software Defined Networking. Five key takeaways: Why Enterprises are transforming to SD-WAN Reasons for SD-WAN failure Do you need SD-WAN for effective transformation? DIT vs MSP deployment Does SD-WAN save you money? The post The Great Enterprise Network Debate: SD-WAN vs MPLS first appeared on CIO WaterCooler ..read more

Over the past couple of years I have run a number of Data Governance Training sessions to help the Data Improvement Team at the Ministry of Justice as they embarked on their Data Improvement programme. So, I’m thrilled that today’s blog is a guest post by Sarah Blake, Deputy Director of Data Improvement at the Ministry of Justice sharing their progress to date and plans going forward: The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) launched its Data Strategy in August 2022 and since then we’ve been making progress against the goals we set out. We’re also looking to the future – planning our roadmap for the ..read more

Business protection from cyber threats must be rooted in the reality of the world we live in The role of the Board with regards to cybersecurity is a topic that keeps coming back and is often addressed in simplistic terms in my view. I don’t think it makes sense to look for “one-size-fits-all” answers to the problem, given the number of parameters at play. Macroeconomic conditions affecting the business at large, industry-specific aspects of the threat and incident landscape, and in particular the history of the company with cybersecurity and its cyber maturity levels (actual or perceived), ar ..read more

Omnibus Privacy Law are comprehensive national privacy law that defines and recognizes parties as Data Controllers and Data Processors. The US currently does not have a federal omnibus privacy law, but the States are beginning to pass privacy laws to address the processing of personal data.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken a more aggressive approach toward protecting consumer data, with a focus on health, biometrics, and children’s information. Various other US regulators, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SE ..read more

When designing your data governance framework, a mistake I often see is that not enough consideration is given to who should be involved in the process. This can lead to issues and less than smooth implementation of your Data Governance Framework. So, I thought I’d take the opportunity to explain in this article just some of the important roles of the people who should be involved in the design and implementation of your organisation’s data governance framework. Data Owners It’s perhaps unsurprising that data owners are the first role I’m including as part of the team involved in designing a ..read more