July 16th 2019
Every day we talk with tech leaders from the entire Caribbean about the biggest problems they’ll face in the near future.
As economies change and competition heats up, CIOs are less
hampered now by tightening budgets but are being pressured to use technology in
new ways to enable Business profit. Worries about moving to the cloud are less
of an issue, since many companies have already made the jump. Executives put
more emphasis now on securing their cloud-based assets.
So NOW the race is ON for MANY before the Year Ends!
So, let’s start with the TOP 6 – IT Issues
1) New DIGITAL threats
Gone are the days you could have a Security Pro you trained and retained on staff, then protected your environment with a Firewall, and IPS and Antivirus and a case of protect tools, that is not going to help you going forward. Organizations must be extra vigilant with detection and training against NEW Digital Threats and this comes with a 24 x 7 mandate meaning the human component is deprecated , companies will need to introduce Advanced Security Systems beyond current legacy and look to AI-based protection systems to be able to contain any such attacks introduced by this next-gen tech.
2) Data protection and TRUE Business Continuity – Not Just having a *Backup*
It is absolutely crucial in a hyper connected Business
landscape to Implement Data privacy for their Data and other Digital Assets.
This is a major challenge because it is WAY Beyond the IT Scope.
Many companies also have not updated their DR and BCP Approaches when today’s
environments
are way more complex than it was 2 years ago.
3) Skills gap
Nearly EVERY company we spoke to lament the state of IT
readiness and how HUGE The Skills GAP IS. Some IT Managers and IT Pros now see
the problem more self-inflicted than uncontrollable.
IT departments can start by addressing their skills gap with more diverse
employees, and not in the legacy way. Most IT hiring Teams fail to look at
diversity in life experiences, backgrounds and NEW education not just Degrees
and past Experience – This NEW Future favours ONLY workers with a GROWTH
mindset that Learns CONSTANTLY. Viewing diversity in a more holistic manner
should open up a broader field of candidates and may lead to higher levels of
productivity rapidly.
4) Digital transformation and Internal Innovation
According to a Gartner Survey, about two-thirds of business
leaders believes their organizations need to speed up their digital
transformation or face losing ground to competitors.
The Issue is some IT Departments are unable to support properly the Business
Transformation requirements as Digital Transformation is not a TECH solution
ONLY.
5) Appropriate Tools for the NEW range of Employees
The new wave of employees who grew up with digital technology requires new ways of working that will boost the bottom line in amazing ways. This new workforce EXPECTS technology they grew up with and use in other spheres of their lives to be IN the workplace. The are Tech savvy, and expect workspaces that spaces that are flexible and personally customizable.
6) TRUST Issues
2018 was a BAD year based on a number of well publicized Data
Compromises of companies around the world. Issues such as privacy, security,
access and device proliferation must be addressed immediately in 2019. As a
core service sector, we in IT have to be responsible corporate citizens.
We need to show that we care about the people we claim to be serving and act in
their best interests ALL THE TIME. People trusted IT in the past and we should
be very respectful in honoring that going forward – There is a LOT to do and we
must Acknowledge that.
We now have Six months to go till 2019 ends, everything we do not MUST deliver to the Business
a WIN result – CTTL has a Solution Map with Nine (Specific) ways to Drive this results for you
in manageable pieces : Contact us at transform@cttl.net to ensure you do Digital TRANSFORMATION RIGHT !!
By : Nicholas Whiskey – BSc , MBA
Chief Transformation Officer
CTTL
