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Presenter: Denny Lee, Senior Director, Data Platform Denny Lee is a senior director and startup entrepreneur with a specialty in leading, architecting, implementing, and delivering solutions to solve complex data problems. As a passionate technologist, he has worked with numerous companies to solve their immense analytics problems both on-premises and in the cloud. Notable examples of Lee's work include HDInsight for Windows Azure (Hadoop as a Service for Microsoft's Multi-Tenant Cloud) and Yahoo!’s 24TB SQL Server Analysis Services cube (Campaign Display Web Analytics solution).
Moderator: Michael Zeller, CEO of Zementis; Board of Directors, Software San Diego; Secretary/Treasurer, Executive Committee of ACM SIGKDD Michael Zeller is the CEO of Zementis, a software company focused on the operational deployment of predictive analytics. Zementis was recognized by CIO Review as one of the "Top 20 most promising Big Data companies in 2013" and named "Cool Vendor in Data Science" by Gartner in 2014. Michael currently also serves on the Board of Directors of Software San Diego and as Secretary/Treasurer on the Executive Committee of ACM SIGKDD, which is the premier international organization for data mining researchers and practitioners from academia, industry, and government.
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As a User Group Leader I am often asked my opinion about the value of Technical Certification. My answer is always the same, “all things being equal, who would you select for employment?”. Now I fully realize that “all things are rarely equal” and I could stand to be accused of giving something of a cop out answer. However, there is no other way to honestly answer the question without perhaps introducing my own biases on the subject. Incidentally, I am in favour of Technical Certification if only for the fact that it demonstrates that you have made a commitment and successfully completed a course of study. Knowledge is never wasted and experience has taught me you never know when it will come in useful!
The nay-sayers usually come up with the argument that Technical Certification does not speak to experience and competence, and I can only agree. However, this is a negative argument because Certification with experience might just result in a higher level of competence than without. I often find that the nay-sayers are people who have been in the industry for some time and consider that Certification isn’t going to teach them anything. I suspect that there is also an element of, “do I really want to make the effort rather than do I really need to make the effort?”. Ultimately, we are all driven by “need”; the need to feel secure, the need to feed and clothe ourselves and our families, the need to maintain a roof over our heads and, certainly by no means the least, the need for self-fulfillment. For the vast majority of us that means we need to have and sustain gainful employment.
So what does any of this have to do with “Professional Status”? Professional Status is about “raising the bar” to ultimately benefit everyone. It is not just some other “Certification”. It is a responsibility to Society as a whole as much as it is to the individual Profession or oneself. For example, most Professional Associations have a clear intent and policy to help and support the Community through volunteer and charitable activities. In turn, it is about being formally recognized and acknowledged by Society for the contribution made. Just in case you are concerned that this sounds somewhat “elitist” that couldn’t be farthest from the truth. In fact the standards by which Professional Status should be judged must be diametrically opposite. Selfless behavior, unimpeachable Conduct and adherence to a Code of Ethics are central to, and vital to, the maintenance of “Professional Status” both in the interests of the Profession itself and in the eyes of Society as a whole. This is why Professional Associations have policies and procedures to deal with “impeachable” conduct. Professional Associations are charged with the responsibility, often by law, to maintain the highest technical and behavioral standards. So “Professional Status” and “Certification” can, and should, complement each other.
The use of computers is now taken for granted in our everyday lives. So their use is now fundamental to the prosperity and safety of Society. If we examine other “Professions” it is easy to see how such things evolved and why. Having actually spent the majority of my career in the Engineering Profession I feel reasonably qualified to speak with a little authority and to compare what is happening now in the IT Profession to what has happened over time in Engineering.
As a modern Society, would we simply be happy to accept a building falling down, a dam bursting, a chemical plant exploding, constant electrical outages? The answer is obvious but in our daily lives we don’t stop to think about why these things are so rare these days, especially in developed countries. There was a time when such things were more common. So what changed to make that difference? Clearly “we” gained knowledge and experience but that of itself would not come close to guaranteeing a major improvement without some means of knowing that those gains would be uniformly and consistently applied. In the Engineering world much of that knowledge and experience went into national and international Standards and Guidelines of one kind or another, and continues to do so through the Standards bodies. It is a constantly moving target.
However, Standards and Guidelines are not “painting by numbers” and are never likely to be. This is where that all too important, and often elusive, “personal experience” comes in. So if we are to entrust our “existence” to those people who “build and maintain” our physical, business and social infrastructure there must be a mechanism to determine and continue to confirm their fitness for that purpose. That is where “Professional Status” becomes relevant. In other words it is “Responsibility with public Accountability”. In many parts of the world this means legal Accountability due to the involvement of Government, for example the P.Eng or the CIPS ISP in Canada.
Does that mean that those people who cannot put P.Eng., ISP or some other suitable accreditation after their name are incompetent? No, certainly not. I have worked with many very competent people who don’t have any such designations. However, I firmly believe that their time is numbered and that they are representative of a passing generation. Engineers and Technologists now leaving University understand that their objective must be to aim for “Professional Status” if they want to ultimately meet their needs and in turn the needs of Society.
So what is happening in the IT Profession? Much has been written here by Stephen Ibaraki regarding CIPS and the ISP designation. I won’t go over that and Stephen is far more knowledgeable on the subject than I. However, I can now see the beginnings of change towards the need and importance of Professional Status in the IT Profession and ultimately the reasoning is the same. Because of the impact that the IT Profession (let’s not confuse Profession with Professional Status – I suspect that if you suggested to someone in the IT Profession that they weren’t a “Professional” you might get a black eye) now has, it is time to start to take formal “Accountability” seriously.
However, there is another component that is equally important before it can all come togethor. My original background is in Process Engineering. It didn’t matter how well I knew my job if the “hardware and software” that was necessary to build a Chemical Plant wasn’t somehow also assured. In other words, the “product” is still only as good as the “tools” that are used to make it. If I were to translate that the IT world, then if we are to hold people professionally accountable then the “tools” that are used must be equally have some kind of assurance. If I am again to try and draw a parallel then there must be “Standards” to measure against. Otherwise it will be very difficult to get people to accept “responsibility with accountability” without some assurance that they won’t always be left holding the baby. Of course, nothing is remotely perfect, which is why this is always a moving target. Software suppliers for example, as suppliers of some of the “tools”, may have to be a little more willing to stand up and be counted.
If we evolve to a situation where there is increasing pressure for the individual to obtain “Professional Status” in IT but don’t at the same time give people some reasonable assurance that the “tools” that they use are not going to leave them constantly exposed then we will only arrive at a litigious environment where the insurance companies and lawyers are the only real beneficiaries. In other words the whole “IT ecosystem” must move forward for everyone to gain. That took a long time in Engineering and it won’t happen overnight in IT either. However, the IT industry has the benefit of being able to learn from the experience of others and it would be wise to do so. For those who are astute enough there is an opportunity here. The “suppliers” in the Engineering world who saw the importance of “raising the bar” benefited by “joining the party” early on. Today we think of this as Quality Assurance and Support. Ask yourself, “what really ultimately costs the most, the cheapest product with little or no support or the ‘quality’ product with support?”. Remember, “there is no free lunch!”.
I am sure many of you are probably asking yourselves, “we have managed OK so far so why will it, or should it, need to change?”. Let’s examine what has happened in the Project Management world over the past few years for example. Constant “project failures” demanded change. The PMI has been around for quite some time (just like CIPS for example) and it was formed with the very intent of setting those yardsticks which could lead to “Responsibility with Accountability” but the number of PMP’s didn’t take off until industry and society were ready to demand it. Now in many cases you cannot get a more senior job as a PM without the PMP designation. For example, “project failures” have hardly been uncommon in the IT world. Understandably people now want some reasonable assurances before putting down their money. So why in turn would it be unreasonable to want those same assurances about some of the other resources that directly affect the outcome of a project or the operation of a company?
Why would you want to achieve “Professional Status”? The negative stance is because “I want to remain employed”. The positive stance is because “I believe in the value and importance of Professionalism and I want to help raise the bar”. I have always subscribed to the latter approach and I would like to encourage you to think the same way. The two approaches are entirely different and symptomatic of different thought processes.
Will this happen today in IT? Probably not. Will this happen tomorrow? Possibly. Will this happen in the foreseeable future? Highly likely. It has to happen in order to “raise the bar” and bring the “IT Profession” up alongside the other already formally recognized Professions to represent its place and importance in today’s society. Be alert, many things are happening now! Be astute, know and understand the importance to you!
Cheers
Graham Jones
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Kumar R. Parakala, KPMG Head of IT Advisory Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMA) and India; Chief Operating Officer (COO) Advisory India; past Global COO for Global IT Advisory KPMG; Invited by President Clinton to work on the Clinton Global Initiative, Invited by the Red Cross Society of China Jet Li One Foundation to support various philanthropic humanitarian activities around the world; past National Chairman of the Australian Computer Society (ACS); recipient of national and international honours. Kumar provides unique Insights from an internationally renowned innovator and senior executive with a long history of success.
Enjoy! Stephen Ibaraki
Mr. Kumar Parakala is currently the Head of IT Advisory for KPMG in Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMA) and India. Apart from leading the IT Advisory business into the next growth phase, he has also been appointed as the Chief Operating Officer of KPMG Advisory business in India. The Advisory practice of KPMG India consists of 2500 people and the EMA IT Advisory practice has close to 3500 people.
Prior to his current role, Mr Parakala was the Global Chief Operating Officer for the Global IT Advisory practice for four years at KPMG. During his career in Australia for over 20 years, Mr. Parakala has worked in senior management roles within healthcare, professional services, manufacturing and the public sector. Boards and CEOs consult with him on various matters relating to management of complex projects, outsourcing, business strategy and IT, performance of IT function and corporate governance. He joined KPMG in Year 2000 and prior to that spent five years in the Queensland healthcare sector in senior executive roles both in private and public sector.
He held several public positions including the National Chairman of the Australian Computer Society and was the IT industry spokesperson for several years in Australia. Mr. Parakala has been a regular columnist for the “The Australian” and his views have been extensively covered across media in India, Australia and overseas.
Mr. Parakala was bestowed with the ACS Honorary Life Membership Award recently; he became the 45th recipient of this award since the formation of the Society in 1966. He also received the Leadership Excellence Award from the Queensland Government and the SEARCC Outstanding Contribution Award.
He has Masters Degrees in Science, Information Systems and Business Administration and is an Adjunct Professor at Central Queensland University, Australia. Mr. Parakala supports major global philanthropic initiatives such as Clinton Global Initiative (by President Bill Clinton) and Jet Li Foundation.
Outside of his professional commitments, Mr. Parakala is an avid golfer, skiing enthusiast, wine connoisseur and restaurant critic.
To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link
DISCUSSION:
:01:20: Tell us more about your work with the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) and Jet Li Foundation. "....Since the inception of the Clinton Global Initiative in 2005, CGI members have helped more than 15 million women and girls to have access to empowered initiatives....I’ve been very fortunate to have been invited by President Clinton to be a part of this initiative and I am continuing to support various activities of CGI including a forum to engage with college students in global commitments to action and various other philanthropic activities....The Red Cross Society of China Jet Li One Foundation was founded by Jet Li and I was invited to participate. The main purpose of the Foundation is to support various philanthropic humanitarian activities around the world, starting with China and other countries...."
:04:16: Now looking back over your early years - what triggered your initial interest in technology and then what forces shaped your interests? "....I got into technology accidently. I then worked through various opportunities that came my way and persevered and ultimately I’ve had a very enjoyable career in IT spanning more than 20 years...."
:07:08: What lessons can you share from your positions as National Chairman of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) and regular columnist for the “The Australian”? "....The main purpose of the Society is to advance ICT professionalism and that is what ACS is well-known for....My columns in ‘The Australian’ have always emphasized the benefits of using technology....My columns were regularly focused on how the government should make technology a strategic national priority, and more importantly what the governments around the world and industry should be doing to leverage information technology and create sustainable wealth for its people...."
:09:20: From your current roles, what do you hope to achieve and how do you bring value to your stakeholders? "....Currently I have two roles. One role is being the head of IT Advisory for Europe, Middle East, Africa, and India business for KPMG. In that role we are looking at how we can help our clients, particularly at the CEO and CFO level, address their requirements for technology solutions....I also have another role and that is as Chief Operating Officer for our advisory business in India....My role is very much focused on helping create a team of strong advisors who are able to help our clients in the areas of transaction and restructuring, performance and technology, and in the areas of risk and compliance...."
:13:28: Looking at your remarkable career of successes - what are your most difficult challenges: past, present, and future? "....I’ve been in situations in the past where there was very little I could do in terms of helping organizations address issues, such as the downturn in the economic situation or changes in the labour market which impacts their businesses. Very recently I have been working with organizations which have been impacted by the global financial crisis - which sometimes has nothing to do with anything they have done, they just got impacted. All these experiences have taught me to become flexible in my thinking, adaptable and to embrace change...."
:16:57: Please provide your career highlights and valuable lessons you wish to share with the audience. "....I’ve had had many highlights in my career....The great times I have had working with people and working for large organizations in Australia and overseas....Getting the Leadership Excellence Award from the government....Joining my current firm KPMG....Coming to India (about 18 months back) again after living in Australia for almost 20 years....In terms of valuable lessons - I realize that ‘human-connect’ is the most important valuable lesson I learned in my career over the last two decades...."
:22:40: Which recognition are you most proud of and why? "....I am very grateful for these awards but I’ve always enjoyed the journey and will continue to enjoy the journey. I will cherish whatever rewards and awards come my way but I’m focusing on the journey and I want to make sure that the journey remains as enjoyable as is possible...."
:24:13: Can you share your insights on India and the IT industry? "....I have no doubt in my mind that the way India is going, it will continue to remain a global force in the IT space and will become a major contributor, not only to many businesses around the world in terms of helping them grow, but also significantly helping the quality of lives of people in all parts of the world, both Western and Eastern...."
:28:47: What about leadership in emerging markets? "....Where leadership is concerned, we tend to take a little bit more structured approach in a developed country. We have well defined paradigms and we follow the philosophies and models that have been introduced over several years. But coming to India I found that leadership needs to take a different meaning in terms of organization and its people and in an emerging economy like India where there are lots of young people, it’s very important that the leadership aspects take into consideration the need to be able to connect with these people at every level possible – from senior management to the entry-level...."
:33:08: What is Professionalism in ICT? "....Professionalism is beyond qualifications, it’s about creating and maintaining a culture where there are high ethical standards and values where skills are regularly updated and validated, where there is a regular exchange of information and ideas and there is accountability and responsibility of actions. If we look at the dependence that we have on ICT, no matter which industry we come from, you will very quickly come to a conclusion that ICT professionalism is mandatory to have a successful business or industry. I’ve been a great advocate of professionalism for several years in ICT in several roles I’ve taken on...."
:35:10: What are your thoughts on computing as a recognized profession like medicine and law, with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, and globally recognized credentials? "....Professionalism is very important, regulation is very important and the governments around the world should embrace the regulation of the ICT profession as a risk mitigation strategy...."
:37:50: What is the International Professional Practice Partnership (IP3) and how does this program provide value? "....IP3 in my view is the only professional IT standard that we have with relevant accreditation policies and procedures that can be applied globally in the ICT industry....I believe that it is very important that all the industry and trade bodies around the world embrace IP3 as a set of standards that they should aim to comply with and help create professionals standards committees to take the good work coming out of IP3 and use for improvement of professionalism in the ICT industry globally...."
:40:51: Where do you see CIOs in the future? "....Increasingly in these times we are seeing the CIOs becoming more business orientated and their ability to develop greater business and communication skills is going to determine their success....CIOs are also increasingly putting on the hat of Chief Innovation Officers. The role of CIOs is becoming more and more diverse and you can see that CIOs are increasingly contributing to directly running of the business...."
:43:54: You talked about CIOs becoming Chief Innovation Officers. How do we enable innovation? "....Make it a priority and part of the value system of the organization....Allow their staff to make mistakes to fail and to learn from those mistakes. If you don’t allow people to do that there will not be much innovation because everyone will be playing it safe....Organizations need to continue to remain connected with their ecosystem (their customers, suppliers, shareholders and others)….Give appropriate levels of recognition - to help motivate and inspire people to innovate...."
:48:17: What are some of the values of being involved in professional societies? "....Offers individuals an opportunity to support and be actively involved in research, communication and personal development programs in their chosen field....Being part of a community that helps them to learn from each other and the experiences of others....Allows people to network with leaders in the industry....An opportunity for professionals to become a part of the ecosystem and contribute towards driving their profession and building professionalism...."
:53:08: You choose the areas – can you provide your top predictions of future trends and their implications/opportunities? "....There are five trends....Cloud computing....Sustainability....Technology convergence....Social networking....RFID and automatic data capture...."
:58:40: Which are your top recommended resources and why? "....As a KPMG partner I’d recommend KPMG Thought Leadership Directory that comes out in 140 countries. Businesses’ have found those resources to be of incredible value for their growth and progress....Resources coming out of Harvard Business School, Australian Institute of Management, Australian Institute of Company Director....Australian Computer Society (ACS)...."
:01:04:00: Kumar shares a story from his many experiences. "....You never know what is coming your way and you need to always be out there building relationships and see what you can do in the present moment...."
:01:08:27: If you could sum up your life experiences with career tips for the ICT professional, what would be your tips and the reasons behind them? "....Make sure that there is ‘people-connect’....Remain positive....Important for people to feel the need to learn....Have a very clear view in your mind of what you want to do...."
:01:13:23: If you were doing this interview, what questions would you ask and what would be your answers? "....’With growing calls for protectionism in developed countries where they are still going through a recession, what do you think about the future of outsourcing the industry?’....’We hear a lot of stories about India growing and making great progress – but what are the challenges that would prevent India from becoming one of the significant players in the global scene?’...."
Simon Dixon was originally trained as an economist before starting his career in investment banking. In his career he was originally a trader before moving into corporate finance where he helped venture capitalists exit their companies onto the London Stock Exchange. Having worked with venture capitalists and helped companies go public, raised angel finance for his first business, helped businesses raise alternative finance, written two books on the future of banking, Simon Dixon had the passion to work with entrepreneurs and do something a bit disruptive in the banking sector.
:00:26: Can you profile your prior top roles and useful lessons from those roles? "....As I came out of university, there was nothing more that I wanted to do than to work in investment banking or finance and the problem was that I couldn't get a job. I still remember that I got 96 rejection letters from all the different investment banks and financial institutions that I was applying to at the time. I remember my career advisor telling me that I wasn’t educated enough so I went into the business of economics and got rejected by 125 of them. After that I changed my approach....I was a stockbroker and after six months I was a trader as a market maker for an investment bank on the London Stock Exchange. After two years I was a corporate financier working with Venture Capitalists that wanted to take their investment company public on the stock exchange....After a short career in corporate finance I quit my job and set up a qualification company for an investment banker, and after about a year I was fortunate enough to get angel funded by a billionaire in the UK called Peter Hargreaves and therein began my whole education in the world of business and finance. I wrote a book on the future of banking called, 'Bank to the Future' and I was discussing topics like Bitcoin, crowdfunding and alternative finance (as the crisis got worse it became more topical). I set up a crowdfunding company called BankToTheFuture.com. I guess the common theme has always been around investing and raising finance (businesses whether public offering, venture capital, angel investing or setting up businesses or crowdfunding). I was lucky enough to figure out my focus in life, but I just didn't know exactly what it looked like. I've now arrived at the place where I'm a Director of the UK Crowdfunding Association and the UK Digital Currency Association working with alternative finance...."
:03:51: You are definitely an innovation leader in the finance area and recognized as such globally. You are also a best-selling author, so from that perspective what do you see as the future of banking? "....In my book I discussed three things that need to be reformed and three changes. The first is when you deposit your money with a bank they become the legal owner of your money. When they become the legal owner of your money, they spend it and allocate it as they wish through how they issue loans and what happens with that. That needs to be reformed....Another reform I discussed is that banking needs to be split up from large banks into lots of local banks with local knowledge....Another is the stimulation of what I call ideological-based finance. Ideological is like crowdfunding where essentially a group of people get together with a shared ideology intent to meet online and fund each other and the importance of that is that there is no financial institution in the middle....Once you have these three changes of top-down reforms of the banking system (which has come about by a crisis that needs fixing): bottom-up innovation (entrepreneurs creating digital currencies like Bitcoin which is banking how it's meant to be and how it can be today), more localized banking rather than large banking, demerges and then the de-institutionalization and disintermediation of finance through crowdfunding, peer to peer lending and various other inventions that are coming today, you finally have sustainable finance...I'm very positive about the future, but we need to recognize our problems and we need to fix them...."
:08:20: How did your past experiences lead to your work with funding and crowdfunding? "....As both an entrepreneur and in my corporate career I've always been involved in raising finance, and finance in its simplest form is very simple....Everything I've been involved with is creating products (in the corporate finance career or the trading career) that redistribute or allocate money towards different means. When I've been in business I've been in scenarios where I've needed access to capital and found it very hard to get hold of. In other times I've been in scenarios where I've got excess capital and I'd like to invest it and get a return on it....When I saw crowdfunding emerge I thought that finally the technology and the environment have reached a place where we can actually allocate resources without necessarily having a financial institution sitting in the middle that has more of that profit than the mission of what's actually being funded in the case of the business...."
:10:12: Please overview 'BankToTheFuture.com' and why people should get involved? "....BankToTheFuture.com is essentially a platform where entrepreneurs and businesses can pitch their businesses to other people and investors can get involved at different levels. Whether that be the small investment of 10£ to a larger investment of 100,000£, it's all-inclusive to everybody so the major part of BankToTheFuture.com (the original vision) was to democratize investing which has some challenges in terms of regulations and also encourage financial inclusion whereby people can start diversifying and build a portfolio and companies and doing that with as little of 10£, 100£, or 1000£ in the case of the UK...."
:11:58: The marketplace is still relatively new in terms of your platform BankToTheFuture, but there are some platforms in other countries. How would you differentiate yourself from the others? "....There are different models of crowdfunding. I heard Kickstarter had an amazing reward-based crowdfunding by which people offered their products to people and people donate and if the sum is reached they get it....There is also equity crowdfunding....You also have what's called debt-based crowdfunding which is lending money to businesses and you can receive interest on your money even by starting small and diversifying across lots of businesses....What we do at BankToTheFuture.com is we've spent years working on how to integrate those three models into one product. People offer rewards or they can invest either equity or later debt and investors can diversify and invest in different ways and businesses can get good support to pitch their businesses in a good way. This is the kind of way we distinguish ourselves at the moment and we've got some very ambitious plans for the future...."
:14:53: What are other factors essential for your resounding success? "....For the company, the aspirations of what we want to do I talked about earlier, about my ideology of what the future of banking should look like, BankToTheFuture is really a manifestation of the ideologies....What we want to do as we grow is take a lot of the elements of banking and put it into the new way of doing things. This isn't an overnight mission, but one step at a time building what we eventually want to be, a crowd investment bank. I'd say the reason that we differentiate ourselves is that we're a team of people that really care, on a big mission to make a difference and we've all been involved in this world of alternative finance. For us the success of alternative finance is more important than just making a large profit. We consider ourselves ideologists and missionaries, but at the same time having a group of very experienced business people with a track record of execution...."
:16:27: How will your work evolve in 5 years? "....All I can say is that we're building a crowd investment bank and we're building it one product at a time over the coming months and years. The fundamental principle and belief that we are buying into is that in the future every single financial product, whether mortgages, insurance, whatever it may be will be de-institutionalized and based upon people funding it in a peer-to-peer crowd funded relationship....We want to be a part of the reinvention of banking from the ground up and there are several different parts to that so we’re making sure we've got divisions or investing in companies that are doing that. We want to make sure that it is integrated nicely, built from the ground up...."
:18:02: I think you've touched on this already somewhat, but do you believe that crowdfunding will then supplement traditional funding approaches or really be totally disruptive and significantly replace traditional funding approaches? "....I think alternative finance will definitely do some disruption, but we have to remember that banks don't really like lending to business, so when a company doing alternative finance comes along and does something that lends to business that's not too bad. But when companies come along and start doing things that banks do care about like mortgages and that does through crowdfunding, that's going to be very disruptive....The most disruptive alternative financing other than crowdfunding is digital currencies which are actually the biggest invention since the internet (in my opinion). So that's extremely disruptive when you have digital currencies meeting inventions like crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending — you have a significant problem for the future of traditional financial institutions...."
:20:12: You have one of the most flexible platforms on the planet with BankToTheFuture, so what is your global strategy? What are the challenges and what are the opportunities? "....The technical challenges aren't that significant because we've already built our platform in a way where it can handle multi-currencies, multi different payment methods. The regulatory challenges are significant because it took us two years to create the correct regulatory environment in the UK to be able to offer shares to investors....We had to change all those rules. Each country has their own rules, their own regulatory environment. For us it's fairly easy and seamless to expand to Europe, but then you've got two different challenges. You've got businesses where you can finance and you've also got the investors and you've got different rules. For us to expand to a country like America or some countries in Asia, you'd have to take their regulatory environment one at a time, so it's significant, it's challenging, but we do have aspirations...."
:22:27: There has been a recent change within China, in August 2013, the Chinese central government launched a program for financial market openness and that program is expanding and continuing. Do you see yourself tying in or being able to leverage that in terms of your platform and can you provide your forecasts of where you feel this will lead and its implications? "....At the moment we're focused on English speaking countries because of the rapport with the platform. Whether we expand to countries in China are not things we are exploring at the moment....But any movement towards financial openness is to be encouraged today because we're in a very changing world...."
:23:41: What are the investment (government) policy changes you want to see in your country and worldwide? "....I don't necessarily know the answer to how this is going to happen, but there needs to be recognition that we live more in a transparent world and we also live more in a global world. In terms of changes, one of the big changes was possibly allowing opening up who could invest in private companies....The other changes that we'd quite like to see is an environment where companies can invest in other companies and receive some of the tax incentives...."
:26:15: From your extensive speaking, travels, and work, please share some stories (maybe amusing, surprising, unexpected or amazing). "....It's very easy to think when you look at people who have achieved the things you want that it's been an easy journey, but life is a very challenging journey and it's full of failures. One of the main things that I've learned is to go out there and do the best you can and really try to achieve something, and recognize that there's going to be lots of rejection along the way and rejection is actually an instrumental part of failing your way to success....The moral of the story is that life is full of rejections, fail your way to success. Expect things to be hard, the point of life really to me is reaching a point where you are so passionate about something that the effort becomes effortless, not letting it get easy because achieving anything in life is really hard...."
:29:17: If you were conducting this interview, what questions would you ask, and then what would be your answers? "....'How do you remain focused?'....Because there are so many setbacks in life it's often easy to get distracted by opportunity and in answer to the question, I've never actually been distracted by opportunity, I've always remained focused. One of the observations that I've made in life is that the people tend to struggle, rather than chasing passion they tend to chase opportunities (and they tend to find opportunities which are a good way to make money or a good way to do something), but what I found is that good ways to make money aren't necessarily what your path is and people don't do well at them. So rather than chasing opportunities I encourage you to chase your passion. When you chase your passion (which is what I've done) you do down a path in life where effort becomes effortless, you find where you want to fit in and that's what I encourage everyone to do, chase your passion rather than opportunities...."
:31:13: Simon, with your demanding schedule, we are indeed fortunate to have you come in to do this interview. Thank you for sharing your deep experiences with our audience. "....Thank you for having me, I always like talking about things to help somebody else. I hope there are some gems and nuggets in that...."
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with leading professionals. In this blog, I interview Don Tapscott, amongst the world's foremost authorities on business Strategy. Don is Chief Executive of International Think Tank, New Paradigm; Best Selling Author; Top-Ranking Speaker and Thought Leader. Don's work has received recommendations from the world's top CEOs. This endorsement means you need to get connected to his ideas too! Don coined many of the familiar terms you hear today and his ideas typically proceed disruptive revolutions in technology, business, and society. I enjoyed doing the interview and I know you will get some great insights from Don.
I encourage you to share your thoughts here on these interviews or send me an e-mail at sibaraki@cips.ca.
Enjoy! Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., MVP
About Don Tapscott
Don Tapscott, one of the world's leading authorities on business strategy, is Chief Executive of international think tank New Paradigm. Founded in 1993, New Paradigm produces groundbreaking research focused on the role of technology in productivity and business design, effectiveness and competitiveness.
Tapscott recently completed a two-year, $8 million investigation of how firms will innovate in the 21st century entitled, "IT and Competitive Advantage", funded by 30 global corporations. The project continues in 2007; and "The Net Generation Strategic Investigation," focuses on the impact of the Net Generation as consumers and employees. The global phase of this program is now in progress.
Tapscott is the author of 11 widely read books about information technology in business and society, including "Paradigm Shift", "Growing Up Digital", and "The Naked Corporation". His new book (January 2007), co-authored with Anthony Williams, is "Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything". His work has been published in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Economist, Optimize Magazine, CIO Magazine, Wired and other prominent publications.
Don Tapscott is one of the world's most sought-after speakers, keynoting over 1000 conferences, executive planning sessions and other gatherings since New Paradigm was founded. He has presented to over half of the CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies, and has shared the stage with Heads of State such as President Bill Clinton, CEOs such as Sam Palmisano (IBM), Steve Balmer (Microsoft) and A.G. Lafley (Procter & Gamble), as well as social leaders such as Klaus Schwab (World Economic Forum) and Linus Torvalds (Linux). The prestigious Leigh Lecture Bureau praises him as an "enthralling, brilliant and inspiring orator". Don is often described by customers as the most effective speaker they have ever had.
Tapscott is adjunct professor of management at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. His clients include top executives of many of the world's largest corporations, and government leaders from many countries. He holds a master's degree in Research Methodology and two Doctor-of-Laws (Hon).Full biography is available at: http://newparadigm.com/default.asp?action=category&ID=40
Article is from Cluster MVP David Bermingham
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mvpawardprogram/archive/2014/08/18/sql-server-high-availability-in-windows-azure-iaas.aspx
1. 256 Seconds with dotNetDave – Episode 1
By Visual C# MVP David McCarter
2. Accessing Visual Studio Online from YOUR Azure Account
By ASP.NET/IIS MVP John Petersen
3. Developing Single Page, Real Time Websites on Windows Azure
By Windows Azure MVP Dennis Burton
4. End to End BizTalk Domain Setup in Windows Azure IaaS Scripts
By Integration MVP Stephen Thomas
5. New Features in Total Access Emailer for Microsoft Access 2013 and 2010
By Access MVP Luke Chung
Adam Cole (Toronto, Manager Applications and Development for McKesson & National Director for CIPS)
“All very complex computer programs will, at some time, fail.”
I can’t help but gawk as I drive by an accident, similarly I find I have a morbid curiosity when I read of colossal software failures. I am sure this is due to some deep-rooted fear that next time I could be the victim …or the cause of such a tragedy.
We live in a world where complex software is everywhere. Failures of our software range from minor annoyances to lethal.
With the steady march forward of technology our lives are increasingly, and frequently unwittingly, turned over to technology. Technology enables our telecommunications, dispenses our drugs, determines if we are to be the beneficiary of a tax audit, flies our airplanes, and empowers Outlook to “ding” when we receive notification that Tukki Ghanaki, the son of the deceased monarch of Nigeria, wishes to share his pilfered millions with us.
The risks involved with software development are inherently unique. As Scott Rosenberg, the author of “Dreaming in Code”, points out, “One reason the whole engineering approach has proven so difficult for the software field is also one of the unique things about software: Once a particular problem is solved, it’s almost infinitely cheaper to use the existing solution. There’s no cost to make additional copies.”
In the world of software development new programs are only created if they are innovative in some fashion. The simple fact that each new program and every new project be innovative is the hallmark of risk.
What can be done to mitigate risk?
John Boufford, President of the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) asserts, “Certified Professionals Who Understand a Broad Range of IT Disciplines, Adhere to a Strong Code of Ethics, & Follow Emerging Best Practices Are Better Able to Provide the Process Assurances to Deliver Reliable IT Services.”
Boufford elaborates, “That is not to say that problems will not arise when a project is managed by professionals nor are projects managed by non-professionals doomed to failure. Rather, the factors which influence success are consistently repeatable when performed by a professional.”
(See John Boufford’s presentation on the role of IT Professional Practice at IT360 in Toronto, May 2, 2007.)
The IT industry has come a long way in recent years but remains relatively immature in both adoption of consistent risk management practices and encouragement of professionalism. There is surely a tight correlation between the two.
Need more convincing? Here is some great reading. Unfortunately there is enough here to satisfy even my morbid curiosity:
· Can Software Kill? Why Software Quality Matters.
· “When Software Kills” Revisited
· 107 Software Horror Stories
· History’s Worst Software Bugs
· Trust me, I’m your software – risk of software failure in safety-critical systems
· Why Software Fails
· Project Wipe-out: Big Failures
· The Risks Digest
Besides being interesting reading, these articles/libraries are excellent case studies on lessons learned.
November 23-25, 2012 Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
Windows 8: Pure Imagination Where developers, designers, game builders, start-ups and students unite to explore the possibilities of Windows 8. You’ll be encouraged to look beyond the features… to what can be accomplished when inspiration and technology intersect. In less than 40 hours you’ll get everything you need to help make your vision into the next great Canadian app, including on-site presentations, brainstorming sessions, hands-on labs and access to industry experts for guidance and treated to spontaneous moments of fun to keep your energy up.
Still not convinced? This is what you can experience by attending Pure Imagination
· Take advantage of new features in Windows 8 – Search, Share, Play To, file picker & extensions, touch-first, live tiles and many more that will help make your app successful.
· The opportunity to take part in topics such as games, development, design and the cloud.
· Your ideas and skills could well turn heads. The connections you make could impact your career.
From the Office Blogs: Say hello to Sway! Sway is an entirely different way to express yourself and bring your ideas to life. When your ideas are born, you want to explore, visualize and share them—quickly and easily, wherever you happen to be, and on whatever device you have. You want your ideas to be understood. Sway helps you do just that. It’s a new way for you to create a beautiful, interactive, web-based expression of your ideas, from your phone or browser. It is easy to share your creation and it looks great on any screen. Your ideas have no borders, edges, page breaks, cells or slides. Your mind is a continuous canvas, and Sway brings this canvas to life. Sway helps you focus on the human part: your ideas and how they relate to each other. Sway takes care of the design work—a Sway is ready to share with the world as soon as it is born…Sway Preview, we are just starting our journey with Sway and want you to help us shape its future.
We've had a great response to the various virtual training events we've been posting and we've heard that these aren't just valuable for your teams, but for you as well. Continuing along that vein, we have an upcoming virtual event series that covers the ins and outs of SQL Server 2012.
Microsoft Canada is hosting Microsoft SQL Server webcast series. These events are designed to help you learn more about Microsoft Tools and new capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server – the most popular database in Canada*
Webinars will be run weekly beginning March 19th and include the following topics:
Register Now>>
Share your thoughts during the webcast. Our experts will be available after the webcast to answer your questions.
You can follow up with us after each webinar on twitter @CanSQL (please use #SQLwebcast tag) to ask questions about the content or you can post your questions to MS SQL Server Professionals-Canada LinkedIn group.*IDC Survey, 2012. More than 66% of surveyed by IDC organizations called SQL Server a Primary database for their business.
Mark Smed started as a self-employed consultant, integrating computers into small business in 1989. The range of work expanded into installing networks and consulting with businesses on the fast paced changes in technology. As his career progressed he taught Network Administration at a small business college and continued to build his base of clients.
Today, Mark works for Northern Computer Inc. (http://www.northerncomputer.ca) as a consultant, specialist and technician. His client base continues to grow and many of his clients have worked with him for over 15 years. In 2001, Mark joined the Network Professional Association (http://www.npa.org) and now sits on the board of directors and is responsible for publishing the Network Professional Journal for the association. Recently he started writing a column for Castanet.
:00:28: Congratulations, you just received a special Global Award for outstanding service, Top of the Mark - Volunteer Award—can you tell us more about the award and how you feel about receiving this special honour? "....The Network Professionals Association (NPA) seeks to recognize professionals in the field of IT for contributions that promote the ideals within the NPA....I was very surprised and deeply honored to have been nominated and to receive the award...."
:01:58: You are the publisher and chief editor for the NPA Journal. What are some of your highlights from your work on the Journal? "....I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I started editing the NPA Journal, but the two most significant things that I've come across are the number of organizations like GITCA and CIPS (there are dozens of professional organizations working in the background to develop standards, professionalism and to provide resources for professionals)....The other thing really has been the amazing people that are involved in IT...."
:03:34: You are a long-time leader within the NPA. Can you share with us some of your leadership lessons? "....Leadership has really opened my eyes to the amazing experience it is to have accomplished something as a group rather than working as an individual...."
:05:31: Tell us more about the NPA organization and why IT professionals should get involved? "....The NPA for me has always been about our Code of Ethics and it's where I'm passionate....We work for the client. It's not just about making a profit; profit obviously is important, but in the end it's our clients who have to be profitable and we have to present the best solutions and let them make the choices that they need to make...."
:06:46: As a networking expert what are your top lessons and solutions? "....It's important to get an understanding of the technology....Work very hard to understand a client's needs....I find 'cutting edge' technology a little less reliable than solutions that have been around for awhile, so it's important to balance what you are doing....Probably the most important lesson I've learned is how important stability is, I think it's the most important thing that we provide to clients....Nobody remembers that the network was up for seven hours today, everybody remembers it was down for one...."
:10:15: What are some special technical tips? "....Research is really critical in solving problems....Isolating the problem is the first step in the solution....The most cost-effective solution for me has always been in the middle and it's usually the most reliable as well....I always take the time to make sure that the user tests whatever I put in....Another really important tip for me is 'a second set of eyes'....If the customer doesn't understand what's wrong, you haven't finished solving the problem....Restarting does actually fix most problems....I've often found myself in situations where I'm doing training — if your hands are on the keyboard or the mouse, you are no longer training, you're fixing...."
:14:16: What are your recommended Microsoft technologies and why? "....The segment of the market I'm in is Small Business so a typical client for me is probably five to ten users. Putting in servers has been pretty dramatic for some of these businesses....Probably my second most favorite technology that's been implemented has been Microsoft Exchange....I think SharePoint is going to be a really big revolution for Small Business...."
:17:47: In each of your business roles (past and present), describe three major challenges you faced and your solutions to the challenges that would be of value to businesses today? "....I think adapting to change like innovation is really a challenge....Learning new technology can really be a challenge, especially with the fast pace of change....Educating clients is always a challenge as well. Technology is always that big grey cloud to some users...."
:21:25: What five future disruptive innovations should business executives be watching? Are there any surprises you think are on the horizon outside of things like Big Data, the Cloud, mobile devices and things like that, something that perhaps people aren't aware of right now? "....Cloud-based technology offers some real advantages and prices are coming down....The internet is like a sidewalk for Globalization. There are new markets evolving and suddenly your storefront has 6 billion potential customers....Education. Data is becoming a commodity and it requires some education to manipulate and process data and educating a workforce is going to create a factory for processing data....It used to be that you had a business and you provided a service or you hired people to complete jobs, but now it seems that we're building teams. With the highly mobile workforce and people changing careers/jobs all the time it seems to be the way things are going....I was in a retail store looking for a toaster oven (there were probably 20 people in the store) and I was the only one who was pricing things out and reading reviews on my smartphone. Retailers haven't adapted to that yet and I think that's going to be the next revolution....You are going to start to see a service become more important than price...."
:28:03: Do you find any areas of controversy in the areas that you work? "....Maintaining relationships with existing clients and having to choose to sacrifice relationships with new customers where it's more profitable....It's hard to get people to change (being technicians we embrace innovation) and some of our clients are not that way and that creates some controversy....Juggling time....Developing some professional standards within the organization is really important, but difficult. There's a lot of conflict there...."
:30:48: Do you feel computing should be a recognized profession on par with accounting, medicine and law with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, personal responsibility, public accountability, quality assurance and recognized credentials? [See www.ipthree.org and the Global Industry Council, http://www.ipthree.org/about-ip3/global-advisory-council] "....Yes I think so....Something that will improve the overall acceptance of IT is a higher level of professionalism...."
:35:11: Mark shares some stories (amusing, surprising, unexpected, amazing) from his extensive speaking, travels and work. "....I've always found it funny that I'm paying to take a class and I have to fix the technology so that we could have the lesson...."
:37:41: If you were conducting this interview, are there any questions that you would you ask and then what would be your answers? "....IT is a lot of fun and a really interesting profession and I would encourage anybody looking to get into it to look at it as a profession and developing professionally. It's not just about learning the technology it's about learning so many different things...."
:38:35: Mark, with your demanding schedule, we are indeed fortunate to have you come in to do this interview. Thank you for sharing your deep experiences with our audience.
Here is a summary quoted from Scott Guhtrie’s blog post:
I did an article for IT World Canada about MVPs, Most Valuable Professionals. Here are great examples of their expertise through shared insight that can help you:
1. Understanding the Windows Server Failover Cluster Quorum in Windows Server 2012 R2
By Cluster MVP Dave Bermingham
2. DirectAccess IP-HTTPS Null Encryption and SSTP VPN
By Enterprise Security MVP Richard Hicks
3. Composing API Responses for Maximum Reuse with ASP.NET Web API
By Microsoft Integration MVP Darrel Miller
4. Why is my HNV gateway not working?
By Exchange Server MVP Bhargav Shukla
5. Terminator Program: Part 2
By F# MVP Jamie Dixon
Yasas V. Abeywickrama was recognised in 2003 by CIMA (UK) as an up and coming business leader for the future. In 2009 he was named the Young Professional of the Year by Professions Australia. In 2011, Yasas was recognised with a TOYP award (Ten Outstanding Young Persons).
Yasas has enjoyed a distinguished career thus far, working in the UK, USA, Sri Lanka and Australia in project management, business analysis, consulting and training, and later emerged as an entrepreneur. He has also been trained in the USA, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
He started his career at Virtusa in 2003, a US-based global provider of software development and ICT services in Sri Lanka. Yasas began in Software Engineering and later moved into Business Analysis roles, which saw him travelling around the world with postings in the USA and UK. During this period, Yasas had the opportunity to work on projects for high profile companies like British Telecom & Siemens. Later Yasas worked for Accenture, the world's biggest ICT consulting company. At Accenture he had the opportunity of serving major clients such as Telstra (the leading telecommunications provider in Australia), and his area of responsibility was around consulting and project management.
In 2010, Yasas returned to Sri Lanka permanently to serve his motherland. After his return, he co-founded Lanka BPO Academy, which is Sri Lanka's largest and pioneering organisation for training people for the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry.
He is a proud product of Ananda College Colombo. He was an ardent debater during his school days and was the Vice President and Secretary of the Sinhalese Oratory and Debating Society. After leaving school, he served his alma mater as the Secretary and subsequently as the President of the Millennia Group of Ananda College, an OBA group of the college. He was the Vice President of Ananda 99 Group and a committee member for a number of years.
He is a graduate of the University of Colombo, where he obtained an honours degree in Computer Science (2004). Yasas holds a Masters in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from Swinburne University of Technology in Australia (2010).
He held the highly influential role within the ICT sector as the Director of Young IT Professionals Board of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) in 2009 and 2010. In this role he had the crucial role of devising strategy to promote ICT among young people as well as to serve the needs of the younger segment of the industry. He also played a consulting role for South East Asian Regional Computer Confederation (SEARCC) in 2011.
Since 2012 he has been an active member of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka, which is the apex body for IT professionals in Sri Lanka. Yasas has served the Executive Council for many years and is currently the Secretary.
As a freelance journalist, he has written widely. He writes a regular column for The Island for nearly four years now. He was a guest resource person for FM Derana and TV Derana. Yasas wrote a regular column for two years for the PC Authority magazine in Australia. Currently he is a presenter for the Rise & Shine Morning Show on Channel Eye.
He has published a book on Business Information Technology (BIT) entitled 'A bit of BIT' (ISBN: 955-99562-0-5) and written articles for various publications. This was the first book by a Sri Lankan on Business Information Technology and it was published when he was just 26 years of age. The key objective of Yasas’ writing has been to educate the wider community. His second book will be out in mid 2014.
Yasas is also a fluent public speaker in both English and Sinhalese. He started his speaking career at a young age while at Ananda College as a debater, and today speaks to students at distinguished gatherings such as conferences, seminars, school events, professional events and other social gatherings. His topics include ICT, BPO, ICT/BPO Awareness, Career Options, Career Guidance, Economic Development, Business, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Youth Motivation and many more.
Yasas has travelled quite a journey leading by example and has become an exemplary role model for young people in any field. Today he is one of the most visible faces of young professionals and entrepreneurs.
:00:30: Overview your top three major successes and some useful lessons learned from each. "....I'm still fairly young; I've had a career of about ten years. I started my career as a software engineer initially and moved into business analysis, into consulting in IT, into project management and later started as an entrepreneur. It's a long story in that way, a software engineer becoming an entrepreneur and along the way I was writing books, writing a couple of columns and became a lecturer and a trainer....My first lesson is if you really want to do something, you've done the planning, preparation and have a plan to go ahead, you actually could do well. That lesson has helped me throughout because I believe in myself to do almost anything....The second is the understanding I developed about people....The third is if you have a good business idea and a plan, there's an opportunity to implement that successfully as long as you work hard and also keep close to your plans...."
:07:36: Can you tell us more about your current major roles? "....My main role and major responsibility is the business that we started four years ago, Lanka BPO Academy — I'm the CEO and one of the co-founders. My major responsibility is to develop business from where it is today to a different height over the next couple of years....The Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) represents Sri Lanka in IFIP. I've been on the CSSL Executive Council for quite a few years now and currently I am the Secretary, so that is a fairly significant responsibility to make sure the Board runs properly....About a month ago I was appointed as the Chairman of InterYIT of IFIP (International Young ICT group), which represents the young ICT professionals who are (roughly speaking) under 35 years across the world. My responsibilities are to ensure that IT professionals as well as their groups around the world get the right support and also have the strategic direction....Lanka BPO Academy, Computer Society of Sri Lanka and InterYIT of IFIP are the three major things that I do...."
:12:38: You talked about this academy that you started several years ago, Lanka BPO Academy. Are you small or medium in revenue? "....I would say in terms of Sri Lankan standards we are medium sized. We started as a very small company, all together about six people at the very beginning. We now work with about fifteen full timers and about 20 to 25 part timers....Basically Sri Lanka is one of the newer hubs for the BPO industry in the world. India is number one and the Philippines is also one of the major players. Likewise Sri Lanka is in the top 16 or 20 and Lanka BPO Academy is the only dedicated training provider in this industry in Sri Lanka...."
:15:38: Some of the audience may not be aware of some of the details about Sri Lanka. What is the population of Sri Lanka and so on? "....Sri Lanka is a fairly small country and in terms of land area we have 65,000 square kilometers and we have 21 million people living on this island. We are located a little below India and it is known as the pearl of the Indian Ocean. Our closest neighbor is India. It has tropical weather so we have lots of rain and lots of sunshine. It's a beautiful part of the world. In the recent past tourism has picked up a lot and Sri Lanka was identified as the most attractive tourist destination in a couple of the world rankings...."
:19:49: Yasas talks more about his role with the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) and IFIP IP3. "....We are now starting to become a little more active and more engaged and my role as InterYIT Chairman I think would help in that...We've had a couple of conversations with IFIP IP3, studied and also learned lots about the professional aspects IP3 has to offer....Maybe in the time to come we'll see more active ways of engaging with IP3. At the moment we haven't really nailed down the way that we could work with IP3 and that is something for us to do in the near future...."
:25:22: What do you plan to do next? "....As an entrepreneur it is very difficult to think something outside of what you are doing at the moment to be honest, because once you are committed to something, really believe in it and have the passion for it, you really want to do well. As an entrepreneur that's where I am today. I know after five years or so I might have a different opinion on my vision, but for the moment I'm thinking of doing a better service to the society through our organization, but outside BPO Academy, through CSSL I would like to do a bigger service in terms of developing professionalism and also developing networking opportunities...."
:29:00: What are the next books in your future? "....It's very timely that I speak to you. I just published my second book. It's called 'The Catalyst'....It covers about ten areas, including entrepreneurship, IT, BPO is another topic which comes inside that, careers, education, soft skills and these sort of things are covered in The Catalyst book so it's kind of a multi-purpose book...."
:31:37: You indicated your book is going to be available in Sri Lanka, is it also going to be available online, (for example through Amazon), so that the global audience can have access to it? "....I will definitely look at international mediums because today with the advancements of technology you are talking to an international audience as well. For example, if I publish something on my Facebook group I have about 1000 friends, and out of those 1000 people probably 3 or 400 are Sri Lankan but the majority are from overseas because I work around the world, so immediately I am accessing a global market although small, but it is still targeted. In that kind of technological environment it is important to make sure that you keep those channels open..."
:35:37: What are your top five business best practices? "....One of the important things that I always practice is keeping communication lines open with multiple stakeholders....One of the areas that we teach, and at the same time as an organization try to implement, are best practices around customer service....Best practices that we do around direct marketing....Apart from these major three that I would list are things around accounting practices, internal control, timetabling and quality practices in making sure the students are training their best...."
:39:03: You are an entrepreneur and you have been able to build this small private company into a mid-sized company. What would be your top entrepreneurship best practices? "....Trying it yourself, doing it yourself is one of the things that I practice....Being creative is being flexible, because if you have a rigid mind and no flexibility it is difficult to succeed in entrepreneurship....Keeping an open mind and making sure you know what's happening around you is also very important....Keeping an eye on and having an understanding about the accounting and numbers...."
:46:35: You are now the Chair of this young professionals program (InterYIT of IFIP), what are your top tips for motivating young people? "....Qualifications and education add value, but what really makes a difference is a visual game plan, (what you want to achieve, your objectives, goals and very important, the way you outline how to get there, a plan)....The second thing is working hard. If you don't work hard it is very difficult to achieve your end objectives....The third area is believing in yourself. Most young people don't believe in themselves. They sometimes read stories about various entrepreneurs and other successful people in the world but at the same time doubt whether they could do that or whether they could be that. Unless you believe in yourself others are not going to believe in you....Another thing I tell young people is about the important decisions in their life. Most critical important decisions in one's life are typically made in the younger age, eighteen to say twenty-five...."
:55:32: What would you consider to be your one top failure or challenge and the lesson learned from it? "....Of course I've had quite a few failures, but I would consider them as lessons rather than as failures, because failures are pillars of success as well. One 'lesson' for me was when we started this young company Lanka BPO Academy, I sometimes feel we didn't have the full depth understanding about the student market in Sri Lanka. I'm not regretting what we did, but I feel if we studied a bit more at the beginning we would have done certain things differently — picking certain market segments, certain market product lines could have been done a little better. That's the lesson learned on my career as an entrepreneur...."
:59:00: Yasas talks about what he considers to be the number one area of controversy in the areas that he works or has worked. "....If you don't have those open lines of communication, you cannot be clear of the expectations of different people....This lesson that I learned quite a few years ago is still helping me in terms of controversy...."
:01:02:42: Do you feel computing should be a recognized profession on par with accounting, medicine and law with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, personal responsibility, public accountability, quality assurance and recognized credentials? [See www.ipthree.organd the Global Industry Council, http://www.ipthree.org/about-ip3/global-advisory-council] "....I believe recognizing IT as a separate profession is important and recognizing those qualifications across the globe is important so that we can use these people across the world in different countries and different companies....I feel we are still in the early stages of developing a global profession, but it has to start somewhere and I believe that IP3 and IFIP could play a major role in terms of recognizing different qualifications of professionals in different countries, and in general, IT professionals for their different skills. I think as an industry we have to get there...."
:01:06:47: From your extensive speaking, travels, and work, please share some stories (amusing, surprising, unexpected, amazing). "....I was just a university student, no brand name, not much experience, no connections, no contacts, no networks, but it didn't really bother me and I didn't stop and I continued to send articles to the editors and one of the national newspapers started to pick my articles....It was amusing to me and to some of my friends to see my name on paper but it was also unexpected and surprising. It also shows that if you really want to do something there's a way to do it and if you keep on trying there will be opportunities and doors will open...."
:01:15:10: If you were conducting this interview, what 2 questions would you ask, and then what would be your answers? "....How do you manage your professional role with your personal life?....How are you utilizing social media for your business and professional activities especially in terms of maintaining the profile?...."
:01:20:14: Yasas, with your demanding schedule, we are indeed fortunate to have you come in to do this interview. Thank you for sharing your deep experiences with our audience.
For more details go here!
Summary of notable items quoted from the link:
Check out this video for a cool look inside a Microsoft Datacenter. As the engine that powers Microsoft's cloud services, the Cloud Infrastructure and Operations group focuses on smart growth, high reliability, operational excellence, cost-effectiveness, environmental sustainability, and a trustworthy online experience for customers and partners worldwide.
customers and partners worldwide.
Read the Microsoft Datacenter Facts
Top 10 Best Practices for Environmentally Sustainable Datacenters
Visit Datacenter team blog
It’s no secret that less women than ever are choosing information technology as a career. But few IT managers know why it matters and those that do may be at a loss to know how to recruit and retain a gender diverse team.
In this edition, we listen to a condensed version of a webcast talk given by Dr. Wendy Cukier, the Associate Dean of the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University and one of Canada’s leading authorities on emerging technologies. Dr. Cukier has been conducting research for CATA-WIT, part of the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance and she recently released her study results on the status of Canadian women in technology.
Additional resources:
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Are you in career stagnation?I feel one of the hardest challenges for IT professionals is to reach beyond their comfort zone. Ask yourself, are you feeling too comfortable in your job? This can be a key indicator of stagnation, complacency, and career stall!
It's good to take ownership and control over your future. I believe there's a lot to be gained by incremental improvements on a continual basis. I often advise IT pros to assess their situation at least monthly and look at opportunities to move forward. Ask yourself, "How can I add and gain value and what do I need to do to grow?" This is the hard part since growth means discomfort. And discomfort encourages avoidance. Who hasn't avoided making difficult or challenging career moves? However, to me, this is a signal for an opportunity that can be missed. In fact, if I'm feeling too comfortable, I know I'm not growing. There has to be a tool or formal process for doing a career check. I recommend doing a self SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is something companies should be doing regularly to ensure differentiation, and competitiveness. However, the same principles apply to career growth for an IT professional. It is something I talked about at the last career day conference where I was the keynote.
So what is a self-SWOT analysis? You assess your own personal Strengths, Weakness-this is the SW part of (SW)OT. I recommend you do this assessment on three: People, Process, and Technology. How are your people skills: communication, speaking, collaboration, team-building, leadership, writing…to name a few? How are your business process abilities-do you understand the processes used in your industry and in your organization? What is the extent of your business knowledge: business planning, strategic planning, finance, business agility factors, governance, regulatory compliance, etc.? How about your grasp of relevant technologies and future ones? If you determine any shortfalls or gaps, then you need to strengthen them by taking on courses, projects, opportunities where these kinds of skills will be sharpened.
Then you also analyze external Opportunities and Threats-this is the OT portion of SW(OT). When I say external, I mean coming from the environment around you. External opportunities are events, trends, changes occurring that allow you to grow your career. For example, the trend towards online collaboration, SOA, and blogging is an opportunity. The new Microsoft technologies in Windows Server, Vista, Virtualization, Office 2007, Windows Live, are opportunities. The shift towards having a deeper understanding of business processes, overall business and industry knowledge is an opportunity. Large upcoming retirements in senior IT ranks are opportunities. Often opportunities can appear as threats to you since they involve change. However embracing change provides you with a career leadership opportunity.
Threats are disruptive forces that can stall your career. Threats can be technological, economic, political, environmental, … there are no limits. Outsourcing in the technical specialist areas can be a threat that requires you to rethink where you should be focusing your career. Economic downturns in certain industry sectors is another threat. You should be looking to move into other verticals.
The key is to match your personal strengths against new external opportunities. If there are new opportunities that you can't take advantage of since you don't have the required skills, then the skills you lack are weaknesses. I recommend working on overcoming these weaknesses so they become strengths. You also should work on reducing or countering external threats. The prior shift to outsourcing of more commoditized jobs was a threat. To reduce this, you would acquire skills in areas that are difficult to outsource such as those that are mission critical to the organization. Typically, this would require taking a more business focus outlook. I should note that the trend towards outsourcing is reversing (in some areas) and moving these functions inside the organization, especially if they are critical to business agility.
A SWOT ExampleLet me work through an example of a self-SWOT analysis. Mary as an IT pro is great at acquiring new skills since she has to stay current with constantly evolving IT trends. This is a strength. The movement towards a more business focus in IT roles is an external opportunity. Mary takes courses in business and works towards her CIPS I.S.P. to take advantage of this new opportunity. Mary is reluctant to interface with business workers and has difficulty in making presentations. This is a weakness so she starts taking courses in communications, and joins a speaking club where she can improve her skills. In her job when there's a request to make a presentation before business managers, she volunteers. Mary is applying her newly conquered weakness to these opportunities so she can gain recognition outside of her specialist domain. She also gets recognition before management that she want to move into more senior roles. 40% of IT specialist jobs are being eliminated. This is an eternal threat so Mary looks to broadening her skill set outside of the specialist area and starts studying business process management. Mary conducts this self-assessment every month and makes the necessary changes to move her closer to her goals.
I want to hear from you … comment here or send me an e-mail as sibaraki@cips.ca
Thank you,Stephen Ibaraki
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If you haven't yet, register TODAY for the next free ACM Webcast, "The Online Revolution: Education for Everyone," presented on Wednesday, April 23 at 2:30 pm ET (1:30 pm CT/12:30 pm MT/11:30 am PT/7:30 pm GMT) by Andrew Ng, Co-Founder of Coursera and Director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab. The talk will be followed by a live question and answer session moderated by Marti Hearst, Professor in the School of Information at UC Berkeley and an ACM Fellow. (If you'd like to attend but can't make it to the virtual event, you still need to register to receive a recording of the webinar when it becomes available.)
Note: You can stream this and all ACM Learning Webinars on your mobile device, including smartphones and tablets.
In 2011, Stanford University offered three online courses, which anyone in the world could enroll in and take for free. Together, these three courses had enrollments of around 350,000 students, making this one of the largest experiments in online education ever performed. Since the beginning of 2012, Andrew and his partners transitioned this effort into a new venture, Coursera, a social entrepreneurship company whose mission is to make high-quality education accessible to everyone by allowing the best universities to offer courses to everyone around the world, for free. This platform's classes provide a real course experience to students, including video content, interactive exercises with meaningful feedback, using both auto-grading and peer-grading, and a rich peer-to-peer interaction around the course materials. Currently, the platform has 100 university and other partners, and over 5 million students enrolled in its more than 500 courses. These courses span a range of topics including computer science, business, medicine, science, humanities, social sciences, and more.
In this talk, Andrew will report on this far-reaching experiment in education, and why he believes this model can provide both an improved classroom experience for our on-campus students, via a flipped classroom model, as well as a meaningful learning experience for the millions of students around the world who would otherwise never have access to education of this quality.
Presenter: Andrew Ng, Co-Founder, Coursera; Director, Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab Andrew Ng is a co-founder of Coursera and a Computer Science faculty member at Stanford. In 2011 he led the development of Stanford University's main MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) platform, and also taught an online Machine Learning class that was offered to over 100,000 students, leading to the founding of Coursera, with his partners. Their goal is to give everyone in the world access to a high quality education, for free. Today their platform partners with top universities to offer high-quality, free online courses. With over 100 partners, over 500 courses, and 5 million students, theirs is the largest MOOC platform in the world. Ng's recent awards include being named to the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world; to the CNN 10: Thinkers list; Fortune 40 under 40; and being named by Business Insider as one of the top 10 professors across Stanford University. Outside of online education, Ng's research work is in machine learning; he is also the Director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab.
Moderator: Marti Hearst, Professor, UC Berkeley; ACM Fellow Marti Hearst is a professor in the School of Information at UC Berkeley, with an affiliate appointment in the Computer Science Division. Her primary research interests are user interfaces for search engines, information visualization, natural language processing, and improving MOOCs. She wrote the first book on Search User Interfaces. Hearst was named a Fellow of the ACM in 2013 and has received an NSF CAREER award, an IBM Faculty Award, two Google Research Awards, an Okawa Foundation Fellowship, two Excellence in Teaching Awards, and has been principal investigator for more than $3M in research grants. Hearst has served on the Advisory Council of NSF's CISE Directorate and is currently on the Web Board for CACM, member of the Usage Panel for the American Heritage Dictionary, and on the Edge.org panel of experts. She is on the editorial board of ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction and was formerly on the boards of ACM Transactions on the Web, Computational Linguistics, ACM Transactions on Information Systems, and IEEE Intelligent Systems. Prof. Hearst received B.A., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley, and she was a Member of the Research Staff at Xerox PARC from 1994 to 1997.
I am speaking, chairing the opening session of the 2014 Global e-Government Forum International Scientific Practical Conference next week involving 60 countries and in collaboration with the United Nations. I am sharing here since the topic areas should be on your agenda and this provides a quick check list. I will write articles about my lessons learned post-conference. There is more below.
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The third Global e-Government Forum (GeGF), a joint event of the United Nations and host country will be held in Astana October 7-8, 2014. The first two forums were held in South Korea. Delegates from over 60 countries will be participating. The UN Deputy Secretary General, ITU Deputy Secretary General, Prime Minister, Ministers will be providing their deep insights.
The Ministry of Investment and Development in close collaboration with the United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs will host the 3rd Global e-Government Forum in Astana, where high-level representatives from governments, international organizations, academia and business in 60 nations will gather to discuss the e-Government role and trends in the new era under the theme of ‘Smart Governance in Sustainable Development: New Possibilities of Partnership in Networked Society’.
The ultimate goal of this Forum is to enhance government capacity through presentations, discussions, and peer-to-peer learning. There are four objectives towards this goal:
· to increase knowledge of e-Government policies, trends, solutions and best practices of countries;
· to enhance global network to exchange ideas and cooperate for e-Government development;
· to make recommendations and suggestions to provide guidance for governments so they could adopt them for realizing Smart Government and Smart Society; and
· to renew the commitment of policy makers to utilize their acquired knowledge and expertise for elaborating innovative e-Government development strategies fit for their countries.
As a part of the Forum, the International Scientific Practical Conference will bring together global scientific experts in ICT. The main aim of the Conference is to determine the significance and role of new ICT trends and their adoption in public sector for effective governance.
The conference will consist of three sessions:
1. Data science for Smart Government;
2. Smart convergent technologies;
3. Use of architectural approach in the public sector.
Topics are interest include:
Data Science for Smart Government:
- Open Data;
- Open Government Data;
- Big Data Science and Foundation;
- Big Data Analytics;
- Big Data in e-government;
- Big Data in Smart city;
- Big Data in industry;
- Big data in Healthcare;
- Sensor Data, Streaming Data;
- Metadata and public information;
- Business Intelligence;
- Information retrieval;
- Data Privacy and Security;
- Acquisition, Modeling and Processing of Data;
- Data Structures and Algorithms;
- Data mining and data warehousing etc.
Smart convergent technologies:
- Grid and Cloud Computing;
- Hybrid information technology;
- Mobile computing;
- Digital convergence;
- Convergent technologies for smart government;
- Intelligent communications and network;
- Multimedia convergence;
- Internet of Things;
- Digital citizen cards;
- Smart Card and RFID Technologies;
- Electronic signature;
- Geographical information systems (GIS);
- Cross Domain Interoperability;
- Interactive decision making;
- Knowledge management, intelligent systems;
- Open source solutions for e-government;
- Ubiquitous Computing and Embedded Systems etc.
Use of architectural approach in the public sector:
- E-government enterprise architectures;
- Information systems architecture;
- Service-oriented architectures, web services;
- E-gov framework;
- Government collaboration patterns;
- Business Process Management in E-government etc.
This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with top-echelon and renowned professionals. In this blog, I interview Brian O'Higgins, Top International Security Executive and Expert, Board Member Sector Advisory Council, CTO Third Brigade.
Brian provided his insights for the April edition of YouShapeIT.
Enjoy, Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., ITCP/IFIP IP3, MVP , DFNPA, CNP, Advanced Technology,YouShapeIT
This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Brian O'Higgins.
Chief Technology Officer, Third Brigade Inc. Mr. O'Higgins is a seasoned professional in the security industry, and is best known for his role in introducing PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) technology and products to the security landscape. He is also a recognized speaker on IT and Internet security.
Prior to joining Third Brigade as a member of the founding executive team, Mr. O'Higgins was the co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Entrust, a leading Internet Security company. While at Entrust he had overall responsibility for the technology vision and direction for the company. He was previously with Nortel where he established the Secure Networks group in 1993, and was instrumental in spinning-out this group as an independent company, Entrust. Prior to this, Mr. O'Higgins was with Bell-Northern Research (BNR) where he was involved in a variety of technology development programs including public key security systems, technology for new telephone products, in-building wireless communications systems and high-performance computing architectures for digital telephone switches.
Mr. O'Higgins' current list of affiliations includes advisory board positions with Defence R&D Canada, Information Technology Association of Canada, Communications and Information Technology Ontario, Algonquin College, and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association. In addition, he currently serves on the boards of Recognia and Fischer International.
See Sector.ca.
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