BusinessCategory

In describing myself as an IT Architect in a social gathering recently, the gentleman who I was speaking to suddenly burst into a frustrated tirade that he was a real architect, and he was horrified that I could call myself an architect. To become a construction architect, it takes 8… Continue Reading The difference between an IT Architect and a construction architect

In my travels as a consultant and adviser, I have come to find that middle management is holding back innovation. Allow me to explain this dramatic assumption. I have found that there are three types of employee – the leader, the worker and the middle-manager. The leaders In industry, government… Continue Reading Middle management – holding back innovation

The focus needs to change. People need to stop fighting today’s problems with yesterday’s answers, and instead, focus on finding solutions to tomorrow’s challenges. I see this time and again from organisations large and small, from both experienced and newly educated people – a focus on the problems that have… Continue Reading Stop fighting today’s problems with yesterday’s answers

I was once in a conversation about capital investment in IT, where the financial manager posited that IT projects can be treated in the same way as an asset – it has an inherent value throughout the lifespan of the system. The belief was that IT CAPEX investments had a… Continue Reading Capital investment in IT – an oxymoron?

Businesses are running headlong into automation as a useful way to improve consistency, flexibility and speed, and decrease costs. However, there is a need for businesses to reconsider what is being automated, and more importantly why automation is being used. Implementation of automation requires a change in paradigm, similar to… Continue Reading Automation requires a change in paradigm

Ring, ring. “Hello, is that the IT Manager? Can I ask you a few questions for a survey? <preamble here to build a relationship and feeling of trust, like complimenting the company or asking what the company does, saying that it’s impressive or hard work>. Can you tell me what… Continue Reading Information disclosure as a security risk

Assumptions are often made that if you have storage, you need to use RAID. If you have moving parts like fans, the assumption is that you need a hot spare (or at least the ability to hot replace the part), and then it goes on to redundant network connections, warm… Continue Reading The concept of redundancy – is it redundant?

You may think it is bold of me to forecast the impending decline of Infrastructure As A Service (IaaS) before it is even mainstream, but I expect that the takeup and consumption of IaaS offerings will decrease gradually from 2025, down to almost nothing in 2030. So, IaaS is dead.… Continue Reading Forecasting the demise of IaaS

For years we have been hearing that tablet sales are outstripping PC sales, and projections that the PC platform will die, leaving all of us using tablets for all our computing needs. There has been a rush by organisations to equip staff with mobile devices (or let them bring their… Continue Reading Why a virtual desktop is the solution to workforce mobility

Activity Based Working (ABW) is the term used for a change in work practices that focusses on creating collaboration based workspaces, instead of personally assigned desks or cubicles. To enable ABW, there needs to be a shift in tools used by staff, so that they are accessible from mobile devices.… Continue Reading Activity Based Working is not provided by IT

How many times have you encountered a “block” of a suggestion for improvement with a response of “That is what we have always done”? People are resistant to change, even in an innovative organisation dealing with the latest technologies. The reality is that the opportunities provided by technology and new tools are… Continue Reading That is what we have always done

One of the first steps in preparing for a Business Continuity Plan and developing a Disaster Recovery Plan is to first identify the impact that your business would experience as the result of a disaster. Engage with senior management (as this process takes up considerable time and needs focus and… Continue Reading Business Impact Analysis questionnaire template

You may be one of the many people who ask what is the difference between BCP and DR – that is, what is the difference between a Business Continuity Plan and Disaster Recovery planning? First a little history – back in the pre-computing era, for most businesses, if they suffered… Continue Reading The difference between BCP and DR

Many of us have to give directions; it might be in a project, when managing a team, instructions for someone to pick something up for you from a shop, defining a business strategy – but the way to give directions is important. What is wrong with the way people are… Continue Reading The only way to give directions

How do you work out what data you need to capture for a system? This is a question not often asked, at least not in the right way. Designing data entry for a system should be driven by the wants and needs of the output. It’s no good gathering data if… Continue Reading Designing data entry for a system

Some people will just jump straight into Disaster Recovery Planning, without considering what they are planning for – how do you categorise a disaster? Who  decides, and what information do they need to make a decision? What parts of your business can continue to operate using other means – that… Continue Reading Disaster Recovery planning to do before the planning

What is the difference between DR and BCP? For that matter, what is the difference between Backup, Disaster Avoidance, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity? It’s a mistake to consider all of these as lumped into the same concept, as that leads to further mistakes such as skipping steps. Mistake 1:… Continue Reading 9 big mistakes in disaster recovery planning (DRP)

Without exception, every organisation I have worked at (or for) has had concerns over coping with the disaster of data loss or being unable to use their systems for business. It’s not surprising as it is reported that 60 percent of businesses that suffer data loss will end up failing… Continue Reading The silver bullet for a perfect DR plan

Running release N minus 1? What about release N plus 45 days? Software update best practice should mean that patches and updates are tested, but not held back when it provides known fixes. It is common practice for risk-averse companies to not run the very latest release of software, instead… Continue Reading n-1 is dead, long live N+45