mapping the current preceptions, opportunities and outlook ... · implementation and beyond. watch...

n i m b u s n i n e t y c o m m u n i t i e s s p o n s o r e d b y

M a p p i n g t h e c u r r e n t p r e c e p t i O n S , O p p O r t u n i t i e S a n d O u t l O O k O f e n t e r p r i S e d i g i t a l d i S r u p t i O n

editOr:Mark Young [email protected]

fOunder & Managing directOr:Emma Taylor [email protected]

head Of reSearch & StrategY:Caroline [email protected]

digital creatiVe deSigner: Jordan [email protected]

SpOnSOrShip:Tilly [email protected]

BuSineSS leaderShip eXchange cOMMunitY deVelOpMent:Milly [email protected]

Nimbus Ninety Market trendS repOrt 20142

..tO the niMBuS ninetY ignite Market trendS repOrt 2014.I’ve always found it hugely exciting to work within the world of business technology. Being at the forefront of cutting edge new developments that allow people to create, solve problems and achieve new heights is rewarding in itself; engaging with innovative professionals from world leading organisations that show us how we can take advantage of these trends is truly inspiring.

That excitement continues to escalate, unabated. The ever-increasing pace of development and all-encompassing scope of the new innovative tools and working paradigms at our disposal has created an era of business transformation to rival some of the greatest from history – the proliferation of the PC and globalisation among them.

No longer the reserve of IT teams alone, these developments are bringing huge opportunities – necessities even – for engagement and change among all professions, departments and disciplines. We are witnessing the widespread reinvention of structures, processes, cultures and even business models as organisation seek to ensure they’ll be the victors, rather than the victims, of the transformation taking place.

As the weight and breadth of opportunity has expanded, so has Nimbus Ninety.

I founded the company in 2005 with the ambition of creating a community of professionals that could inspire one another to reap the maximum rewards from emerging enterprise technologies. We began by focusing on business intelligence and performance management (Obis Omni), before creating the first UK professional end-user groups for both cloud computing (The Cloud Circle, 2009) and the new practices in advanced analytics that came with

the emergence of ‘big data’ (Big Data Insight Group, 2011). In 2013, we launched Business Leadership Exchange, a C-Level community which meets once a month for ‘Chatham House’ dinner discussions on various elements of bleeding-edge business issues, as well as sharing insights through a ‘behind-closed-doors’ web portal.

Our communities have collectively grown to over 5,500 members, all of whom are senior executives and project leaders from end-user organisations. As well as the forums that we started with, we now host over 30 masterclasses, dinners, thought leadership summits and networking gatherings per year. We provide our members with introductions to cutting edge technology providers, as well as one another, and we look to facilitate partnerships and collaboration across companies and industries. We also produce regular editorial reports, containing qualitative and quantitative research, granular explorations of emerging practices and changing industries, and interviews and case studies with global leaders.

What iS ignite?Nimbus Ninety IGNITE is a multi-faceted venture which brings all of our individual communities and various activities together. As well as the results and analysis of our survey of business professionals, this report also features interviews and case studies with some of the world-leading speakers from the two-day IGNITE launch event. The event featured a series of inspiring keynotes, masterclasses led by global innovators, demonstrations of the very latest enterprise

MeMBerShip teaMZeenat [email protected] [email protected]

CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER: 0207 630 1220

repOrt creatiVe/deSign:Optic Juice Ltdwww.opticjuice.co.uk

Registered company and publisher name: nimbus ninety Ltd Registration number: 06803745, registered in england & WalesOffice address: minster House, 272-274 Vauxhall bridge road, London, sW1V 1bbRegistered business address:16 Northfields Prospect, Putney Bridge Road, London, sW18 1pecopyright © nimbus ninety Ltd 2013

While every action is taken to ensure the information within this report is accurate, the publisher accepts no liability for any loss occurring as a result of the use of that information. All rights reserved. No part of this report may be published or stored in a retrieval system without the written prior consent of the publisher.

i n t e r V i e W? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

f O r e W O r dn i m b u s n i n e t y

Nimbus Ninety Market trendS repOrt 2014 3

technologies and processes, strategy roadmap building sessions for senior executives, dinner discussions and the usual peer networking and meeting environments which are so critical to our culture.

Two more IGNITE events have already been planned for 2014, in May and November, and they will be supported by editorial and dynamic media content. We will also be launching a new service in 2014 which will provide bespoke support and guidance for technology projects, from concept to to implementation and beyond. Watch this space.

Ultimately everything that we do is governed by the needs of our members – that’s how we’re different. We encourage you to get in touch and let us us know what you would like to see on the agenda.

Our thanks go to all that shared their insights for the survey and contributed to the report.

Yours,

Emma Taylor,Founder and managing director, Nimbus [email protected]

cOntentS eXecutiVe inSightS18–20/ keVin gallagher cio, channel Four21/ raYid ghani chief data scientist, obama for America re- election campaign 201222–23/ andY WilliaMS cio, save the children JaSMine Skee marketing director, Live nation Mark ridleY director of technology, reed.co.uk 24/ rOSS Mckean partner, olswang

the ignite Market trendS SurVeY6–14/ reSultS

the results of the nimbus ninety iGnite market trends survey of more than 250 senior business and it leaders

16/ reactiOn reaction to the survey by our report partners Logicalis

reSearch partner thOught leaderShip25–27/ lOgicaliS - the ciO iS dead, lOng liVe the ciO

James thompson, business Analytics & information management specialist, says transformation will make the cio critical to new models of business innovation.

MeMBerS Of niMBuS ninetY cOMMunitieS,

nOVeMBer 2013

intrOductiOnn i m b u s n i n e t y


carOlineBOYd

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dig

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n?head Of reSearch and StrategY, niMBuS ninetY

intrOductiOn tO the niMBuS ninetY ignite Market trendS repOrt 2014

The digital age is a dynamic and exciting time for consumers and enterprises – and for Nimbus Ninety members in particular. Over the past five years we have all borne witness to the incredible changes in our society and home and working lives through disruptive innovations like cloud computing, big data analytics, mobile and social networking.

often starting out in the consumer space, these innovations quickly make the jump to the enterprise world where, with the benefit of investment, their development and scope for changing the way we live and work escalates rapidly. but recently it feels like the pace of this development is hurtling out of control and it’s a struggle for even the most digitally savvy leaders to keep up. the rules of the game have changed inexorably as the costs of changing entire industries have shrunk to virtually zero. the impact of the convergence of this ‘perfect storm’ of factors (which can be seen on any uK high street) has led analysts and journalists to coin the phrase ‘digital disruption’. not every emerging technology will alter the business landscape – but some will have the potential to significantly disrupt the status quo, wiping out established business models and reshaping the competitive landscape.

it’s going to be a perilous journey to competitive advantage in the digital age and only those with winning strategies will succeed. traditional business models and approaches just don’t cut it in this agile new world. new policies and procedures will need to be aligned in such a way as to foster and enable flexibility and innovation. Leaders will need to adapt faster and organisations will need to place digital at the heart of their business strategy. organisations will need to shortlist and prioritise the key disruptive tools and the right mix of technologies that will have the greatest business impact – and then find a way to effectively manage and integrate these often disparate tools and channels.

these are just some of the issues that we will explore in our nimbus ninety iGnite market trends report which aims to uncover what senior executives really think about the threats and opportunities of digital disruption and the steps they are taking to harness or react to the changes. the results of our iGnite market trends survey are extremely insightful and reveal the true extent of the disruption already facing many of our leading industries and organisations.

our thanks go to the global leaders and our research partners who have contributed their experiences and thought leadership within the editorial articles beyond the survey, and to all that filled out the survey itself.

We hope you find the report a useful tool in providing best practice, inspiring you with ideas, in challenging your perceptions and in benchmarking your strategy against your peers.

Market tren

dS SurVeY

intrOductiOnm A R K e t t R e n D s s u R V e y


niMBuS ninetY ignite Market trendS repOrt 2014

Market trendS SurVeY

6–14/ the reSultS Of the SurVeY Graphical illustrations and overview analysis of the nimbus ninety market trends survey of over 250 senior business and it leaders

16/ Market trendS repOrt reSearch partner reactiOn response to the survey by the market trends report research partner Logicalis


SURVEYMapping the current perceptiOnS, OppOrtunitieS and OutlOOk Of enterpriSe digital diSruptiOn

The Nimbus Ninety Ignite Market Trends Survey was

conducted over September and October 2013. It received 262 responses from senior executives and project leaders at blue chip to SME organisations across the private, public and third sectors.

the respondents were qualified as end-users – as opposed to suppliers – of business technologies. they are all responsible for running or overseeing technology projects within their organisations, or have a significant influence over which technologies are implemented.

Figures 1 – 3 illustrate the comprehensive range of organisations represented within the survey response, by turnover, employee numbers and industry sector.

headline findingSdigital disruption is more than just hype – 76% agree the changes are as significant as the likes of globalisation and the proliferation of the pc

Almost half (47%) of organisations say their industries are currently undergoing disruption

A third (32%) are having to fundamentally change their business models or proposition as a result of the developments

only a quarter (27%) are fully prepared for the opportunities and threats of digital disruption, but 66% say their efforts to cope with it will position them for growth

marketing, pr and comms is the biggest line-of-business department to benefit from digital disruption (53%)

mobile dominates in the list of emerging technologies, platforms or processes to have the biggest impact (mobile devices, 78%; mobile internet 75%; mobile applications 72%).

Financial restrictions are the most oft-cited barrier to implementing new technologies (41%). the skills gap (27%) and security (13%) were noted surprisingly less often.

fig 1/ respondents by employee numbers

fig 2/ respondents by annual turnover

1 -10 12% 11 – 100 11% 101 – 500 13% 501 - 1,000 6%

1,001 - 5,000 19% 5,001 - 10,000 10% 10,001 - 20,000 4% 20,000+ 25%

£0 - £25m 27% £25m - £100m 8% £100m - £500m 18% £500m - £2bn 13%

£2bn - £10bn 14% £10bn - £25bn 8% £25bn - £50bn 4% £50bn+ 8%

r e S u l t Sm A R K e t t R e n D s s u R V e y


the perceptiOn Of digital diSruptiOn

The worlds of business and technology are both ripe breeding grounds for hype. The current wave of ‘digital disruption’ encompasses

not just one but a multitude of emerging technologies, platforms and processes aimed at delivering increased business functionality and efficiency. Those developments are creating closer relationships between IT and line-of business departments than we’ve ever seen before, in some case amalgamating the two traditionally distinct areas of the organisation completely.

it would be reasonable, therefore, to suspect that ‘digital disruption’ – one of the year’s undoubted biggest buzz terms – would spawn hype in abundance.

but respondents to the iGnite market trends survey certainly see that there’s more to digital disruption than hype alone. the majority (77%) see digital disruption primarily as ‘an opportunity’. only four per cent see it primarily as ‘a threat’ and only two per cent see it as either ‘just hype’ or ‘none of our concern’. the remaining 15% see it as ‘a challenge’ (see fig.4).

in fact, almost half (47%) say their industry is in the process of being significantly disrupted by the current wave of emerging digital technologies, while a third (33%) report that it already has been (see fig.5)

respondents were also asked whether or not they see the current developments in digital enterprise technologies as constituting ‘disruption’ on a similar scale to previous examples of significant business change. the examples of globalisation, the expansion of the european economic Area and the proliferation of the PC were offered as benchmarks. more than three quarters (76%) agreed that it does, while the majority of the remainder see the current developments as just ‘garden-variety evolution’. only three per cent say ‘nothing is changing’.

However, fewer small companies than their larger counterparts identify the current changes as significant disruption. Analysing the responses by annual turnover, only 66% of those in the £0-25m bracket and 53% of those in the £25m-100m bracket say the changes do indeed constitute disruption on a par with those previous instances. this compares with 90% in the £500m-2bn bracket and 81% of the £2bn+.

fig 3/ Which industry sector does your organisation primarily operate within?

15%

11%

10%

10%

8%

7%

6%

5%

4%

3%

3%

2%

2%

2%

2%

2%

2%

2%

1%

3%

if We dO nOt adapt, We Will nOt cOntinue tO eXiSt. neW, niche plaYerS can gain Market Share VerY quicklY BY

Making uSe Of digital channelS tO create a pull fOr their prOductS”

Head of Analytics innovation, blue chip pharmaceutical company


hOW OrganiSatiOnS See theMSelVeS

The increase in the use of technology that we have seen in recent years is still gaining momentum, and its scope is widespread. Almost half (48%) of organisations rely on technology more today that they did just one year ago (fig. 6).

However, there are signs that companies may be struggling to keep up with the pace of developments. Little more than a quarter (27%) say they are fully prepared for the opportunities and threats that the current wave of digital disruption presents. in addition, more organisations identify themselves as susceptible to digital disruption (37%) than as a driver of it (27%) – though of course both can apply to a single organisation.

Many are having to make significant and fundamental changes to their organisations as a reaction to the current developments (fig. 7). A large majority (82%) note that digital disruption is affecting the way their products and services are delivered and only slightly less (74%) report the same for the way that they communicate with their customers. Almost half (43%) are having to alter their organisational structures to accommodate the changes and, perhaps most tellingly, almost a third (32%) are having to change their core business model or proposition.

Respondents are confident that their efforts could eventually pay dividends though, with 66% stating that new technologies are positioning their organisations to grow. On the flipside, 52% concede that new technologies are also making it easier for competitors to challenge them.

An opportunity 77% A challenge 15% A threat 4%

Just hype 2% none of

our concern 2%

fig 4/ how is digital disruption viewed within your organisation?

fig 5/ do you think that your industry has been, or will in the future be, significantly disrupted by new technologies?

fig 6/ Which of the following statements accurately describe your company? please select all that apply

it is in the process of being disrupted 47% it already has been disrupted 33% it will be disrupted over the next two years 7% it will be disrupted, but not for at least two years 6% Disruption could occur at any time with little warning 5% it won’t be disrupted for the foreseeable future 2%

48%

39%

37%

27%

27%

4%


tOOlS and prOceSSeS

Mobile is certainly the topic de jour at the moment where emerging disruptive technologies are concerned. Mobile devices (78%), Mobile Internet (75%) and Mobile applications (72%) are the three most widespread emerging technologies, platforms

or processes to be disrupting the way organisations work (fig. 8). This level of take up is broadly similar across the spectrum of companies, by size and industry sector. Cloud computing is also high on the agenda (68%). It is highest, in fact, for companies at the smallest end of the turnover scale (£0-25m, 80%) who benefit from the economically attractive entry points, scalability, and their freedom from legacy infrastructure concerns in implementing it (see barriers, fig.11, pg13).

the oft-cited democratisation of big data and advanced analytics – supported by pay-as-you-go computing, open source technologies and intuitive, easy-interface software – does not appear to have materialised fully as yet. there is a steady decline in line with turnover in the percentage of companies that are engaging in the processes, from 61% of those in the £2bn+ turnover bracket to just 29% in the £0-25m bracket.

so-called smart platforms such as telematics, intuitive machine learning, and smart materials are having the least influence at present. However, adoption rates for these technologies are expected to increase up to five-fold over the next three years, while all other technologies will decrease in adoption over the same time frame as they become normalised.

fig 7/ how is digital disruption affecting your organisation? please select all that apply

82%

74%

66%

54%

52%

43%

40%

34%

32%


i’M nOt cOnVinced We’re finding tOtallY neW

cuStOMerS. a nuMBer Of SaleS Will Be tranSferred BetWeen different channelS, But peOple OnlY haVe the SaMe aMOunt tO Spend in tOtal. lOYaltY iS alSO harder tO acquire and Maintain When it’S nOW SO eaSY tO find anOther purchaSing OptiOn”

information Analytics and innovation manager, nationwide high street retailer


£0-25m £25m-100m £100m-500m £500m-2bn

£2bn+ All orgs now All orgs in three years

fig 8/ Which new emerging business technologies, platforms and processes are currently disrupting the way your organisation operates, and which will do so within the next three years? choose as many answers as appropriate.

* results by turnover represent current disruption levels.


in terms of processes, internal collaboration (54%) and external communications (52%) are the most widely improved by the current wave of emerging technologies (fig. 9). However, a broad spectrum of undertakings has been improved overall. The use of collaborative and flexible technologies has served well in operational process efficiency drives (49%), something that is also inextricably linked to the increased analytical functionality of performance monitoring exercises (41%).

organisations have found that they have been able to identify and reach new customers more commonly (45%) than to upsell to existing ones (36%), with the latter having historically been seen as a more efficient and profitable exercise.

In significant numbers, the larger companies have also used the new processes and tools and their disposal to redevelop their supply chains (27% among the £2bn+ turnovers; 36% £500m-2bn). this is understandably of little concern among the smes though (8% £0-25m; 6% £25-100m), as they do not have the same complexity among their supplier base and therefore direct their resources towards areas in which they have more to gain.

the advent of experimenting and testing – one of the key constituents of the agile methodology that has been enabled on a mass scale by developments like scalable cloud computing and analytics-related technologies and processes – is also commonly being employed (37%).

BenefactOrS and BarrierS

IT is unsurprisingly the department of the organisation cited most often as having the most to gain from digital disruption (fig. 10). Since digital disruption is fundamentally underpinned by technology, it stands to reason

that those with the biggest controlling stake in it and the biggest understanding of it would be perceived to be the biggest benefactors. Yet, with respondents able to choose up to three areas, that it was selected by only 57% of respondents perhaps serves to indicate that however technologically focused – dependent, even – organisations become, that technology must serve a business need. Technology for technology’s sake is not only decadent, but could serve to be counterproductive with the added complexity it brings and the inefficiencies that arise from mismanagement.

Essentially then, technology must benefit the line-of-business activities. in line with the other answers to the survey, ‘marketing, pr and communications’ (as a single area) was noted as the business department that stands most to gain (53%), followed by operations (43%). research and development – benefiting from the progressions in insight and test and learn capabilities offered by advanced analytics and scalable cloud – also scored highly at 35%.

fig 9/ Which of the following undertakings has your organisation been able to improve through the use of disruptive new enterprise technologies over the last two years? please select all that apply.

54%

52%

49%

48%

45%

41%

38%

37%

36%

34%

26%

25%

20%

17%


preViOuSlY, deVelOpMent cOntriButed

tO partiallY changed BuSineSS and technOlOgY OperatiOnS. the current deVelOpMentS nOt OnlY accelerate thiS change But fundaMentallY alter the Shape Of OrganiSatiOnal departMentS gOing fOrWard”

Global Head of technology, large manufacturing company


Financial restrictions are commonly held to be the biggest barrier to implementing new emerging technologies, and they are the most widely cited obstacle in this survey (41%) (fig. 11). Interestingly, the much discussed skills gap that has emerged with the rapid development of new technology areas was only noted among the three biggest barriers by 27% of respondents. Likewise, security was surprisingly cited by just 13%. this might suggests that organisations feel they can work around these issues; while they are certainly concerns, they may not be the stumbling blocks that many suppose they are. As far as the skills issue is concerned, this sentiment is seemingly backed by the response to the question of the most important factors in the successful adoption of technology (fig.12, pg14).

However, an alternative reading might be that organisations are simply not exploring what the barriers are beyond the first obstacle of not having the financial resource to embark upon the project in the first place. if that obstacle were to be circumvented, the skills and security issues might well prove to be bigger concerns than respondents initially give weight to.

Exploring the barriers within different turnover brackets throws up some interesting points of differentiation. The financial barrier reduces steadily as the company size increases (50% for £0-25m turnover to 34% £2bn+), as does the problem of lack of time (50% £0-25m; 22% £2bn+). the issue of governance, risk and compliance follows the opposite trajectory (13% £0-25m to 34% £2bn), tempered only slightly by an apparent anomaly at the £500m-£2bn level (18%). Anomalies aside, this is all fairly in line with the perceptions you would expect.

However, less apparent is why the skills barrier appears to be most prevalent at the mid-range company level (38% £100m-500m), and decreases relatively consistently either side (29% £500m-2bn, 23% £2bn+; 25% £25m-100m, 21% £0-25m). the mid-range companies may be suffering disproportionately from the concerns that come with growth such as organisational sprawl, legacy processes and regulation, without the financial backing that the larger companies have to appease these issues.

meanwhile, the requirement to prove roi appears virtually non-existent at the bottom of the turnover scale (4% £0-25m) but, in the context of the survey, a major concern at the top end (31% £2bn+).

fig 10/ Which area of your business stands to gain the most from disruptive new business technologies? please select up to a maximum of three

57%

53%

43%

38%

21%

35%

16%

7%

7%

4%

1%

WhilSt i aM Sure

that technicallY clOud cOMputing cOuld WOrk it WOuld Be hard tO eXplain that riSk tO Our cuStOMer BaSe”

Head of Data management, blue chip banking company

BY gOing SOcial and

MOBile We are gOing tO diSrupt the landScape again, But nOt aS Much aS intrOducing Online tO an Offline WOrld”

CeO, sme internet gaming company


All 0 – 25m 25m – 100m

100m – 500m 100m – 500m 2bn+

fig 11/ Which new emerging business technologies, platforms and processes are currently disrupting the way your organisation operates? choose as many answers as appropriate



Signing Off

Afairly even split was registered in whom within the organisation signs off technology projects between the CIO (32%), CEO/MD (29%),

IT director (29%), individual department heads (29%) and CTO (26%) [fig. 13]. This reflects the growing stake that line-of-business employees are taking in technology projects, both due to the increased influence that technology holds over business processes and – in many cases – the ease of access, implementation and operation.

reiterating the earlier point around which business departments stand the most to gain, aligning projects to a business case (55%) was adjudged to be the biggest factor in the successful adoption of emerging technologies (Fig. 12). that the ability to iterate, learn and adapt (45%) and being flexible to fundamentally changing the organisation where necessary (40%) both scored highly among the factors reinforces the suggestion that a significant number of companies are of the mind-set that they may need to fundamentally alter their organisations so as not just to implement new technologies but to turn digital disruption from a threat to an opportunity.

32%

29%

29%

27%

26%

19%

13%

fig 13/ Which of the following factors do you consider to be most important in your successful adoption of emerging technologies? please select up to three

fig 12/ Who within your organisation signs off technology projects? please select all that apply

55%

51%

45%

40%

37%

27%

27%

20%

13%

12%

9%

3%


We provide leadership and actionable insight for senior level business and technology leaders across the UK and Europe.

Through our thought leadership events and market analysis reports, we help our members to understand and realise the business value proposition of technology.

Nimbus Ninety communities include:

Obis Omni

The Cloud Circle

Big Data Insight Group

Business Leadership Exchange

MEMBERSHIP IS FREE

REALISING THE BUSINESS BENEFITS OF TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS

Nimbus Ninety is a group of interactive business technology focused communities.

WWW.NIMBUSNINETY.COM Nimbus Ninety Ltd, Minster House, 272-274 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 1BB

CALL ON 0203 598 2237 or EMAIL [email protected]

MTR_NN_ADVERT.ind.indd 1 01/11/2013 16:06:09

reactiOn


JaMeS thOMpSOn, SaleS directOr & gerrY carrOll, head Of Marketing

It is no surprise to us to see mobility as the most disruptive force – it is an area which will fundamentally change the way that businesses work and the way they define themselves culturally. consumer technology

drives uptake into the business world and organisations recognise that they have to embrace it and change their organisational structure to support it.

mobility enables a far more customer-centric model, allowing you to gain granular insight to inform your products and services and to deliver them when, where and how the customer or business model requires.

the way you support customers, the way you operate and ultimately your profitability is all now dependent on the it infrastructure. but, as we also note from the survey, the line-of-business functions have to drive and own your innovation and business strategy as they have the touch points with the customer. therefore you need to have a close alignment between business objectives and it enablement.

If IT can enable efficient and effective business insight then the business will make the right choices. it’s then all about providing the elasticity to accommodate changes and reorganise with a rapidly iterating business model. that’s why we also see cloud computing remaining, alongside mobile, at the forefront of organisations’ technology strategies.

c O n c l u S i O n Sm A R K e t t R e n D s R e P O R t

reactiOn tO the SurVeYBY the niMBuS ninetY ignite Market trendS repOrt reSearch partner

eXecutiVe in

SightS

intrOductiOne x e C u t i V e i n s i G H t s


eXecutiVe inSightS

18–20/ eXecutiVe interVieW Kevin Gallagher, cio, channel 4

21/ Big data BeSt practice tipS rayid Ghani, chief data scientist, obama for America re-election campaign 2012

22–23/ leaderShip SpOtlightS andY WilliaMS cio, save the children JaSMine Skee marketing director, Live nation Mark ridleY director of technology, reed.co.uk

24/ SecuritY cOluMn ross mcKean, partner, olswang

25–27/ lOgicaliS – the ciO iS dead, lOng liVe the ciO James thompson, business Analytics & information management specialist at Logicalis, says with successful transformation the cio can become the pinnacle of the services defined organisation.

niMBuS ninetY ignite Market trendS repOrt 2014

different digital television channels (not counting the various ‘plus ones’ which repeat schedules an hour later), a further six digital radio stations, and its catch-up service 4od.the website has been joined by a host of consumer applications which not only allow users to watch what they want, when they want, wherever they want, but also allow them to interact with programming too, through multiple devices, platforms and media types simultaneously. We’ve reached a state that would have been inconceivable to most people pre-turn of the millennium.

yet Kevin – who has now spent four years as cio after almost ten in his previous role – still feels tV has had it slightly easier in terms of digital disruption compared with others in the media industries.

“there’s something about the nature of tV that we haven’t been hit quite so dramatically,” he ventures. “People are finding completely different ways to get their music


teleViSiOn haS gOne thrOugh SOMe fundaMental changeS OVer the 30 YearS Since channel fOur WaS fOunded. But adOpting the SaMe apprOach tO innOVatiOn Behind the SceneS aS it dOeS OnScreen haS helped the cOMpanY tO thriVe. keVin gallagher eXplainS hOW the cOMpanY’S culture haS Been itS BedrOck.

When Kevin Gallagher joined channel Four television corporation in 1999 as

Head of systems delivery, the company was, like the vast majority of media outlets, at the very start of its digital journey.

back then analogue was still the primary reception method for the majority of viewers. indeed, digital delivery of channel 4 had been introduced just the year before, at which point it had been joined by its first stable mate: the then £5.99 per month subscription service FilmFour.

the absolute cutting edge in web dynamism at that time was probably live chat, for those that could keep up – many households still struggled with loading heavy image-based pages in any sort of decent time.

nearly a decade-and-a-half on, much has changed. Analogue tV no longer exists, and channel Four’s portfolio has been expanded to six

c i O , c h a n n e l f O u r

“the ability to adapt is key,” he says. “even larger less agile organisations need to appreciate that this really is the key to success in this age. We have definitely adapted the way we work as the social and economic landscape has changed, as it has for everyone.

“but i think having a solid base from which to start is also critical, and it’s not just about ways of working. it’s also our approach to the way we

develop and retain our staff and how we value them. Really, they are the core that is ‘the channel’. you also have to be open to innovation

wherever it may come from.”

eYeS On the prizeLucky or not, having an opportunity to control one’s own

destiny is one thing, doing so effectively and sustainably is quite another. channel Four’s success in that respect,

according to Kevin, has been achieved by extending the central philosophies that guide its programming

output to all other areas of the business.ever since becoming the uK’s fourth

terrestrial tV channel, the company has sought to produce content that is first in the market

and pushes boundaries. it has now made that mantra a key driver in the way that it sells advertising, the way that it utilises viewer

and publishing content whereas with tV the incumbent dynamic has survived a lot of the disruption. A large part of tV consumption is still very much about a shared experience – people still come together around the television set in a social environment in the same way as they have for decades.

“We are far from complacent, and we have aggressively pursued a digital strategy around content distribution and viewer engagement. during this time

there have been a number of new entrants and the battle for great content and viewers’ time has become ever more competitive. but we have had the opportunity to start diversifying in a planned way,

rather than just seeing our business model drop off a cliff. The end result is still the same – we go from being a linear broadcaster to a multi-product

company in terms of how we get our content out – but we’ve done it more or less on our own terms.”

the fact that the core paradigm has endured has allowed the key players in the television industry – the likes of channel Four, the bbc and sky – to build additional usage and revenue streams rather than cannibalise their existing ones. the consumption of television via personal devices is a supplement to, rather than a replacement of that shared experience that Kevin alluded to. online-only television, meanwhile, has up until now been unable to match the established producers in terms of scope or appeal, though the likes of Netflix are certainly looking to challenge this with their original programming.

While tV has been somewhat fortuitous in having enjoyed this element of protection, does Kevin think that there are lessons that other industries can take from it?

i n t e r V i e Wi n t e r V i e WK e V i n G A l l A G H e RK e V i n G A l l A G H e R


SOurc

e: CHAn

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channel fOur prOfilefOunded: 1982channelS: CHAnnel 4, 4seVen, Film4, e4, mORe4, 4musiC, HeAt, KeRRAnG!, Kiss, mAGiC, smAsH Hits! , tHe bOxreMit: Channel 4 is a publicly-owned, commercially-funded, not-for-profit public service broadcaster and has a remit to be innovative, experimental and distinctive. its public ownership and not-for-profit status ensure all profit generated by its commercial activity is directly reinvested back into the delivery of its public service remit. As a publisher-broadcaster, Channel 4 is also required to commission uK content from the independent production sector and currently works with over 400 creative companies across the uK every year.Online uSer BaSe: Channel4.com has nine million registered users, including 1 in 3 of all 16-24 year olds in the uK. the database continues to grow at a rate of 10,000 new registrants per day. more than 60% of 4oD (on demand) views are from logged in, registered viewers.

data, the way that it develops and distributes supplementary products, and everything else behind the scenes.

in its programming, for instance, the organisation has a penchant for working with small, independent companies that are looking to break the mould. that model has now been applied to technology commissioning too, and it is helping channel Four to circumvent some of the oft-cited barriers to keeping pace with the ever quickening technology development cycles.

“When new technologies emerge, you naturally get skills gaps,” explains Kevin. “sometimes that’s just the time that it takes people to get up to speed with variations in what they already know, sometimes it is a fundamentally new area that involves a whole new set of proficiencies.

“you have to work out how you’re going to fill those gaps. Do you employ new people, do you continually retrain your existing people, or do you go and find some niche external players to partner with? the answer is a mix of the three, but the only way to really diversify quickly is to have access to a lot of different partners with different specialities. Generally, the smaller companies and start-ups tend to be the ones that come up with something fresh and disruptive, and they are also open to working with you to find out how you can best complement each other and react quickly.”

As well as supporting emerging innovators and benefiting from cutting edge advances, this partnering strategy allows the in-house technology team to apply their talents to the core proposition. the team still works on certain new beta technology products and performs data analytics to measure the success of initiatives which can then inform tweaks to various parts of the strategy. but they are also free to help and oversee programming projects that leverage technology for the modern, multi-platform dynamic which is fast becoming the norm.

says Kevin: “We enable people to make ‘new world’ types of content by removing the technology barriers and problem solving on their behalf. the play-along feature for the million pound drop has been a hugely successful example of that. Another that we were very proud of was our d-day: As it Happens event, where we played out d-day over 24 hours through the experiences of seven people that were actually there, as if it was a live news story. it was a fabulous mixture of traditional research methods along with modern technology, social media and tV complementing each other.

“that undertaking wouldn’t have been possible unless our in-house technology team was in a position to provide project management and technical governance support in making sure it’s all secure and that

it is all going to perform live. Working with smaller content producers has traditionally entailed providing access to studios or linking up companies with our network of professionals. in the new technology-focused world, it’s also about helping those companies to utilise things like public cloud, hosting, real time analytics and social media links.”

picking YOur BattleSclearly in a digitally dominated industry like tV there are a multitude of new avenues to explore. And with its commitment to being first in the market, proof-of-concepts are a luxury rarely open to channel Four. How then, does the company decide which new opportunities to focus on?

“prioritisation is a real challenge,” Kevin agrees. “We know that we can’t just focus on our existing business models because we’ll become another Kodak. but we also know that we can’t do everything all of the time. obviously we look at the return on investment, and we use our data analysis as a base for the business case and for deciding what we do first. Much of it is about balancing the relationship between the creative teams and those that focus on profit and loss. But sometimes you just have to have faith, and you have to accept that you’ll go down a few blind alleys from time to time.”

the data proposition, he says, is actually something of a double-edged sword. the company has invested a huge amount of effort in recent years into creating reasons for people to sign in to its online features so that

it could profile its audience base and their habits. that enables it to link content up to advertisers more effectively, which you could argue serves both the consumer and the commercial partner to some extent. partly to that end, channel Four recently launched an app called 4Now which offers live second screen information and third party links related to tV shows as they are broadcast.

channel Four also knows that it has a great opportunity – a responsibility even – to ‘listen’ to its customers and allow them to direct development of content. this is achieved through direct communications, by analysing what its users do with the products and content, and by monitoring what they say about them through social media.

but Kevin warns that there is a risk to innovation if you just listen to what people say they want, rather than trusting the creativity and intuitiveness of industry professionals. “it’s an interesting balance,” he says. “A certain amount of research is of course healthy from a consumer sovereignty perspective, but on the other hand you’re at risk of simply regurgitating the things that have been successful in the past.

“i was asked recently why we don’t just do what Netflix did with House of Cards [commission productions based on big data analytics of the user base]. but actually channel 4 is about being innovative and trying out new things. We really trust our commissioning editors and artists to come up with ideas that will be a hit, and that’s often about producing things that people don’t necessarily know that they want. if we just pander to people we’ll lose our edge and we’ll just dumb down.”

that would of course be completely contradictory to the company’s image and the strategy that has served it so well over the last three decades. And there in lies the challenge.

“that’s the continual consideration, really,” Kevin summarises, “not just for us but for everyone: how do you grow and evolve in line with societal trends while staying true to your fundamental strategy?

“We are working at a time of enormous upheaval but we have a great opportunity to be involved in redefining our industries. there’s no roadmap, and that’s scary but it’s also hugely exciting. there’s also no beginning and end, we all just have to carry on working at it and see where it takes us along the way. but you have to keep in mind who you are and what you stand for. i think if you have that right in the first place then it doesn’t have to change.”

K e V i n G A l l A G H e RK e V i n G A l l A G H e R


‘D-day: as it happens’ was a multi-platform

initiative produced for channel four by Windfall films. the event played across tV, internet and social media, with the experiences of seven people that were actually there, reported as a live news story over 24 hours.

i n t e r V i e WR A y i D G H A n i

in nOVeMBer 2012, Barack OBaMa cOnVincinglY defeated hiS OppOnent Mitt rOMneY and WaS re-elected uS preSident.

inStruMental in that VictOrY WaS the analYticS prOgraM run BY the OBaMa fOr aMerica 2012 caMpaign teaM, led BY chief data ScientiSt raYid ghani.

Rayid and his team used data to inform decisions across virtually every department of the re-election campaign, with the express aim of persuading the electorate to vote Democrat. Specifically, they combined data with field experiments and statistical modelling to score and prioritise individuals on a personal basis, identifying those that should be

contacted in-person, by phone, social media, and direct mail across the country. they also used data to inform the publicist teams on how to present obama and his opponents in the media.

the campaign has since become one of the most oft-quoted proof-of-concepts for advanced analytics and has played a huge part in the propelling of ‘big data’ into the mainstream spotlight.

Following the campaign, rayid joined the university of chicago where his focus is on helping governmental bodies, non-profits and their partnering organisations to build analytical models and prototypes for solving ‘social good problems’. As part of that, he founded the eric & Wendy schmidt data science for social Good Fellowship, working alongside the Google executive chairman to bring aspiring young data scientists from around the world to chicago to work on education, healthcare, energy, disaster relief, city services and public safety problems.

He has also co-founded Edgeflip – a private venture which aims to help supporters of social issues become advocates and to aid fundraising through digital tools and social media.

1 Small iterations, not big transformations. start small, prove small successes, and then grow. if you’re advocating

for evidence-based decisions, set an example and show evidence to aid your cause.

2 Be metrics-driven – but the right metrics. metrics are an excellent incentive and integrate groups when used

effectively. but organisations often just track metrics that are easily measurable. Resist that temptation. use the metrics that help you act and change decisions.

3 invest in integration. integrate data across departments as well as channels (online-offline for example)

4 position tech talent at the heart of the business. Hire smart data, analytics and tech people but don’t isolate

them in a dark, windowless room. they must understand, appreciate, and be immersed in the business, or their ideas won’t be useful or actionable. you need to balance the contextual knowledge they need with the freedom to experiment and try things out.

5 embed analytics tool in business processes. nobody will adopt brand new ways of working when

they’re busy doing their day-to-day jobs. make sure the new tools you develop not only solve real problems but are also embedded into the existing processes being used by the people involved with those particular issues.

6 Multichannel on-message. each channel has its own quirks but make sure the data and analytics powering

those actions are unified and the feedback loop exists. integrating the data is good but integrating the intelligence behind the channels is the key.

7 utilise personalisation. Data enables you to personalise at scale. your audience expects personalised

communications and by interacting with an organisation they provide the data to make it happen.

8 experiment, test and learn. Democratise the testing culture but centralise the prioritisation of the

experiments according to payback, effort and potential payoff.

9 know the limits of your data. Data is power and you should be data driven. but equally important is the

ability to know when you don’t have the data to know or take action.

inSightinSight raYid ghani

RAyiD’s Rulesnine rules for embedding big data within your organisation

/ chief data ScientiSt, OBaMa fOr aMerica 2012/ fOunder, eric & WendY SchMidt data

Science fOr SOcial gOOd fellOWShip, uniVerSitY Of chicagO

/ cO-fOunder, edgeflip



interVieW: keVin gallagher andY

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ciO, SaVe the children internatiOnal

leaderS MuSt influence thrOugh cOllaBOratiOn, nOt hierarchY

Whenever it and business leaders gather together, sooner or later the conversation turns to an age-old question: “to whom should the cio report?” While there are usually several good answers offered and debated, i cannot help thinking that this is the wrong question.

surely a more useful debate would be: “How can the it leader maximise her influence in order to drive value for the enterprise?” To me it is clear: influential IT leadership is now more strongly linked with the ability to collaborate and much less about the position of it within the organisation.

collaboration can be viewed as a ‘meta-ability’ to enable new networked influence and leadership models. It requires leaders to identify, assemble and dismantle teams very quickly, based on the fluctuating demand for knowledge and experience across different challenges. It requires the personal agility and flexibility to run an innovation focus group on the shop floor in the morning, review a new business opportunity with the board in the afternoon, and attend a peer networking event in the evening. All of these activities provide a chance for a collaborative leader to influence and to learn, but they require relationships to be maintained all the way throughout the organisation and beyond, not just from the top down or from any

particular seat at any particular table.pro-actively guarding against organisational silos is also important. these

are a common by-product in a business world that changes very quickly, with organisations regularly undergoing restructuring programmes as they seek higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness. However, they are also the nemesis of any aspiring business change leader looking to ‘seed ideas’ and build support across the entire organisational network.

The ability to influence through collaboration stretches beyond the boundaries of your own organisation too, into those of your customers and suppliers. this is becoming an essential part of leading on a truly global basis, with high performing teams increasingly made up of staff from both developed economies and those in the vitally important emerging markets.

Judgement and flexibility of style across all of these endeavours is now critical. The collaborative, highly influential leader must become the golfer selecting their strategy for each shot – you have to have the ability and the understanding to play with all of the clubs in the bag.

SilOS are the neMeSiS Of anY aSpiring BuSineSS change leader lOOking tO ‘Seed ideaS’ and Build SuppOrt acrOSS the entire

OrganiSatiOnal netWOrk”

e X e c u t i V ei n s i G H t s


JaSMineSkee Mark

ridleY directOr Of technOlOgY, reed.cO.uk

Marketing directOr, liVe natiOn

the ecOnOMieS Of Scale Of large BuSineSSeS haVe Been uSurped BY the agilitY Of SMall OneS

A decade ago, the it thought leader nicholas carr foresaw a moment where technology would cross a threshold and cease to be a strategic asset. As we have discovered over the last 18 months at reed.co.uk, that moment has now passed.

With just a credit card, we can now procure business systems which are as good as, sometimes better than, those used by Ftse 100 companies. relatively small businesses like us, without the complexity of legacy systems and the overhead of high user numbers, can even embrace and adapt to web technologies more quickly than our larger peers. And of course, the ‘browser first’ paradigm scales all the way from one company founder to thousands of staff and is flexible and mobile, by location or device.

more than ever then, the competitive advantage isn’t in the quality of the technology you can afford, but in the way that you integrate that technology into your business. Here too the new model of technology deployment brings huge benefits. Best practice, learned across an install base of thousands, perhaps millions of customers, is often baked into products. documentation becomes easily available

and online support communities proliferate and flourish. this means smaller companies can use their it professionals for

internal business process consultancy and supplier management, aligning their skills more closely with business value. this in turn enables those companies that are currently unable to justify dedicated staff for more esoteric roles, such as information security specialists, to outsource to providers in the company’s supplier pantheon.

essentially, with costs and delivery times lowered, small companies are liberated to subscribe to agile development and lean start-up models. they can concentrate on small, incremental, business-focused improvements, rather than ‘death march waterfall’ projects. Failure is not only an option, but is to be encouraged. As the poppendiecks wrote: “Think big, act small, fail fast; learn rapidly.”

analYticS prOVideS the eVidence YOu need tO innOVate

The driving force behind most marketers lies in the creative side – we all want to push the boundaries and do something new, something exhilarating or visually stunning, especially in industries like music, film and live events. And it’s that passion for innovation that produces the best results.

but ultimately the main ambition has to be to drive revenues. there are very few opportunities where you simply work on a piece of marketing creative without linking to deliverables. For us to even have the opportunity to innovate as marketers, we have to convince people that our ideas will actually help to sell more tickets, phones or whatever else it is that we are looking to promote. that’s the biggest

challenge because people will be resistant to trying new things when they’re not comfortable that it will actually turn into sales.

the new technologies and platforms for consumer trend analytics and social engagement provide us with a huge opportunity in that regard. marketing has always been a mixture between science and art. now the science side has vastly improved. it gives us the ability to accurately identify consumer trends and drivers and to prove the complex correlations between different elements of a campaign and the effect on different metrics. This liberates us to innovate in the ways we serve the need with the things we create. We can engage in campaigns that just wouldn’t have been possible with the traditional, pre-digital business models, from a technical or business case perspective.

As a marketing leader, that also enables you to keep your employees energised by freeing them up to follow their ambitions. you can back them in their ideas because you can see the ones which will work. And proven success – which we can track through the various two-way engagement activities – breeds positive morale.

but with the rise in technology, the role of the professional marketer has diversified and grown in complexity. The generic days are gone. you have to specialise in something in any career now, and that’s certainly true in marketing. there is so much to know these days. Any company that looks to employ general marketing managers will struggle with the new dynamic.

MOre than eVer then, the cOMpetitiVe adVantage iSn’t in the qualitY Of the technOlOgY YOu can affOrd, But in the

WaY that YOu integrate that technOlOgY intO YOur BuSineSS”

We can engage in caMpaignS that JuSt WOuldn’t haVe Been pOSSiBle With the traditiOnal, pre-digital BuSineSS MOdelS,

frOM a technical Or BuSineSS caSe perSpectiVe”

c O l u M nR O s s m C K e A n


How do businesses create a culture of innovation to stay ahead of the competition without exposing themselves to heightened information security breach risks in the process?

this is a common conundrum for executives today, and there isn’t a one size fits all solution. The right approach will depend on the organisation’s particular risk profile and appetite. B2B outfits without end-consumer personal data or payment card data generally face less information security risk when moving to, say, a cloud infrastructure-as-a-service platform or a cloud-based email solution than a retail bank wanting to adopt the same innovative technology.

striking the right balance requires you to understand what level of risk is acceptable to your business with respect to your data assets. this may differ for different data. Handling payment card data is risky and subject to a host of regulatory and contractual risk and liability. on the other hand, a list of your suppliers’ account manager contact details is inherently lower risk data.

carrying out a risk assessment before adopting the new technology is

innOVatiOn & infOrMatiOn SecuritY: critical. This shouldn’t be confined to just considering

personal data (i.e. personally identifiable information) but should consider all important data assets, including, for example, confidential information, trade secrets and IP. The assessment should take account of the inherent level of risk in the data in question, applicable legal obligations and standards of care and key stakeholder commitments and expectations. For example, you need to check what you have told your customers and regulators about moving data outside of your ‘home’ territory onto global cloud solutions.

invariably it is considerably cheaper to design a cloud solution to meet requirements for information security and compliance before it has been implemented than to try to persuade a supplier, with a contract already in place, to make changes down the track. With the increasing ease of downloading saas solutions directly from the internet, with click-wrap user terms, it is also sensible to train staff to channel all procurement through a central procurement function.

on the supply side, the challenge is to maintain the energy and passion of garage start-ups in a multi-billion dollar, sprawling global entity. this is particularly hard for organsiations in highly regulated sectors who traditionally have been risk averse and focused on achieving compliance.

the process of pro-active risk assessments isn’t always feasible in fast moving sectors where launching first is key to maintaining market share or, in the most extreme cases, the

survival of the business. Launching fast may mean more regulatory headaches and claims but may still

be preferable to launching late or not at all. the key is to determine what level of security and

compliance risk is right for your business.

uncOMfOrtaBle BedfellOWS?the perceiVed WiSdOM iS that innOVatiOn iS fundaMental tO the SucceSS Of anY BuSineSS. But infOrMatiOn and cYBer Securit Y iS alSO MOVing up the Media, pOlitical and legal agendaS. eStaBliShing the right Balance fOr YOur OrganiSatiOn and OBSerVing BeSt practice iS critical.

in OctOBer 2013, the eurOpean parliaMent VOted On the lateSt prOpOSed teXt fOr eurOpe’S cOntrOVerSial general data prOtectiOn regulatiOn. it includeS a general OBligatiOn tO nOtifY On data BreacheS and fineS Of up tO fiVe per cent Of glOBal turnOVer fOr BreacheS Of the neW ruleS.

Ross McKean is a partner in the London office of the law firm Olswang LLP and heads the firm’s data protection practice. For updates on data and security laws,

including reports on the proposed EU Regulation, see www.datonomy.eu

innOVatiOn & infOrMatiOn SecuritY:

l O G i C A l i s


BuSineSSeS are increaSinglY BecOMing

SerViceS defined enterpriSeS. ManY See that aS detriMental

tO the rOle Of ciO and it in general. hOWeVer, With

SucceSSful tranSfOrMatiOn, JaMeS thOMpSOn, BuSineSS analYticS & infOrMatiOn

ManageMent SpecialiSt at lOgicaliS, SaYS the ciO’S

Star can OnlY riSe.

the ciO iS dead,The demise of the it department and the cio has been prophesised for more than a decade. in recent years, the emergence and influence of internet and cloud-based ‘anything as a service’ solutions, delivered as ‘pay as you grow’, have only added impetus to that prediction.

the problem, as many see it, is that the values of traditional it departments and cios are seemingly at odds with new agile business models. this is a headache for ceos who see insight and the ability to react quickly as the key differentiators needed to drive sustainable growth, profit and stakeholder satisfaction.

industry analysts commonly contend that most major it departments still spend

around 80 per cent of their budgets on decisions made five to ten years ago. With

the colossal ‘ball and chain’ of having to run all of those past technology investments, how can the cio possibly

keep up with the increasing demands for business innovation and insight? Given

the pace of change, we can safely assume that, for some, the gap will be widening.

When you consider the rich seam of investment that service providers have tapped into, and the continual assertions from technology vendors that cloud is the ‘only option’ to survive, you begin to understand why the cio’s standing in the workplace could be perceived to be under threat.

some commentators even say cloud will be to cios what the meteorite was to the dinosaurs: in the new world of cloud, who on earth would choose to be a cio and how could they survive?

lOgicaliS hOldS a different theOrYthe dinosaurs had no alternative path when the meteor hit. the cio does.

rather than becoming less relevant to the business, Logicalis predicts that the cio and the it department will actually become more important than ever to ceos and their line-of-business colleagues. We say they will be essential to the delivery of the insight that enterprises will need to succeed, and in

CIO

p a r t n e r


Insight & Service Provision for your business

Need to unlock the value of your information to gain clear business insight and drive smarter decisions?

Are you thinking about the services you require and less about the

technology needed to make those available?

Businesses are ever more defining themselves by the services they

use; they are becoming a Service Defined Enterprise (SDE).

How will you make the journey from head of Information

Technology to head of Enterprise Insight?

Logicalis helping you deliver data & information driven insight

www.uk.logicalis.com


orientating the emerging technologies and approaches that organisations will need to embrace as they regularly reinvent themselves.

new technologies still require contextualisation and integration within each individual enterprise, horizontally and vertically, to drive business success. the cio and other specialised it professionals remain best-placed internally to ensure that critical process takes place.

transformation is required on their part, from the role of mere information technology provider to what Logicalis now terms the ‘insight and internal service provider’ – something that requires a much closer understanding of the business, and holistic and wide-reaching working relationships with the key players within it. that transformation – which has already begun in some organisations – will position the cio as the enabler for the successful integration of ‘anything-as-a-service’ agility, measured by consistent enterprise differentiation, profitability and success.

critically, it will also place the cio as an assured counterpoint to the ‘quick fix’ messages from third party point solution vendors and providers that are regular and rife in a services led environment; messages that can easily turn the heads of business users and ‘skunkworks’ departments that do not have the contextual experience cios have developed through running enterprise class information technology operations.

at the ciO’S SerViceso the cio becomes the spearhead of the services-defined enterprise – one that sees technology as a powerful tool in meeting its business objectives. it expects that power to be

increasingly responsive in adapting to its needs, and, more specifically, its customers’ needs.

the power will not be realised from the complexity of the underlying infrastructure in the organisation’s data centre, but from the business never knowing it even has a data centre. it does not need to know how a service is delivered, just that it is. As the predicted shift of it spending moving from it department to business unit occurs, executives and line-of-business leaders are increasingly thinking of the services they need rather than any underlying technology decision making.

The agile, services-defined-enterprise will consider services from any source. this opens up three key opportunities for the cio:

Firstly, for IT to transform how it builds and operates IT infrastructure and systems, ensuring agility equalling that of external providers

Secondly, for IT to define its position as the contextual advisor, able to define, source and engage with external service providers that support the enterprise service orientated goals, rather than detract from them.

Thirdly, to deliver data and information driven insight, from its ability to inform the strategic goals of the business based on total data insight and bridge the gap between operations, tactics and strategies throughout enterprise operations.

the role of the cio won’t be to curtail these services portfolios, replete with their compelling operational, cost and consumption models. it will be to enable them contextually, sustainably and profitably source or create services from the most efficient and appropriate source, by cost, risk and speed. the cio is dead, long live the cio.

Logicalis is an international IT solutions and managed services provider with a breadth of knowledge and expertise in

communications and collaboration; business analytics and information management; data centre and cloud services; and managed services.

Logicalis employs highly trained service specialists who design, specify, deploy and manage complex ict infrastructures to meet the needs of almost 6,000 corporate and public sector customers.

the Logicalis Group is a division of datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg and London Aim stock exchanges, with revenues of over $5 billion.

SOMe cOMMentatOrS SaY clOud Will Be

tO ciOS What the MeteOrite WaS tO the dinOSaurS: in the neW WOrld Of clOud, WhO On earth WOuld chOOSe tO Be a ciO and hOW cOuld theY SurViVe? But the dinOSaurS had nO alternatiVe path When the MeteOr hit. the ciO dOeS.”

the SerViceS defined enterpriSe

The Internet rapidly accelerated the consumerisation of technology and enabled a growing and disparate

range of service providers. This has created a theoretically infinite choice of IT services that internal business consumers can compare and contrast their experience against.

buying services is seen as agile, efficient, and, most importantly for the consumer, provides a near immediate realisation of investment benefit and gratification. A new mobile handset works immediately on leaving the store. you can send an email within seconds of signing up to a provider. you can spin up a fully working Windows server to support your hobby somewhere in the cloud in seconds.

business executives and line of business leaders are now taking the same approach. software as a service (saas) has exploded in use because the provider offers something the business user can react to and purchase near immediately. When the sales director wants improved customer relationship manager (crm software) they can go straight to salesForce.com and buy mature crm processes as a service.

if the business approached it for the same discussion, we know the time frame would have seemed much longer, the cost much higher, and the complexity much greater.

so, today, like the consumer, the business executive is thinking more about the services they require and less about the technology needed to make those services available. And when the business thinks service, they see speed and agility. of course, this is the message the service provider presents at every opportunity.

businesses, like consumers, are ever more defining themselves by the services they use; they are becoming services defined enterprises.

p a r t n e rl O G i C A l i s

WWW.NIMBUSNINETYIGNITE.COM

If you would like to learn more about IGNITE 2014 please visit www.nimbusninetyignite.com

or call 0203 598 2237

Nimbus Ninety Ltd, Minster House, 272-274 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 1BB - Tel: 0203 598 2237

2014Dates Announced!

@ Skyloft, Millbank Tower, London

20 21May& 5 6Nov&

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