How SASE might improve worker productivity and make CFOs happy
The amount of time that information empowerment saves is likely related
directly to the information content of each worker’s job. That doesn’t mean
how much time a worker spends on the computer, but on the value of information
in supporting productivity. If a worker already has all the information they
need, then it’s doubtful that further information empowerment will pay back.
Only about half of all workers are “empowerable” based on information needs,
so enterprises that want to assess productivity gains to be expected through
empowerment usually start by asking workers what data would help them be more
efficient. The more helpful data is found, the more network empowerment can
improve productivity. The dollar value of that productivity improvement is
what CFOs will look for, and that depends on the unit value of labor. For
people whose jobs involve producing something, the unit value of labor is the
burdened compensation rate for the workers involved, meaning salary plus
benefits.
Ukraine and EU explore deeper cyber collaboration
“Cooperation with the European partners includes two key vectors for our
country,” said Zhora. “On the one hand, Ukrainian experience in cyber war,
confronting cyber threats from Russia, would definitely be beneficial for
other democracies. “On the other hand, having gained candidate status for EU
membership, our country has to bring its national legislation in conformity
with European standards. Intensified collaboration with ENISA will let us make
this process much more efficient.” Other points of discussion at the summit
were assessments of the current cyber threat landscapes facing the various
post-Soviet states, and an account of some of the specific cyber challenges
faced; the implementation experiences of EU states linked to the NIS and NIS2
directives and other cyber certifications and standardisation initiatives;
cyber capacity- and awareness-building; approaches to more generalised cyber
crime; and the role and structure of ENISA as a pan-EU body.
Enterprises are forced to ramp up resilience in an increasingly erratic world
The good news is that companies are taking resiliency planning seriously: 49%
of decision-makers said their company has a well-defined strategy to handle
disruptive events and among employees, and almost eight times more said they
are prepared than not, according to the report. Digitalization and automation
are driving that preparation: 90% of companies that have well-defined
resilience strategies in place are investing heavily in these areas, the
report said. However, researchers cautioned that it is important to recognize
the value in proactive rather than reactive resilience—something that may not
be a part of many enterprises’ strategies. Further, natural disasters caused
by climate change such as flooding and storms are key challenges for 42% of
decision-makers, and more expect it in the future. In essence, more work needs
to be done given the current climate, the report stressed. “War. Energy
crisis. Natural disasters. Pandemics. Our world has become increasingly
complex, and the time to adopt resiliency strategies is now,” said Patrik
Hedlund, senior researcher for the Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab at
Ericsson.
The Future of the Web is on the Edge
When people say “the edge,” they mean that your site or app is going to be
hosted simultaneously on multiple servers around the globe, always close to a
user. When someone requests your site/app, they will be directed to the one
closest to them geographically. These distributed servers not only serve
static assets, but can also execute custom code that can power a dynamic web
app. Moving servers closer to end-users is also a physical approach towards
latency optimization. This means lower latency on every single page load. The
longer your pages take to load, the more likely users will bounce. 32% more
likely according to Google research when load speeds go from 1 second to 3
seconds. 90% more likely when speeds go from 1 second to 5 seconds. Users will
visit 9 pages when pages load in 2 seconds, but only 3 pages when they load in
7 seconds. That’s the gist. Now the nuance. You’ve built an app. It’s cool. It
does fun things. You want to show it to the world, so you deploy it. For ease,
you use Heroku. You git push heroku main and then head to myfunapp.com to
check out your handiwork.
Small business tech outlook: Here are the challenges and opportunities ahead
Digital transformation and the adoption of new technology is an important
focus for SMBs as it can put them in a better position to ride out challenging
economic conditions and gain an edge on their competitors. Cloud technology
such as SaaS applications -- particularly ones aimed at specific vertical
markets -- deliver obvious benefits in terms of shifting from capital to
operational expenditure by outsourcing the deployment and maintenance of the
underlying technology. This should allow businesses to concentrate on adding
value via the agile development of bespoke products and services, and by
transforming online experiences using new technologies such as AR and VR,
machine learning and AI. ... "This prioritization of IT spending represents a
continuation of modernization efforts kick started during the pandemic. Over
the last few uncertain years, corporate decision makers have seen first-hand
the benefits of IT investments, which often pay for themselves by improving
processes, enhancing resilience, or enhancing workplace productivity," Tsai
added.
The Social and Psychological Consequences of Ransomware Attacks
The social impacts of ransomware attacks can cause lasting damage to an
enterprise, its customers and its employees. Social impacts can occur when
service is disrupted. For example, because affected enterprises have to shut
down operations, their employees may be temporarily laid off, which increases
unemployment and can lead to financial stress. There are strong associations
between higher levels of financial stress and increased alcohol consumption,
which can lead to other negative effects. Victimization can also cause
individuals to be unwilling to adopt new technologies in the future, leading
to people losing confidence in businesses and governments. There is also a
wide range of psychological responses to ransomware attacks. In many cases,
victims respond more negatively to the effects of the attack than the attack
itself, and each individual handles the threat of a cyberattack differently.
Some may proactively face the problem while others may exhibit protective or
avoidance behaviors to prevent attacks.
Time To Dispel Myths Surrounding Privacy Enhancing Technologies
How are PETs already benefiting organisations? For financial services firms,
being able to access more data in a secure, privacy-preserving, and efficient
manner means they are able to make better, intelligence-led decisions in a
business-relevant timeframe. Those additional data points and resulting
insights are especially important when working to combat money laundering and
fraud on a global scale. With PETs, financial institutions can prioritise
customer privacy while still ensuring data is accessible when and where it
needs to be, even if that location is across jurisdictions. PETs also create a
paradigm shift for public health readiness, allowing optimal secure and
private data sharing between governments and health agencies. In the clinical
research arena, medical professionals and public health officials can use PETs
to securely search or analyse decentralised research data across
organisational, privacy, and regulatory boundaries while safeguarding patient
privacy and sensitive medical indicators.
Scrum Master or Waste Master?
When scrum masters who live and die for delivering agile find themselves,
perhaps even subconsciously, in need of more work to feel productive or
efficient (aka “keep busy”), they tend to gravitate towards Jira or any other
task-managing tool. They start to herd “issues” or “stories” with descriptions
of the work that someone thinks lies ahead, they add columns that describe the
status of each task, and if they’re really feeling it, some statistical
content like burndown charts based on the silly concept known as “estimating.”
Going for this approach, the scrum master has now found a purpose: They can
keep track of the work and measure things to see how well the team is doing.
At least that’s the perceived feeling, in reality, they’re keeping track of
waste and guesswork. Agile was created because estimation is impossible in
tech. Otherwise, we might as well have stuck with waterfall deliveries, where
everything is simply planned ahead of time. The obsession with creating a
mountain of future tasks that rarely get carried out is also beyond me.
The Future Of Quantum Computing In Business
The future of quantum computing in the business world looks very promising.
Many experts believe quantum computers will eventually outperform classical
computers on many tasks, including complex optimization problems and machine
learning. This could have significant implications for businesses, which would
be able to solve previously unsolvable problems and gain a significant
competitive advantage. While quantum computers are not yet widely available,
several companies are already working on developing them. IBM, Google, and
Microsoft are all investing heavily in quantum computing research, and the
first commercial quantum computers will likely become available within the
next few years. Given the potential benefits of quantum computing, businesses
need to start thinking about how they can use this technology. Quantum
computers could revolutionize many industries, so those who can early adopt
will be well-positioned to reap the rewards.
Why is Everything so Slow? - Measuring and Optimising How Engineering Teams Deliver
As teams scale, communication becomes more difficult as more and more people
are added to the teams. A team of three people will have three primary
communication paths, whereas a team of seventeen has one hundred and
thirty-six possible paths, for example! So it gets harder and harder to
understand what’s going on and it becomes harder to disseminate information
without causing cognitive overload. Misalignment also becomes a big problem as
teams scale, and not having teams and team members aligned on what’s the
priority and what’s next can cause wasted work and a perception that the team
is slow because the delivery of value to production doesn’t happen. For
example, within a microservices architecture, team A may be working on a
change to a service, on which team B needs to build further parts of a wider
feature. Unless both teams are aware of the need to coordinate that work,
there is a high likelihood of misalignment and work being either wasted or
needing rework when, upon feature testing, bugs are found in team A’s
solution.
Quote for the day:
"Leadership is not a position. It is a combination of something you are
(character) and some things you do (competence)." -- Ken Melrose
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