Daily Tech Digest - February 11, 2023

How Modern Enterprise Architecture Drives Enterprise Success

The need for cross-functional, distributed technology ownership is the perfect ecosystem for the enterprise architect to shine. Traditionally, EA has governed and exerted control over technology. However, as this becomes decentralized across the business and, thus, influenced by EAs, innovations become collaborative rather than authoritarian. Leaders can leverage the Enterprise Architect in their change initiatives. By pooling data across departments, executives can support their assertions on which areas of the business would benefit most from a change in design. Modeling projects means they can be compared simultaneously, helping to uncover which strategy will yield the greatest returns. EA-driven roadmaps can help leaders consider KPIs a year or ten years into the future of the business, made more solid by knowledge distilled directly from those closest to the respective tools and processes they use. Technology acquisition and skill dependencies cross product boundaries, regulatory compliance processes intersect many different processes, enterprise-wide cost objectives span multiple siloes, and cybersecurity threats could rear up anywhere.


What Is Augmented Data Management?

Augmented master data management applies ML and AI techniques to the management of master data. This enables companies to refine master data to achieve two key objectives: to optimize their business operations to run more efficiently and transform their businesses to drive growth. In terms of business optimization, this can be achieved in several ways using augmented master data management. First, there’s enhanced efficiency. With augmented master data management, companies can streamline business processes, which reduces the time needed to work on activities, thereby increasing efficiency and potentially leading to cost savings. Augmented master data management can also improve the ability to comply with regulations. The number of regulations and demands on companies has been increasing; for example, we’ve seen this lately with ESG reporting and privacy laws. From a data perspective, it can be tedious and complex for companies to comply with these regulations.


Data is a stumbling block for most multicloud deployments

Migrating data from one cloud service to another can be challenging. It is important to have a solid data portability strategy in place that considers data format, size, and dependencies. Most of those moving to multicloud can’t answer this question: “What would it take to migrate this data set from here to there?” This needs to be in your back pocket, as we’re seeing some data sets move from single and multicloud deployments back to on premises. You must give yourselves options. ... Managing data across multiple cloud services can be a resource-intensive task if you attempt to do everything manually. It is essential to have a centralized data management system in place that can handle diverse data sources and ensure data consistency. Again, this needs to be centralized, abstracted above the public cloud providers and native data management implementations. You need to deal with data complexity on your terms, not the terms of the data complexity itself. Most are opting for the latter, which is a huge mistake.


Understanding the Role of CIOs in Test Data Management

A zero-trust framework is a cyber security approach wherein all users and systems are not trusted and under authentication before granting access. Only users who are verified by the protocol get access to the designs. It is a great leap over traditional cybersecurity models that primarily operate on assumptions. To fully achieve the zero trust frameworks, automation of test data through a DevOps Platform is performed. Given the responsibility of implementing cyber security throughout the enterprise, a CIO is influential here. The leader has to roll out the DevSecOps approach that integrates cyber security from the beginning. The real challenge here is to build a culture of not treating security as an afterthought. It should be a part of the SDLC and a CIO should educate all stakeholders about the same. With DevSecOps, they work towards pipelining the DevOps pieces with security protocols. A CIO has to upgrade an enterprise’s approach towards risk and security in test data and perfect the delivery pipeline of qualitative data sets for different environments. 


A step-by-step guide to setting up a data governance program

Data governance is a crucial aspect of managing an organization’s data assets. The primary goal of any data governance program is to deliver against prioritized business objectives and unlock the value of your data across your organization. Realize that a data governance program cannot exist on its own – it must solve business problems and deliver outcomes. Start by identifying business objectives, desired outcomes, key stakeholders, and the data needed to deliver these objectives. Technology and data architecture play a crucial role in enabling data governance and achieving these objectives. Don’t try to do everything at once! Focus and prioritize what you’re delivering to the business, determine what you need, deliver and measure results, refine, expand, and deliver against the next priority objectives. A well-executed data governance program ensures that data is accurate, complete, consistent, and accessible to those who need it, while protecting data from unauthorized access or misuse.


Why Businesses Need To Think Bigger When It Comes To Automation

Far too often, automation projects are approached as siloed, one-off opportunities to fine-tune a specific business process or function. Maybe it's the introduction of a conversational AI tool to improve front-line customer support functions or the development of a new payment processing or credit decisioning solution to build out a digital payments infrastructure. Whatever the specific use case, automation projects that approach a singular vision to make one part of the business faster or more efficient regularly fail because they simply aren't big enough. To really extract value from automation, these projects need to start with an enterprise-wide vision and break down the walls between data, analytics, digital and operational teams to redefine business processes across multiple functions. Put simply, businesses need to stop thinking about automation and start focusing on hyperautomation. Businesses that understand this distinction and embrace automation not as a focused cost-cutting project but as an opportunity to transform legacy business and IT processes into a fully synchronized, smart workflow should be well positioned to confront the challenges of the current marketplace.


Surge of swatting attacks targets corporate executives and board members

The way it works in this new corporate swatting surge is that the malicious actors go to the websites of corporations, identify the top executives and board members, and with lists in hand, visit the websites of data brokers such as 411.com, Spokeo, and others. While there, the swatters grab whatever they can – names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, whatever is available. It is a "one-stop shop for finding the locations of executives and corporate officers," says Pierson. Alternatively, the threat actors plumb the archives of content aggregated from thousands of data breaches over the years. The swatter can easily find out that an executive "ordered new jogging shorts or whatever" and where those shorts were shipped, he says. Once the cybercriminals have that information, they do one of two things: use synthesized voice devices or make robotic recordings and call the police. The messages generally focus on a hostage or murder situation. 


Governance, Processes and Planning: Three Significant Countermeasures to Being Hacked

Together, governance, processes and planning help organizations to effectively manage and protect their digital assets by providing a clear framework for decision-making, establishing clear procedures for incident response and risk management, and developing a comprehensive security strategy that aligns with the organization’s overall goals and priorities. Through governance, processes and planning, your organization can start to fix the people vulnerability. So how can your organization develop and implement governance, processes and planning countermeasures? ISACA’s CMMI Cybermaturity Platform is a great place to start. The CMMI Cybermaturity Platform will help your organization identify what it does well and where your weaknesses are. The CMMI Cybermaturity Platform also aids your organization in showing where your gaps are in governance, processes and planning, three often overlooked critical countermeasures to hacking. The CMMI Cybermaturity Platform is an easy-to-use architecture model that simplifies identifying gaps in new or existing cybersecurity programs.


What is predictive analytics? Transforming data into future insights

Predictive analytics makes looking into the future more accurate and reliable than previous tools. As such it can help adopters find ways to save and earn money. Retailers often use predictive models to forecast inventory requirements, manage shipping schedules, and configure store layouts to maximize sales. Airlines frequently use predictive analytics to set ticket prices reflecting past travel trends. Hotels, restaurants, and other hospitality industry players can use the technology to forecast the number of guests on any given night in order to maximize occupancy and revenue. By optimizing marketing campaigns with predictive analytics, organizations can also generate new customer responses or purchases, as well as promote cross-sell opportunities. Predictive models can help businesses attract, retain, and nurture their most valued customers. Predictive analytics can also be used to detect and halt various types of criminal behavior before any serious damage is inflected. 


5 top workforce concerns for CIOs

Mental health has become a critical concern in the workplace, particularly as the global workforce resets following the COVID-19 pandemic. The prolonged stress and uncertainty of the past several years, coupled with a shaky economy, has taken a toll on many employees, and they are looking for support and resources to help them cope. A key part of supporting employee mental health is eliminating the stigma around taking time to recharge mentally. ... High employee engagement is an ongoing objective for organizations, as engaged employees are more likely to be productive, motivated, and committed to their work. However, employee engagement has steadily declined throughout the Great Resignation, “quiet quitting,” and recent tech layoffs. To boost engagement, focus on creating a positive and supportive work environment, fostering open communication, and providing opportunities for employee growth and development. Also, seek feedback from employees to understand their needs and concerns and work to address them.



Quote for the day:

"Great leaders go forward without stopping, remain firm without tiring and remain enthusiastic while growing" -- Reed Markham

No comments:

Post a Comment