Daily Tech Digest - October 01, 2023

The future of work is human-AI synergy

AI and humans can work in sync by capitalising on their respective strengths. AI's ability to automate routine tasks liberates human workers to focus on more complex and nuanced responsibilities, where their human touch is indispensable. This dynamic significantly amplifies productivity and allows employees to dedicate their time to strategic thinking and fostering innovation. AI's application in Big Data Analytics equips human workers with invaluable insights, enabling them to make quicker, more informed decisions with heightened precision. For instance, financial institutions employ AI analytics to rapidly evaluate loan applications, while healthcare professionals use AI algorithms to swiftly diagnose serious illnesses from patient data. However, it's crucial to emphasise that AI serves as a valuable tool rather than a replacement for human workers. The efficiency and productivity gains result from the synergy between human intelligence and AI capabilities.


10 Strategies for Simplified Data Management

Centralization means creating a unified, accessible, and authoritative store for all of your organizational data. Users and processes can then leverage and manage otherwise distinct data in a convenient, coherent fashion. The two main approaches here are data lakes and data warehouses. A data lake is a large repository of different kinds of data - all stored in their original format. This provides a valuable resource, as we can apply any kind of transformations and aggregation we need for analysis. A data warehouse differs from a data lake in the sense that it is stored in a format and structure that’s defined for a specific purpose. This is useful if we need to carry out similar analytical operations on a large scale. ... As we said earlier, an enterprise data model is a detailed account of all of the data assets that are involved in core business processes - along with where each of these is sourced from, what they’re used for, and how they relate to each other. This is effectively a data-centric representation of how your business works. In turn, an effective data model brings along several important benefits. 


Data Quality Assessment: Measuring Success

A Data Quality assessment will move along more efficiently and provide better results if a list of concerns and goals is created before the assessment. When creating this list, be aware of the organization’s long-term goals, while listing short-term goals. For example, the long-term goal of making the business more efficient can be broken down into smaller goals, such as fixing the system so the right people get the right bills, and that all the clients’ addresses are correct, etc. This list can also be presented to a board of directors as a rationale for initiating and paying for Data Quality assessment software or hiring a contractor to perform the assessment. The basic steps for creating the list are presented below.Start by making a list of Data Quality problems that have occurred over the last year. Spend a week or two observing the flow of data and determine what looks questionable, and why. Share your observations with other managers and staff, get feedback, and adjust the results using the feedback. 


Test Architecture: Creating an Architecture for Automated Tests

The test architecture is important, especially when you are dealing with a complex project or expecting the project to grow in the near future. The test architecture helps to reduce the risks and eliminate the assumptions before delivery. As you are aware, anything you do randomly may not help in a better outcome. The test architecture streamlines the entire process of testing. Unlike other testing activities, it’s not focused on a single testing activity rather it is focused on the entire testing and the testing team aims to deliver a high-quality product. ... The test architect works with multiple teams such as development, DevOps, testing, and business/product team. So the test architect is responsible for communication with stakeholders. If there are any challenges from the development team he should be able to work with them and get them resolved. The complexity of the test architecture for automation depends on the tool you choose. Because some tools require creating the framework, some come with a framework ready. Not all the tools require coding, so the activities that are involved in defining the coding standards and setup will be reduced. 


7 Cybersecurity Questions That Can Transform Your Business

Anyone who has spent any time thinking about cybersecurity knows how multifaceted and complicated our digital supply chains are today. That means we need to empower people who are working directly with the different touch points in the supply chain and elevate their cybersecurity thinking. They need all the information and resources available to ensure they only push secure software to customers. ... You may have a long list of audits and other compliance procedures in progress currently. This is where I ask you to remember that the point of a canvas like this is that it is one page! While that may not give you all the room to include every initiative, that may be a good thing. Instead of starting new small-scale initiatives, consider, for instance, adopting or enhancing a DevSecOps approach that could transform your security efforts. ... When we talk about costs here, we mean actual costs. This includes external consultant fees, CISO office salaries, MDR subscriptions, security training and platform subscriptions. When confronted with these numbers, we can make decisions that aren’t only guided by whims or immediate needs.


Why Cloud Native Expertise Is so Hard to Hire for, and What to Do Instead

Fortunately, there are alternatives for organizations looking to develop their cloud native expertise. One of the most popular options is to work with a third-party provider that specializes in providing cloud native services — so you don’t have to. This is a core component of what entails “ZeroOps,” or rather, the notion of freeing your own employees to take their time back, and letting someone else do the time-consuming, bothersome stuff. Working with a third-party provider can provide organizations with high levels of expertise and resources while allowing your team to focus on their core business — innovating, creating, and making a measurable impact. This can result in significant cost savings and increased efficiency, as the provider takes on the responsibility of managing complex cloud native solutions. Many providers can offer comprehensive services, ranging from architecture to software engineering and deployment, and can tailor their services to an organization’s unique requirements — of which we know there are many.


The CISO Carousel and Its Effect on Enterprise Cybersecurity

“There is still a prevalent perception that CISOs are viewed as scapegoats in serious breach events,” adds George Jones, CISO at Critical Start. “This is based on a general lack of understanding, high expectations, and accountability associated with the role. When a breach occurs, it’s easy to point the finger at the person responsible for cybersecurity.” It’s the effect, says Yu, of “accountability without authority”. Making the CISO a scapegoat is a common but not blanket response to cybersecurity incidents. Agnidipta Sarakar, VP and CISO advisory at ColorTokens, points out, “Organizations who are mature tend not to blame the CISO unless the security program is actually not good enough.” But less mature organizations with weaker programs or negligent security oversight will readily activate the scapegoat effect. ... Globally, there are many companies where cybersecurity is both prioritized and supported, but these tend to be among the larger and more mature organizations. There remains a large underswell of newer and smaller companies where growth is often prioritized over security.


Closing the skills gap in the AI era: A global imperative

To tackle this reskilling challenge on a large scale, we require a combined effort from the government, education, and private sector. This can be achieved through the following ways: Make learning achievable: Instead of diving into the deeply technical aspects of AI, companies can begin by introducing the workforce to tools that require no-code or low-code experience Further, citizen development programs can be implemented. These programs encourage employees to be innovative problem solvers and foster a sense of ownership as they witness the direct impact of their work on business outcomes using no-code/low-code tools. These programs allow them to savour initial automation successes almost immediately and to envision greater possibilities for bots to help them in the future. Take advantage of existing partnerships: Companies should leverage the knowledge of their existing technology partners to quickly roll out skilling programs. The National Health Service in the UK, for example, was able to offer its 1.7 million employees automation training via the help of its technology partner.


Could APIs undermine Zero Trust?

APIs come in various shapes and flavours. As well as being internal or public facing, they might interface in numerous ways, from a single API providing access to a service mechanism, to aggregated APIs that then use another as the point of entry, to APIs that act as the go-between between various non-compatible applications, or partner/third party APIs. They are also problematic to monitor and secure using traditional mechanisms. Segmentation and deep inspection technology at the layer 7 network level can miss APIs completely, resulting in those shadow APIs, while application level 4 protection methods such as web application firewalls (WAFs) which use signature-based threat detection will miss the kind of abuse that typically leads to API compromise. Often, APIs are not’ hacked’ as such, but their functionality is used against them in business logic abuse attacks and so it’s the behaviour of the API request and resulting traffic that needs to be observed. Yet it’s clear that APIs must be included in ZTA. 


Transforming Decision-Making Processes

GenAI has quickly become a part of everyday conversations from the boardroom to the kitchen table. One specific topic of interest is the role genAI can play in enhancing and improving an organization’s decision-making paradigm. Organizations should look for AI engines that combine the power of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and generative AI to further advance the democratization of analytics. This can reduce the time required to derive insights from data. With AI and cloud-native analytics automation, the power and scale of better decision-making is at everyone’s fingertips. While it is still the early days for genAI, we see this newer capability accelerating the path for organizations to become more insights driven in their decision-making. Natural language processing translates insights into business language that can be shared broadly and leveraged by all. GenAI and large language models (LLMs) eliminate tedious tasks, leverage best practices from millions of workflows in production, automatically document workflows, and free up time for humans to focus on more strategic challenges.



Quote for the day:

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily." -- Zig Ziglar

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