6 most underhyped technologies in IT — plus one that’s not dead yet
Although AI gets all the attention, the key components that make it work often do not, including data. Yet as organizations eagerly embrace AI in all its forms, many have neglected parts of their data management needs, says Laura Hemenway, president, founder, and principle of Paradigm Solutions, which supports large enterprise-wide transformations. Even those who are on top of data management often downplay the powerful work their data management tools do. As such, Hemenway thinks data management software deserves more recognition for the important job it does, even as the work involved is often considered a tedious task that doesn’t have the pizzazz of making the most of ChatGPT. Still, sound data management is a linchpin for AI and other analytics work, which underpins a whole host of processes deemed critical in modern business ... But with no big breakthroughs, interest fizzled and the metaverse found itself on some overhyped tech lists. But don’t be so quick to write it off, warns Taylor, who thinks this category of tech has been unfairly downgraded, which lands it on his list of underhyped technologies.
How to Sell A Technical Debt From a DevOps Perspective?
In the course of my journey, I have formed 3 categories of business motivation
for "buying" technical debt: "Fat" indifference - When there's a rich investor,
the CEO can afford the development team of weird geeks. It is like, "Well, let
them do it! The main thing is to get the product done, and the team spirit is
wow, everything is cool, and we'd be the best office in the world". ... Fear -
This is one of the most effective, widespread, and efficient models for
technical debt. What kind of "want" can we talk about here when it's scary? It's
about when something happens like a client left because of a failure or a hack.
And it's all because of low quality, brakes, or something else. But bluntly
selling through fear is also bad. Speculation with fear works against trust. You
need to sell carefully and as honestly as possible. Trust - It is when a
business gives you as much time as you need to work on technical debt. Trust
works and is preserved only when you are carefully small to the total share and
as pragmatic as possible in taking this time. Otherwise, trust is destroyed.
Moreover, it does not accumulate. A constant process goes in waves: trust
increases and then fades.
Defending Logistics After Cyberattack on DP World Australia
Ransomware is obviously more than a pricey nuisance for companies. “The costs are like millions of dollars for each attack,” Austin says. While businesses often acknowledge that supply chain security and data protection are important priorities, there can be challenges acting on those fronts. “The problem is a lot of them suffer from understaffing,” he says. “They don’t have enough people and logistics, and so they’re struggling with that.” There is a presumption of smooth operations across the supply chain but cyberattacks and other disruptions can deliver wakeup calls. “Prior to the pandemic, a number of companies never realized how important a well-functioning supply chain is, how much they matter,” Austin says. The rise of the pandemic saw cargo getting backed up at various ports around the world, disrupting access and delivery of goods. The cyberattack on DP World Australia was a reminder that intentional targeting by bad actors can also put the supply chain in a chokehold. It is debatable how disconnecting and then later reconnecting to the internet affected the situation DP World Australia faced.
Only 9% of IT budgets are dedicated to security
With rising risk and shrinking resources, the message is clear: businesses need
new methods to improve their security. Compounding the urgency is ever-evolving
global regulation and the growing time-suck of complying with an increasing
number of standards. Organizations are at an impasse in an environment where
customers want more insight into a company’s security practices. Two-thirds say
that customers, investors and suppliers are increasingly seeking proof of
security and compliance. While 41% provide internal audit reports, 37%
third-party audits, and 36% complete security questionnaires, 12% admit they
don’t or can’t provide evidence when asked. That means companies worldwide are
falling at the very first hurdle – costing them potential revenue and growth
opportunities in new markets. Businesses spend an average of 7.5 hours per week
– more than 9 working weeks a year – on achieving security compliance or staying
compliant. 54% are concerned that secure data management is becoming more
challenging with AI adoption with 51% saying that using generative AI could erode customer trust.
The Power of Preference in the Wake of Privacy Regulations
Providing customers with autonomy to dictate their own data-sharing
preferences isn’t just a legal obligation; it’s also a key way to improve
trust, establish transparency and strengthen brand loyalty. Additionally,
teams can use this highly personalized data to tailor their marketing efforts,
so they’re only serving up content and communications that are the most
relevant to individual customers. As such, business leaders shouldn’t feel
hindered or restricted by legal requirements like Law 25. Instead, it should
challenge businesses to consider this renewed emphasis on consumer autonomy as
a positive development. This is especially true for companies that deal with
our most sensitive data (i.e. financial and health information). Beyond these
updated privacy regulations, financial services and healthcare providers could
face serious legal repercussions if customer and patient information is
obtained without consent or ends up in the wrong hands. Developing a
consumer-centric strategy anchored on up-to-date preferences is therefore an
absolute necessity.
How To Attract Premium Clients And Charge Accordingly — Even During Market Instability
In the e-commerce marketing world, we often hear that we need to speak to
the client's pain points — to amplify that fear so people are motivated to
buy — but we advise against using this common method. If we are constantly
speaking to that disillusioned version of our client, it takes us longer to
scale a business. It means we have to drag, convince and educate. Instead,
elevate the quality of clients you are attracting. Avoid using fear-based
marketing to sell. Out of our sample size of 300-plus clients in a variety
of sectors, just by shifting the language, the quality of the client
improved 100% of the time. The future of marketing is to speak to the
empowered version of your client because today's consumer is more
sophisticated than ever. When you talk to that client, you're attracting
clients who are resourceful and willing to bet on themselves and see their
value. You'll elevate the type of clients you attract, and they're willing
to invest more. ... Price the services you offer based on the value you
bring to the table, specifically on the lifetime value that it will provide
to the client.
Powering a Greener Future: How Data Centers Can Slash Emissions
As data and analytics have inarguably become the fuel of business success,
the rise of data centers is outpacing our ability to mitigate the resultant
carbon emissions. If data industry leaders don’t seek new methods of carbon
reduction and embrace more energy-efficient processing, the costs will
quickly become insurmountable. Thankfully, companies are increasingly
setting specific carbon emission targets, either because of their own
environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals or due to legal
requirements or regulations. In fact, these targets may even be good for
business. A recent McKinsey study found that companies with products with
ESG-related claims saw 8% more cumulative growth than companies that did not
associate their products with ESG. A recent poll of American consumers found
that, despite inflation, 66% of consumers are willing to pay more for
sustainable products and services. Many organizations already aim to have
net-zero emissions by 2050, but most are focusing on alternative and
renewable energies, which is good but insufficient because it misses the
core of the problem: the overconsumption of energy in the data center due to
misused infrastructure.
Three Causes of Cloud Migration Failure in Large Enterprises
Cloud migration is not a simple lift-and-shift operation; it involves myriad
complexities that demand careful consideration. Underestimating these
complexities is a significant pitfall that can lead to costly failures in
large enterprise cloud migrations. Transferring vast amounts of data while
ensuring seamless integration with existing systems is a significant
challenge. Not all applications can seamlessly transition to the cloud. Some
require considerable reconfiguration or redevelopment. Ensuring data
security and compliance with regulatory standards is complex, with varying
requirements across industries and regions. It can be intricate to optimize
performance in the cloud, including network latency and resource allocation,
and daunting to track and control cloud costs amid scalability and resource
provisioning complexities. ... Employee resistance to change is a critical
factor that can make or break a cloud migration initiative in large
enterprises. In fact, industry leaders emphasize that employee resistance to
change is the primary reason for enterprise cloud migration failures.
A Detection and Response Benchmark Designed for the Cloud
Operating in the cloud securely requires a new mindset. Cloud-native
development and release processes pose unique challenges for threat
detection and response. DevOps workflows — including code committed, built,
and delivered for applications — involve new teams and roles as key players
in the security program. Rather than the exploitation of traditional remote
code execution vulnerabilities, cloud attacks focus more heavily on software
supply chain compromise and identity abuse, both human and machine.
Ephemeral workloads require augmented approaches to incident response and
forensics. While identity and access management, vulnerability management,
and other preventive controls are necessary in cloud environments, you
cannot stay safe without a threat detection and response program to address
zero-day exploits, insider threats, and other malicious behavior. It's
impossible to prevent everything. The 5/5/5 benchmark challenges
organizations to acknowledge the realities of modern attacks and to push
their cloud security programs forward.
Are Business Continuity Plans Still Relevant?
The successful organizations focused on building teams that were adept at
proactively responding to near and longer-term challenges. The less
successful were reactionary, starting by executing procedures in plans that
focused on short-term outcomes. Taken one step further, those organizations
that really knew what it took to deliver products and services, how they
reached their customers and suppliers, and the relationship between
processes, resources, and third parties were able to better respond and
prevent disruption or other forms of unacceptable impact. ... When you lack
a full picture view of your business operations and go-to-market strategy,
dependencies and interdependencies are often overlooked. Developing and
maintaining a digital model of your organization, its products/services, and
business processes offers a valuable resource to query. This digital model
gives you an end-to-end perspective on your operations, which is invaluable
for assessing vulnerabilities like identifying and treating critical single
points of failure or those parts of the business without a recovery
strategy, addressing change management, and making better business
decisions.
Quote for the day:
"Positive thinking will let you do
everything better than negative thinking will." -- Zig Ziglar
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