IT Matters
Steve Burrows wrote the IT Matters page for the Business News section of the Isle of Man Newspapers Examiner newspaper between July 2014 and June 2018 - 100 articles - as a pro-bono initiative to raise awareness of the importance of corporate IT matters in business within the Isle of Man.
The Year Ahead
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- Created on 15 December 2015
- Written by Steve Burrows
In my role as leader of ELITE I was recently invited to represent the UK at the annual two-day conference of the European CIO Association, EuroCIO, which was held in Berlin earlier in December.
We all know what these associations and conferences can be like, they generally fall into two categories - those attended by a lot of bit-players, or the real deal. Having watched presentations by the CIO’s of Allianz, Thyssen Krupps, Belgian National Lottery and Solvay, and had discussions with the CIOs of The Dutch Post Office, Total, Agfa Gevaert and Lagardere amongst others, I think one has to conclude that this was the real deal. Well over a hundred top CIOs from across Europe attended what was a very serious conference with real horsepower. There are 10 National CIO bodies affiliated to EuroCIO and a number of very large corporate members; between them they represent over 900 major corporates, 600,000 IT employees, and a consolidated IT budget of c. €150 Billion - this was a conference for the big hitters. That’s all without a contribution from the UK - my invitation was to discuss the possibility of the UK’s national group for IT leaders joining EuroCIO.
e-Business vs. ICT
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- Created on 01 December 2015
- Written by Steve Burrows
It has long irked me that DED lumps e-Business and ICT into the same pot. Acquaintances in Government are aware of this frustration, it doesn’t endear me to DED Civil Servants, but it remains a sore point because until we address it we’ll never achieve our potential as a creator of ICT.
Luddites Rool OK
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- Created on 17 November 2015
- Written by Steve Burrows
In some circles Luddite has become a term of disparagement, someone unable to cope with new technology. The reality of course is that the Luddites were skilled workers who saw that new technology had the potential to de-skill and devalue their jobs, potentially making them redundant - a phenomenon we now call Technological Unemployment. It is undoubtedly true that technological innovation steals jobs, and it is a moral problem I have wrestled with most of my working life - my early years in computing were largely focused on developing technologies to make people redundant, and the theme has continued as an integral if intermittent part of my work ever since. Far from disparaging the Luddites I respect them, they were shrewd enough to see the future.
Can We TalkTalk Privately?
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- Created on 02 November 2015
- Written by Steve Burrows
A headline in Computing magazine reads “TalkTalk demonstrates that technology-inept CEOs are a potential liability”. TalkTalk’s £6.8M p.a. rock-star CEO Dido Harding got out there front and centre to lead the company’s PR blitz following the hack and theft of customer data - and in doing so exposed her remarkable ignorance of technology matters as the boss of a company entirely dependent on tech. TalkTalk shareholders paid the price - the company’s stock plummeted 22% from the first signs of the attack and is still significantly depressed. Despite the later news that the hack was not as bad as originally feared, at the time of writing TalkTalk shareholders have lost around £400 Million before penalties, compensation and customer desertion kick in.
Managing Software Costs
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- Created on 20 October 2015
- Written by Steve Burrows
A journalist rang me recently to talk about the cost of enterprise software and the “sharp” licensing practices of some major software vendors, which reminded me that many businesses still have a problem with controlling their software licensing costs so it’s probably a topic worth writing about. I must admit to taking it for granted because I have a method, but until you’ve learned to tackle the software licensing maze it can be daunting and mistakes are expensive - either you have too many licenses and are overpaying for your software, or too few and are at risk of having to settle with your supplier or go to court for your illegal use of unlicensed software.
Does Software Cheat?
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- Created on 06 October 2015
- Written by Steve Burrows
Software has been in the news again recently, for all the wrong reasons. Volkswagen have been caught, like a naughty schoolboy, emitting noxious gases. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have accused the world’s largest auto manufacturer of using a “Defeat Device” to “cheat” in emissions tests. The VW CEO has admitted failure by the company and resigned, one of many heads apparently likely to roll out of the firm’s Wolfsburg HQ.
The Skills Gap
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- Created on 22 September 2015
- Written by Steve Burrows
A few weeks ago I wrote about the perceived skills shortage and promised that another article would talk about the technology skills in which we fall short on the island, so this is it. I’ve also just been asked to write a related article on technology skills and recruitment for BCS The Chartered Institute for IT, so by the time I finish I’ll have had enough of wittering on about skills for a while.
Where has all the New Tech gone?
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- Created on 09 September 2015
- Written by Steve Burrows
(Long time passing…)
One of my desires for this column is that I write about exciting new IT / computing technology, but of late that hasn’t happened much. Personally, having been involved in the development of new tech since the beginning of the 80’s, I am not easy to impress but from my perspective I’m not seeing much exciting new tech coming out and many media pundits returning from IFA in Berlin last week, Europe’s premiere new-tech expo, are saying the same.
The Skills Shortage
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- Created on 23 August 2015
- Written by Steve Burrows
We keep hearing that there is a major skills shortage in ICT, and it is true. A 2014 study suggests that the UK will need an additional 750,000 ICT workers by 2017, and ICT employment is growing five times faster than the wider UK economy. Recent estimates suggest that over a quarter of all growth in London is within the tech sector.
