How leaders can manage effectively and thrive through times of crisis: A guide

The COVID-19 pandemic threw many businesses a curve ball, with some emerging stronger and some not. What are the key lessons business leaders should learn from these challenging times to help them better prepare for a future crisis?

Be open

A good business leader is open – open to learning, listening, changing, asking for help and perhaps most importantly, open to taking risks. During times of crisis, this translates into being open and willing to admit when a strategy is not...

13 October 2020 | CIO

If remote IT is here to stay, how can CIOs make it work?

Many CIOs are asking: is remote IT here to stay, or will the majority of IT staff eventually return to the office? At least in the short term, the more relevant questions might be, how productive can we expect remote IT to be, how can CIOs ensure their productivity, and what metrics should IT consider to gauge their effectiveness?

In this article, we’ll take a look at these questions and a few others, with the goal of helping CIOs plan for what will be extended and expanded...

8 October 2020 | CIO

How the ‘composable enterprise’ can help solve upgrade headaches

There’s a lot to be said for a really snazzy Lego kit. Maybe it’s the Millennium Falcon that your front room is crying out for (complete with hinged smuggling compartments for hiding from the Empire). Or perhaps paying homage to the city of New York with a 1,600-piece Statue of Liberty is just the ticket.

Completing a Lego kit is extremely satisfying. You can take your time, work instruction by instruction and you know what you’re going to get. But once a kit is completed,...

28 August 2020 | App Platforms

Debunking three sunk cost fallacies in selecting enterprise software

Has your business ever avoided investing in key software systems simply because of perceived high costs? This inaction is an example of a sunk cost fallacy.

Both psychologists and behavioural economists have noted that humans have a stronger natural tendency to avoid losses than to pursue gains. However, a sunk cost needs to be addressed differently than a risk of future loss because the sunk cost has already been paid and should be considered independent of future decisions....

27 August 2020 | CIO

How CIOs can ensure technological prowess in a rapidly changing world

The COVID-19 crisis has not radically changed the future of technology. It has accelerated our path towards it. Conversations regarding digital transformation, moving to the cloud or using distributed architectures have been resonating in the market since the dot-com bubble. What this crisis has underlined is two realizations: those who had already made the digital transition were best equipped to deal with ambiguity, and that technology-enabled responsiveness trumped preparedness. The...

25 August 2020 | Applications

How to achieve business success in the midst of rapid workplace changes

Most large enterprises rely on a globally connected ecosystem of workforce, workplace, technology and other key resources for their business operations. Not surprisingly, they have very robust business continuity plans (BCP) in place to protect their human capital, technology and other critical resources. Their plans address many scenarios – from geopolitical to cybersecurity, connectivity, climate or natural calamity related issues. That’s not to mention issues with business partners,...

10 August 2020 | Applications

Managing the complexities of IT convergence: Exploring the future

Today, IT pros find themselves in a new reality, where IT roles have converged in response to the interconnected nature of modern environments. While a focus on cloud and hybrid IT architectures has been crucial in breaking down silos, it’s not without complexities. Ensuring uptime, availability, and performance of systems and applications, and greater collaboration with leadership to drive business success, is paramount. The global Covid-19 pandemic has amplified this, as organisations...

24 July 2020 | Applications

How to win friends and influence people: Using workplace technology to attract and retain staff

For years we have been promised that the gap between consumer and workplace technology is closing – from the introduction of policies such as bring your own device (BYOD) to some businesses directly consulting employees on which new technologies they’d like to use.

This sounds great in theory, but the reality of workplace technology is much less perfect for many of us. While the technology people use in their home lives seems to continue improving at an exponential rate,...

20 July 2020 | BYOD

Move over BYOD: Meet BYOH – ‘bring your own home’

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced companies around the world to do something most of them were not ready to do – ask all their employees to work from home. A recent Gartner survey showed that 74% of chief financial officer respondents stated they planned to transition at least part of their workforces to permanent remote working. Much to their surprise, businesses are finding the transition to home more palatable that expected – in some cases, it has worked so well that measurable...

16 July 2020 | BYOD

Assessing network resiliency during the pandemic: How the telcos have held up

Think about what has become a common scenario: you’re at home working throughout the day, probably connected to the internet for long stretches. Because you’re working remotely, you’re asking more of the broadband capacity than usual, running video conferencing sessions with different parts of the world, screen sharing and sending large files.

Maybe your partner is in the same boat, and it would be understandable were you both to be grabbing more network bits by listening to...

14 July 2020 | CIO