Technology Decisions Nov 2015 by Westwick-Farrow Media

IT leadership & innovation

SAFE AND SECURE? The challenge of the IoT world

NOV 2015 VOL .4 NO. 1 PP100009359

Urban hubs: your w w w . t e c h future workplace

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If there has been one theme that has come through loud

n o v e m b e r

is reflected in many of the articles in this issue of Technology Decisions, it is the demand from customers and clients for speedy solutions to their needs. Whether it’s a member of the public

2 0 1 5

INSIDE

and clear in 2015, and which

expecting an online purchase to be delivered the next

14| Rise of the urban hub — workplaces of the

day or an IT client anticipating a project rollout to

future

take weeks instead of months or years, the pace of

16 | Managed IT provider just what the recipe called

the IT business world has become just astonishing. Even more astonishing, perhaps, are the tools and

for

off-the-shelf solutions that exist to turn these am-

22 | Build versus buy: why the best choice could be

bitions into reality. Vendors and clients are waking

both

up to new ways of commissioning and deploying IT infrastructure and resources — on demand, always-on, spinning it up and then down again as needs change. The inherent potentials of virtualisation and the cloud have shifted the mindsets of many successful companies. Those businesses that aren’t able to accommodate this shift are the ones that will be left behind. Jonathan Nally, Editor

32 | Simplifying the enterprise with data-as-a-service 34 | Chromebase devices recruited to improve

workforce efficiency

36 | An innovation nation — the race to the top 45 | Implementing rapid and efficient big data analytics

50 | The benefits of fostering a data culture

F E A T U R E S 04 | The security of ‘things’

cover image: © iconimage/Dollar Photo Club

High-profile incidents of hackers compromising connected devices have given some CIOs pause when it comes to embracing the Internet of Things.

42 | Silver linings

28 | Breaking boundaries For enterprises whose operations span wide geographical areas with dispersed workforces, unified communications is the solution to many problems.

46 | The Compute Era begins In an industry dominated by the likes of AWS, there are plenty of prospects for smaller players.

Forward thinkers are aggregating pools of end-to-end resources to power a new style of business.

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The security of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;thingsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Lessons for business, large and small Andrew Collins

High-profile incidents of hackers compromising connected devices have given some CIOs pause when it comes to embracing the Internet of Things.

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With the UN’s Department of Economic

a networked server is to disconnect it from

and Social Affairs predicting the world’s

the network. So what sorts of security risks

population will reach 7.76 billion people by

exist for a business that adopts IoT devices?

that year, Gartner’s forecast means that the number of these internet-connected things

Ovum Senior Analyst, IT Infrastructure

that will have shipped will outnumber the

Solutions Rik Turner said that IoT shares

world’s population by more than three to

several types of threats with cloud services

one. These devices will appear in a variety

generally, because “a lot of IoT networks

of industries ranging from automotive to

will themselves [rely] on a cloud-based back

food and beverage services.

end for collection, aggregation, processing and storage of the data”.

But IoT isn’t a thing of the future; these devices are well and truly already here. As

“If you think of the Cloud Security Alliance’s

Gartner analyst James F Hines pointed out,

Notorious Nine threats, several of them apply

the connected car (ie, one “connected to an

to IoT as well,” Turner said.

external network”) is already a reality, and “in-vehicle wireless connectivity is rapidly

These include, the analyst said:

expanding from luxury models and premium

Data breach. Perhaps not too critical if

brands to high-volume midmarket models”.

all you’re doing is collecting data on the

“Wired reported earlier this year on hackers who were able to wirelessly send commands to a target Jeep Cherokee’s

steering, brakes and transmission” “During the next five years, the proportion

health of trees in a forest, but definitely to

of new vehicles equipped with this capabil-

be avoided if you are a hospital monitor-

ity will increase dramatically,” Hines wrote,

ing the health of heart patients or police

predicting that about by 2020, about 20%

tracking tagged sex offenders.

of vehicles on the road around the globe will have some form of wireless network

Data loss. If a freak lightning storm or

connection.

an IT failure somewhere in the network takes a whole slew of sensors offline, your

The risks

business is going to be affected, but do

These predictions have been accompanied

you have contingency plans in place to

by news reports (sometimes amusing, almost

bring them back in a timely fashion? How

y now you’ve probably read

always worrying) of hackers compromising

about if data already collected is rendered

dozens of predictions about the

IoT devices. The stories are varied and indi-

inaccessible because of something that

growth of connected devices

cate that many types of IoT devices are open

happens in the back end where it is stored?

that make up the IoT. If you’ve

to attack. As one example, Wired reported

somehow managed to miss these prognos-

earlier this year on hackers who were able to

Account/device hijack. Researchers are

tications, here’s one of the more recent

wirelessly send commands to a target Jeep

continually pointing out how easy it is

ones: in its Predicts 2015: The Internet of

Cherokee’s steering, brakes and transmis-

to hack into domestic IoT devices such as

Things research paper, analyst firm Gartner

sion — potentially from across the globe.

the connected fridge or washing machine,

forecasted that by the year 2020, a total

particularly via Wi-Fi connections. The

of 25 billion ‘connected things’ will have

In a sense, IoT seems quite contrary to that

potential for a malicious person taking

been shipped.

old security adage, that the only way to secure

control of appliances that deal with water

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and electricity in a home is an obvious issue. If Wi-Fi-enabled devices can also be used as a bridge into a broader home network, there is also the potential for the theft of credit card data and other © iconimage/Dollar Photo Club

important personal information. Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst, ICT Practice, Asia Pacific Vu Anh Tien added that there’s also the danger of compromised IoT devices becoming points in botnets and being used to drive “massive” distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. With 25

As such, “Every security plan will be

and endpoint levels to prevent the threats

billion IoT devices expected to have shipped

prepared and evaluated based on industry-

from spreading from an endpoint to the

by 2020, that’s a lot of potential bots.

vertical norms and their own exquisite

entire networks”.

foibles,” he said. “It should be an interconnected ecosystem

Geoff Johnson, an Advisor at IBRS, exFor example, railways are “intensely”

between the network and endpoint so that

aware of the necessity for track safety,

the threat intelligence can be pushed and

“Securing IoT is a practical challenge,

and have their own physical signalling

correlated within the whole ecosystem

from the most remote and basic networked

networks, Johnson said. “That becomes

of an organisation to make sure that no

transducer/sensor, through all the aggrega-

more complex as trains are automated

threats are residing in the network or any

tion devices that make sense of the whole

into a driver-less convoy of trucks.”

endpoint,” he said.

systems that run the industry application

As another example, Australia’s mining

Such a holistic strategy will help organisa-

in a data centre or cloud,” he said.

industry “is investing in robotics for

tions eliminate the risks of IoT devices

remote driverless trucks and offshore

being exploited by zero-day threats and

“A modern car has 400 to 500 sensors; an

drilling platforms that use a wealth of

other hacks, according to Anh Tien.

Airbus A380 has over 250,000, so there are

industrial network protocols for SCADA,

multiple levels of security and management

telemetry, capital asset management and

“A risk- or role-based management policy

required. Complex industrial security is

vehicles”.

will help organisations minimise the risk

plains how the scale of IoT impacts security.

fleet of devices, right through to the core

of data leak as only certain people with

required rather than the ubiquitous approach found in modern administrative

Turner said mitigating IoT security risks

certain roles can access the sensitive data.

organisations,” Johnson said.

requires what he calls “security by design”.

By taking the zero-trust policy, enterprises

This involves “thinking of security from the

can easily manage and control their IoT

Mitigation

moment an IoT network is being conceived

landscape with the minimum of data

It would seem, then, that organisations

and building it in at the network and the

leaks,” he added.

wanting to get involved with IoT devices

individual device level. Default passwords

have quite a task on their hands when it

such as 0000000 or 1234567 are clearly

There’s a variety of technologies that

comes to security.

part of the problem, as are unpinned

can help with IoT security. Briefly, Anh

certificates and communications across

Tien lists access management (including

a network in plain text.”

identity access management, privileged

Johnson noted that the IoT “is not really

identity management and network ac-

a generic network of devices but a series

of industry-specific vertical solutions

Anh Tien said that organisations need to

cess control); mobile device manage-

for, say, wearables/consumer; aviation/

adopt a holistic and risk-/role-based ap-

ment; data loss prevention; and malware

avionics; utilities (electricity, oil, gas,

proach to manage and address IoT risks.

protection (particularly that which uses

water); telecoms and media; automotive/

A holistic strategy involves establishing “a

both signature-based and signature-less

transport” and so on.

multiple-layered defence at both network

detection technologies).

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W W W

S I E M O N

C O M

“All of these technologies/solutions should be placed in a connected architecture that

“Securing these sorts of connected devices requires a healthy

can communicate with other infrastructure

security budget… should organisations without such a budget

security solutions such as NGFW, ISA or

steer clear of IoT?”

IPS, and others,” he said.

Constant vigilance

multiple reasons including cyberwarfare

security infrastructure at both network and

Many of the IoT breaches that have been

against critical infrastructure”.

endpoint levels, which will enable them to avoid security risks”.

in the news reflect shortcomings in the engineering of the device in question.

Turner emphasised that regular penetra-

In many of these cases, the hackers were

tion testing can help to “make sure some

Anh Tien stressed that in small and

able to successfully compromise the device

new vulnerability hasn’t been introduced

medium-sized businesses, it’s of the utmost

because of fundamental flaws that were

into the network by a new node, network

importance to determine which areas to

overlooked during the device’s design

route [or] additional process”.

focus on when it comes to IoT security.

Budgetary issues

By determining which areas and business

Anh Tien said that “most IoT devices are

Given the mature security posture that ap-

needs are the highest priority, “they can

not well designed for security, as most IoT

pears to be required in order to avoid IoT

have a proper plan for IoT security strategy

manufacturers will put more priority on

breaches, it seems to follow that properly

in a cost-effective manner that suits them

product quality and production efficiency.

securing the use of these sorts of connected

best. It is not always required for them to

Not many IoT devices are well equipped

devices requires a rather healthy security

deploy all costly security solutions from

with security technologies that are good

budget. Does this mean that organisations

security vendors, as engaging with a man-

enough to counter cyber attacks.”

without such a juicy security budget should

aged security service provider seems to

steer clear of the IoT?

be a best choice for them to manage and

and development.

monitor all the potential threats through-

He said that moving forward, IoT manufacturers need to put a greater focus on

“I’m afraid so,” Turner said.

out their infrastructure, be it at network and endpoint levels,” he said.

securing these devices. Not mincing words, he added: “There is But according to the experts, organisations

absolutely no point deploying some half-

Don’t go it alone

that implement these IoT devices can’t rely

arsed IoT network that can and almost

Hugh Ujhazy, director at IDC Australia,

solely on manufacturers getting better at

certainly will be attacked, causing who

said that enterprises looking to go into

designing secure devices; organisations

knows what damage, at the very least to

the IoT space can lessen their risk by

must themselves take an active and con-

your company’s reputation and, in some

“using good security protocols, applying

stant role in IoT security.

cases, potentially even more serious actual

lessons learned over the past decades of

physical damage.”

digital security practice and working with partners who bring expertise in this area”.

“These IoT devices will require constant security maintenance and updates to avoid

While Anh Tien doesn’t rule anyone out

penetration or exploitation. Security provid-

from getting involved with the IoT, he

“Going it alone and refusing to learn

ers need to find ways to help enterprises

does stress the importance of allocating

the lessons of securing data, access and

manage and control those IoT devices

resources to security.

applying good authentication and testing processes is a recipe for disaster.

easier and more effectively,” Anh Tien said. “Having a proper IoT security strategy

Fortunately, there is a wide ecosystem

Johnson explained that for IoT devices,

is necessary for every single business,”

of security suppliers in the mature IT

while security “is usually a part of the

whether they’re an SMB or a large busi-

markets… Australia being one.”

original and fundamental design rather

ness, he said. Enterprises that don’t learn from the other

than an afterthought that is ‘bolted on’ as

in some corporate networks”, security “also

Large businesses with good security

entrants to this arena are prone to repeat

needs to be applied to daily operations for

budgets will find it “easier to have a broad

their mistakes, Ujhazy said.

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Alec Gardner

GM, Advanced Analytics, South Pacific, Teradata

What do you see as the single biggest challenge facing the ICT industry in the year ahead, and why?

TECH INSIGHTS

2016

intervene in all sorts of business processes, both internally and externally, in real time.

among many organisations that want to implement big data and

What new and innovative technologies do you see emerging in your IT solution categories in 2016, and how will they help your customers?

analytics solutions but don’t know how to approach it or deploy

We will continue to see development in productivity and collabo-

the technology. To get past this confusion, organisations should

ration tools for analysts that will help speed up the development

have a hypothesis or a specific outcome in mind that they want

of big data apps, which can be embedded into larger frameworks.

to achieve from the technology.

This will provide analysts with easier data processing, meaning

The greatest challenge will be simply cutting through all the hype and buzz around big data and analytics, which is creating a lot of confusion. This confusion is leading to a sort of ‘analysis paralysis’

they can spend less time on technical tasks. We are seeing the

What do you see as the two or three biggest growth opportunities for your customers in 2016, and why?

growth of the ‘listening framework’ idea, which is likely to con-

One of the biggest growth opportunities stems from the continuing

enterprise, and involves streaming and processing large volumes

growth of digital data creation. The opportunity to capture and use

of data in real time.

the amount of data that’s being produced now is enormous. Digital

tinue to grow in prominence over the coming year. The ability to constantly ‘listen’ to the available data ties into the sentient

relevant. Another major growth opportunity is the application of

What are your customers demanding of you more today than five years ago, and how will you meet these requirements in 2016?

data and analysis across entire organisations. By thinking laterally

Customers in general are demanding a lot more elasticity in

about common problems across the enterprise, companies can begin

engagement of our solutions. From a consulting point of view,

to use analysis insights gained from customer interactions. Finally,

customers are looking for expert services and enablement. From

our customers have the opportunity to become data-driven organisa-

a technology perspective, they want solutions that can be scaled

tions, where most business processes are digital and produce data

up and down rapidly.

data is far more valuable when combined with the existing rich data sets and analytics can be applied in context to make them more

that can be analysed for insight, greater efficiency, better financial management, and new products and services.

What emerging trends or developing technologies may influence or change the way the ICT industry will do business in 2016, and why? One that is set to be a game changer is the idea of the ‘sentient enterprise’. This is where organisations can become more intuitive by listening, analysing and making business decisions based

Alec Gardner is General Manager responsible for the Teradata Advanced Analytics line of business in Australia and New Zealand, incorporating Teradata Aster, Big Data Analytic solutions and the Teradata partnership with key analytic partners such as SAS. In this capacity, Alec heads an expert team of data scientists and business analysts.

on data. By embedding analytics and algorithms into business processes, sentient enterprises can begin to develop autonomous decision-making platforms that are able to monitor, engage and

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TECH

Steve Manley VP, NetApp, ANZ

INSIGHTS

2016

What do you see as the two or three biggest growth opportunities for your customers in 2016, and why?

most recently in the form of validated design architectures for SAP application performance and OpenStack cloud solutions.

bring together the silos of data — especially if it is across a

What are your customers demanding of you more today than five years ago, and how will you meet these requirements in 2016?

combination of on-premise and off-premise cloud models.

The simplicity of consumption of storage. As customers look to

Next is to take action. It’s completely possible to correlate

move from CapEx to OpEx models (or a hybrid of both) and

accelerating the pace of business with how data is managed

manage the transfer of risk, it is important to understand their

across clouds. Then there’s creating new ways of thinking. By

commercial needs around this. It’s about providing the right,

leveraging the disintermediation that cloud provides, you can

differentiated service model to suit their business requirements,

innovate on-demand.

and where it makes sense, embracing the expertise that partners

Smart organisations today are extracting, analysing and transforming their data into valuable insight for a competitive edge. The biggest challenge to achieving this is figuring out how to

have to deliver this.

What emerging trends or developing technologies may influence or change the way the ICT industry will do business in 2016, and why?

Aside from your own, which ICT companies will be the ones to watch in 2016 and why?

Trends such as the Internet of Things and personalised customer

be ones to keep on the radar. With the rise of cloud and the

experience will be interesting to monitor over the coming year.

exponential rate of innovation, the need to leverage platforms

The emergence of smart cities will introduce a new dimension

that can manage highly variable workloads with minimal upfront

to society, which will be very exciting. With organisations ex-

cost is becoming the norm. As organisations mature their data

pecting to double their digital revenues in 2016 (according to

fabric strategy, the recipe to cost-effectively managing data-in-

Gartner), it’s important to consider technology choices carefully,

motion versus data-at-rest will enable them to embrace the right

especially when there is so much innovation happening in the

hybrid cloud model to suit.

Hyperscalar players such as AWS, Microsoft and Google will

market. Also, knowing that cost is the top inhibitor for many to find the right approach, it will be important to find ways for technology to help innovate (or fail) fast.

What new and innovative technologies do you see emerging in your IT solution categories in 2016, and how will they help your customers? Data fabric technology will provide a clear path to private, public and hybrid cloud models. Coupled with Flash technology, it means customers will have the ability to accelerate their business and

Steve Manley is Vice President, Ne t Ap p, f o r Au s t ra l i a & New Zealand, responsible for defining the business strategy and direction of the company. He has more than 20 years of experience in the IT industry and is always passionate about finding a better way to drive success for customers through technology.

gain efficiencies across their resources, all whilst protecting their storage investment. We will continue to partner strongly with Cisco to deliver converged infrastructure solutions to the market,

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A N A LY S E

THIS

Rise of the urban hub — workplaces of the future

n June 2015, the then Minister for

Additional research undertaken by Lynda

basis that a single organisation would

Communications, Malcolm Turnbull,

Gratton, a London Business School Profes-

continue to commit to rented or owned

introduced a report based on CEDA

sor, predicts that to be successful in the

premises on an ongoing basis.

research titled ‘Australia’s future

future, workers will need to be both a

workforce’. The report examined the im-

specialist and an effective collaborator. She

Small business and entrepreneurial hubs

pact of the next wave of digital disruption

states that future success will be achieved

have become increasingly popular over

on business activity, how automation will

through a high-value combination of

the past few years. These are workspaces

eliminate many of today’s current work

mastery and connectivity.

where small to medium organisations

roles and the impact of digital disruption on existing business practices.

can rent space and services in a specific

Flexible workplace models

geographical area to undertake their work.

Organisations have recognised the need

One such organisation is Hub Australia.

Based on the previous industrial revolu-

to provide connectivity for their work-

tion, workers moved to metropolitan areas

force and have been working towards a

These hubs have been quite successful but

to gain employment. This model meant

flexible workplace for some time with

can be constrained. To be sustainable there

that physical proximity to a workplace was

teleworking now commonplace. However,

needs to be enough small and medium

the key defining factor to both the worker

research indicates this is often a case of

businesses in that geographical area that

seeking employment and the organisation

applying technology to legacy business

commit to the model to provide financial

seeking skilled and unskilled workers.

practices and does not fully leverage the

viability. In the Hub Australia model there

full potential of a flexible and connected

are currently locations only in Sydney,

workforce.

Melbourne and Adelaide. (Other examples

However, the CEDA report highlights that many of the current roles undertaken today

include Thought Fort and The Swarm.)

— up to five million of them — will either

Another approach has been the establish-

disappear or be changed significantly by

ment of Work Hubs. In September 2014,

2020. Significant automation will replace

the Queensland Government rented prem-

Co-working spaces and services

many manual and predictable activities,

ises on the Gold Coast and in Redcliffe

According to research undertaken by

including accounting and even roles in

to trial flexible working arrangements for

Tammy Johns and Lynda Gratton, virtual

the health sector. To date there has been

27 public servants. This model meant that

working has moved through a number

action to adapt to the coming change in

staff worked in the usual office environ-

of phases:

technology organisations and private com-

ment for a few days a week and the Hub

• Virtual freelancers. Specialists who pro-

panies; however, there is still significant

for the remainder of the week on an

vided services on an as-needed basis to

lag in the public sector.

ongoing basis. While this model offers

companies and who worked from home

more flexibility to workers it also has

offices using technology such as email

some limitations:

to communicate. This was high on flex-

In ‘Workplace of the Future’, IBRS Analyst Dr Joseph Sweeney observed that work-

ibility but needed compromise on many

places of the future will be transformed

• Workers still need to be close enough

way beyond the implementation of a host

to the main office for part of the week.

collaborative and supportive elements that organisations offer to employees.

of technological tools such as mobility.

They will include a fundamental cultural

• Rented premises are restricted to the

• Virtual corporate colleagues. Technology

change, seismic shifts in work practices and

workers of that organisation. Sustain-

offered the opportunity for organisations

a way of rethinking who does what work.

ability of the model would be on the

to enable employees to work remotely

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as a standard engagement model. IBM

to medium-sized businesses can pay to

currently supports more than 400,000

use the space and services on the same

of its contractors and employees to

footing as the larger organisations.

work remotely.

Benefits • Virtual co-workers. Organisations and

Establishing Australian urban hubs that can

workers reinvesting in physical co-

be used as a service for large organisations

locations and providing spaces to enable

with a significant capital city presence,

workers to feel they are working in a

and smaller localised companies, enables:

shared working environment.

• greater proliferation of hub spaces in regional areas;

The researchers state that successful organisations will harness the benefits of each

• sustainability beyond a trial or the eco-

of these waves to establish and maintain

nomic commitment of a single company.

workplaces of the future which support

It balances the financial burden across

the workforce of the future.

large and small companies;

Urban hubs

• access to skilled resources from a broader

Urban hubs have grown in popularity

geographical base for organisations that

over the past few years. There are hubs

utilise an urban hub model;

Sue Johnston is an IBRS advisor who focuses on strategy and governance of private and public ICT, and is engaged in research on maximising the value of flexible workplaces and women in leadership. She has more than 25 years’ experience as an ICT professional, CIO, business manager and consultant.

operating in many major cities around the world. They are workspaces that are

• smaller organisations to offer work/

designed to connect and inspire people

life balance benefits as an alternative

who generally work alone. Not only do

to high salary.

they have the general office capabilities in terms of spaces and technology and

Other potential options may include peer

tools, but they also offer the benefit of

sharing (similar to Uber) for office space.

interacting with other professionals and

However, organisations should include

other support services.

analysing creative spaces and flexible working beyond teleworking and rented urban

Rather than renting or owning space for

spaces for their own staff, and consider a

corporate colleagues (such as the Queens-

broader, more creative approach.

land Government example) or establishing a hub that is available for small and

Organisations should start to assess their

medium businesses, organisations can view

current workplace model and identify op-

the urban hub as a service.

portunities to modify virtual team models to provide a greater element of flexibil-

Governments and large corporates may

ity and community environment, and

establish the hub presence, but do so as

consider establishing an urban hub in a

an instigator and not the controller. Small

non-metropolitan area.

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work

Managed IT provider just what the recipe called for

hen Chris Palin joined Australian Kitchen

With apps stored in blueAPACHE’s cloud solution, staff at

Industries in 2010, the company was in an

KWB Group are able to log onto any device in the company’s

uncomfortable financial position, with a history

system and access their personal files and applications. Whereas

of marginal profits and a board of directors

previously the information was locked down to an individual’s

in favour of closing the business and walking away. After a

computer, the new system allows staff to access work from home,

management buyout in 2012, KWB Group was formed and

when travelling or from remote locations, a flexibility which is

an internal restructure commenced that focused on trimming

greatly increasing productivity.

away the excess and running a tighter business.

“Within the cloud environment, I can walk up to a computer,

KWB Group is the largest standalone kitchen retailer in

log on through Citrix, and I am at work within a minute, with

Queensland and South Australia, with 12 retail stores and

full access to my files,” said Palin. “Since I travel a fair bit, this

a permanent staff of 85. Taking into account the drivers,

is very productive for me.”

subcontractors and other tradesmen that the business relies

The scalability of the IT-as-a-service model allows KWB Group

on, the IT department is responsible for the information flow

to expand much more easily than before, reducing limitations

and communications of close to 150 people.

and simplifying new store openings. Effectively, ‘switching on’ a

When the management buy-out took place, the company made a decision to move to a more flexible, scalable outsourced

new retail outlet takes one phone call to blueAPACHE, a reliable link and a router on-site.

IT model. Over time, KWB Group has moved all systems

When floods hit Queensland not too many years ago, KWB

and infrastructure across to blueAPACHE’s fully managed

Group was able to close at-risk retail outlets, and by requesting

service platform.

that blueAPACHE re-route phones to another store, was able to

blueAPACHE now manages almost all of KWB Group’s

maintain business operations without serious downtime.

systems from its cloud-based model, including applications,

Palin also cites staffing flexibility as another strong benefit of

data storage and recovery, as well as office and retail outlet

the outsourced model, and finding an account manager that fits

phone systems.

the company ethos is very important for the business relationship. “We run a fairly tight ship, with not many admin staff,” said Palin. “We treat blueAPACHE very much as our IT managers, so they are always involved in major decisions, such as opening new stores. The breadth of knowledge is really a major advantage, because we would otherwise need lots of people with wide expertise or to bring in outsiders, because you simply can’t know it all. Using a managed services provider, you get that breadth of knowledge. “It really was one of the better rollouts I have experienced — blueAPACHE did most of the heavy

lifting for us,” said Palin.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

Simplify here

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TECH

Daniel Cran

APAC Director, LogMeIn

INSIGHTS

2016

What do you see as the single biggest challenge facing the ICT industry in the year ahead, and why?

of increasing customer satisfaction through resolving issues

Security and data privacy have always topped the list of priorities

This refers to a natural progression of delivering support on

for IT professionals and, hopefully, for technology vendors. What

digital products, soon-to-be connected devices and connected

changed in 2015 and will likely escalate in the coming year is an

devices. In the IoT world, this will mean both self-serve and

increasingly heightened awareness of security and data privacy

direct support.

quickly, and reducing cost. As everything becomes connected, organisations have to rethink the ways they support customers.

issues amongst consumers and business leaders. In the midst of this, the ICT industry faces the challenge of having to connect

As remote support also removes the need to ship large volumes of

an increasingly mobile and global workforce. To stay ahead,

returned products that may not have been faulty, it significantly

businesses must invest in tools that align with the realities and

cuts costs associated with on-site technical support.

working styles of the modern worker and work environment.

What trends or developing technologies may influence or change the way the ICT industry will do business in 2016, and why?

What are your customers demanding of you more today than five years ago, and how will you meet these requirements in 2016?

The explosion in customer data and insights presents an op-

The Internet of Things continues to dominate the technology

portunity for companies to uncover actionable data and drive

sector, and conversations have shifted from ‘if ’ to ‘how’ com-

tangible insights. Growth opportunities lie in taking these insights

panies can build connected businesses. At its core is a growing

to transform customer engagement and build loyalty — from

understanding that businesses must not only connect quickly

product development to point of sale to customer support.

and seamlessly, but securely. The need for managing identities

Closely linked is an opportunity to leverage the growing chan-

and access in the IoT — and the critical role identity manage-

nels of customer support as a way of reinvigorating customer

ment plays in device, data and user security — became a hot

communication, engagement and support.

topic in 2015.

While this ‘omnichannel’ approach is creating new avenues of communication, it also means rethinking and restructuring support models. With 76% of customers surveyed by Ovum having stopped doing business with a brand following a bad customer experience, customer service is no longer purely about gaining a competitive advantage, but staying relevant in this era of connected consumers.

What new and innovative technologies do you see emerging in your IT solution categories in 2016, and how will they help your customers?

Daniel Cran is the APAC Director at LogMeIn. With over 14 years’ experience in the digital space, Daniel has managed regional customer experience across global technology and logistics companies such as Experian, Fliway and Spring Global Mail.

Video-aided customer support. Remote support is tried and true for tech service providers as it provides the dual benefit

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

TECH

Don Williams VP, ANZ, Veeam

INSIGHTS

2016

What do you see as the single biggest challenge facing the ICT industry in the year ahead, and why?

the way we do business as organisations strive to connect any user, from any device, anywhere in the world.

with CIOs and IT department heads, most battle with freeing

What are your customers demanding of you more today than five years ago, and how will you meet these requirements in 2016?

up time and budget to drive innovation within the business.

Five years ago, larger enterprise customers expected technol-

I would see the biggest challenge is finding that balance between doing more with less and achieving more with the budgets IT departments currently have. In my conversations

ogy products to be complex. Now, they expect them to just These days almost every company has evolved into a software

work. The days when a business would employ project teams

company in some shape or form, whose data and applica-

to deploy a technology over 12–18 months are gone. They

tions need to be available at all times. That can tie up lots

don’t have the time; they need solutions that deliver value

of resource just to keep the lights on.

from day one.

What do you see as the two or three biggest growth opportunities for your customers in 2016, and why?

Aside from your own, which ICT companies will be the ones to watch in 2016, and why?

Challenges are often opportunities as well, and as mentioned

Disruption is what is constant in the IT space — and like

earlier, the ability to free up budgets from legacy solutions to

most of us working in technology, I’d be keen to see the new

drive more innovation and value into the business is a real

entrants in the market that will challenge the status quo. Of

opportunity for our customers. Growth is driven by innova-

course, everyone is looking to see how Dell’s acquisition of

tion, and innovation is enabled by the freedom to express

EMC pans out and it’s an exciting time for the newly birthed

yourself, without being shackled by maintenance requirements.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise, but we are also looking forward to the innovations coming out of the major storage vendors

We also see a significant opportunity for our customers and

to cope with and manage today’s avalanche of data.

channel partners in cloud services, particularly through affordable and efficient cloud-based disaster recovery. We are seeing demand for DRaaS strongly intensify.

What emerging trends or developing technologies may influence or change the way the ICT industry will do business in 2016, and why? We are in the age of the always-on enterprise and missioncritical applications are everywhere. In fact, it’s no longer a

Don Williams is Veeam’s Vice President for ANZ, based in Sydney. Don is responsible for overall business operations, sales and business development for the region, with a focus on growing the company’s market share in the virtualisation, disaster recovery and cloud software markets.

case of asking “which applications are mission critical?” Every application has to be highly available, which makes business continuity key and the DRaaS opportunity significant. Likewise, effective enterprise mobility will continue to influence

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

PEER PEER

Build versus buy:

why the best choice could be both

A build-and-buy software strategy can be a powerful way for an organisation to retain and improve its place in the market.

igital disruption is a mega-

However, some organisations are realising

trend sweeping the business

there is a third option — using a combination

world, bringing profound

of both approaches. They are selecting the

changes for business. In all

most appropriate off-the-shelf applications

cases its impact will be keenly felt within

and having them customised to meet their

core IT infrastructures. For the trans-

particular business requirements.

formative benefits of digital disruption to be maximised, this infrastructure will

The extent of customisation undertaken

need to evolve.

can vary significantly depending on the specific needs of the business. Some may

As a first step, organisations needs to

opt to use the off-the-shelf application as

critically review installed IT systems.

an ‘engine’ and wrap other components

Each should be evaluated to ensure

around it. This is the same approach taken

it can continue to provide the sup-

by car manufacturers that use a common

port required. A key question must be

chassis to create a range of different models.

considered — should new software applications that are required to support

Other organisations may treat the off-the-

transformative plans be purchased ‘off

shelf software as an almost completed car

the shelf ’ or developed in-house to

and simply add a new ‘coat of paint’ through

match specific business requirements?

minor tweaks. This might be, for example,

It’s a fundamental question and one

in the form of a customised user interface.

that can have big ramifications.

In more technical terms, a solution can be provided either as software-as-a-service that

Traditionally, off-the-shelf software has

includes both the front-end and server com-

offered particular advantages. It is usually

ponents or as web services with a web API.

cost-effective and relatively easy for an inhouse IT department to implement. There

This approach enables an organisation to

is also always a clear, ongoing upgrade path

purchase a particular business process, such

provided by the vendor, together with the

as a costing or scheduling engine, and then

promise of regular updates.

develop a unique user interface or integrate the engine with existing applications.

Building complex applications in-house,

Caroline Falkiner is General Manager of Sales and Marketing at ComOps. With a chartered accountant background, she has had over 20 years’ experience in both large and small IT business organisations managing customers in the ERP, payroll and workforce management sectors.

on the other hand, can be challenging.

Approached with proper planning, a build-

A skilled internal team is required with

and-buy software strategy can be a powerful

the capacity to scope out requirements,

way for an organisation to retain and improve

and architect and develop the software.

its place in the market. The software can

Responsibility for ongoing maintenance

support the organisation’s unique competi-

and upgrades remains with them, as does

tive advantages, ensuring it can continue to

ensuring the new software successfully in-

improve its offerings and meet any changes

tegrates with other installed applications.

that occur in the wider market.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

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w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

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FROM THE FRONTLINE Jonathan Nally

Breaking boundaries

Unified comms defeating the tyranny of distance For enterprises whose operations span wide geographical areas with dispersed workforces, unified communications is the solution to many problems.

he ability to effectively communi-

calls from members of the public, resulting

we needed to, so there were these lengthy

cate in a timely manner is essential

in 69,000 rescues of injured, orphaned or

delays from when the call first came in about

to the efficient operation of any

sick native animals, some of which were

an animal to when we physically were able

enterprise, large or small. And these

brought into care for rehabilitation and

to reach someone that was available.”

days, of course, there are far more ways to

then released.

communicate — landline phone calls are

Something had to change, so WIRES looked

no longer dominant, and who sends snail

Keeping track of that many volunteers

around at various solutions and settled on

mail anymore?

working out of their own homes, plus

a unified comms system from xMatters.

a network of around 700 vets, is a large To get a feel for how modern communica-

task — not made any easier by the manual

“It’s a two-way technology that allows us to

tions are making a difference, we spoke with

processes WIRES used to have. When a

contact groups of people instantly across a

senior executives from three very different

call was received, WIRES staff would have

range of devices, whatever they elect,” said

Australian organisations.

to consult a series of spreadsheets to find

Taylor. “They also get to choose how they

an appropriate rescuer based on location,

want to engage with us and what kind of

Unified comms to the rescue

availability and training in dealing with

availability they have.”

WIRES is a not-for-profit native animal

different species.

rescue organisation that operates in NSW. It

That was another limitation of the previous

has a volunteer base of 2500 people, about

“We’d reached a point where it had fallen

system, where the people who wanted to

1200 of whom are actively involved in rescues.

over,” said Leanne Taylor, WIRES’ CEO. “We

volunteer also wanted to nominate their

In 2014, it received around 250,000 phone

couldn’t physically make the number of calls

availability.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

Leanne Taylor, CEO, WIRES

John Moloney, CIO and Parish Support Manager, Catholic Diocese of Armidale

Peter Harrison, Head of Infrastructure, WA Dept of Child Protection and Family Support

“To make changes to their availability on

takes away that pressure or obligation that

25 parishes, 24 schools and one university

a daily basis across 1200 people was just

they’ve got to be available all the time. This

residential college. To improve its commu-

not possible,” said Taylor. But with the

way, they’re only seeing the rescues that

nications abilities, the diocese chose a video

xMatters system, “they can enter the details

they’ve put themselves down for.

communications solution from Blue Jeans.

want to be contacted on a Tuesday after 5

“I’m hoping — and we are starting to see

“Overcoming the tyranny of distance lay

pm for these particular species’”.

this — to have much better retention of

at the heart of our consideration for a

volunteers, because it’s a new way of them

unified comms solution — the time, safety

The system pushes messages out to the

engaging with an organisation and doing

and expense related to travel as well as the

volunteers via SMS, phone calls, email or

what they’re passionate about.”

convenience to create and stage meetings in

O U R PA N E L

themselves — they can literally say, ‘I only

smartphone app. “We’ve got about 40% of

an ad hoc fashion as individual need arose,”

people using the app that they can down-

The sharing of ideas

said John Moloney, the diocese’s CIO and

load,” said Taylor.

Unified comms comes into its own when an

parish support manager. “Blue Jeans also

organisation has a large geographic footprint,

is partnered with Telstra, which means

“As they’ve become more familiar with the

which is not an uncommon thing in the

billing is integrated with Telstra. Telstra’s

product, the feedback has been good — be-

Australian context. One such organisation

underlying network infrastructure is also

cause I think the experience for them being

is the Catholic Diocese of Armidale, which

inherently collaborative.”

a volunteer within WIRES has changed,

covers a large portion of north-western New

because they’re now deciding how they’ll

South Wales across a region totalling 91,500

According to Moloney, the implementation

be contacted and when,” said Taylor. “So it

square kilometres. The diocese encompasses

was quite straightforward.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

“In terms of implementation, the process

“Some key unexpected benefits have included improved work-life balance for workers ...”

was relatively straightforward. The Polycom partner took care of everything and helped us through the process, including how we should communicate the operation and use of the technology with our staff to maximise

“Its implementation was as simple as us

Peter Harrison, the department’s head of

making the decision to use it,” he said. “The

infrastructure, says that one of the pri-

fact that it is vendor non-reliant means

mary reasons was the need to reduce costs.

that, for our staff or clients, no meeting is

the benefits from day one.” “While we had initially installed only 12 units, the number has now expanded to 65

missed due to the constraints of software

“The Department for Child Protection

room-based systems and over 100 desktop

platforms or hardware discrepancy and

and Family Support has over 150 sites

systems, which enables us to accommodate

changeability.

throughout Western Australia, some in

45 concurrent conferences. In fact, we even

very remote areas,” said Harrison. “As

had to add additional ports recently as we

“The fact that the Blue Jeans videocon-

such, a significant amount of money was

were regularly hitting the maximum number

ferencing platform hosting is cloud based

being spent on travel and accommodation

of conferences.”

means that at points of connection where

costs when we needed to bring regional

bandwidth is an issue this platform is able

staff into Perth for important meetings,

Harrison says that since implementation,

to make the best use of what is available.”

as well as for caseworker meetings,

productivity, engagement and communica-

particularly with regard to our smaller

tion have improved significantly between

offices in the regional areas.”

head office and the regional areas. VC

Moloney says there have been big savings in costs due to a reduced need for travel and accommodation.

technology has also enabled the departIn order to alleviate cost pressures,

ment to deliver more training sessions

videoconferencing was proposed as a

via video. While face-to-face trainings are

“More clients, particularly within the

means to improve communication and

still applied, the technology has reduced

mental health area, have been able to make

collaboration amongst staff between the

the need for hands-on training where

use of face-to-face counselling that would

department’s head office in Perth and its

a physical presence is actually required.

otherwise not have occurred,” he said. “The

major regional offices, as well as within

“Prior to this, staff who required training

ability to now have a greater frequency of

the regional areas themselves.

only had the option of travelling to Perth

training across the diocese has meant the

for it,” said Harrison.

entire diocese has become more united and

During the vendor selection process, a

integrated, leading to a greater cohesive

number of solutions were tested on the

Some key unexpected benefits have in-

state between both disperse locations and

department’s data network, including

cluded improved work-life balance for

different agency segments.

PC-based software solutions and web-

workers, as they no longer have to be

based solutions. The tests revealed that

away from their families for a business

“The sharing of ideas and insight is now

the Polycom-based solutions provided

trip. Additionally, Harrison says staff

faster and more relevant, as feedback and

the best results and were most com-

have also experienced improved health

discussion is able to enhance ideas in an

patible with the department’s internal

and safety as well as fatigue management,

improved and rapid manner.”

infrastructure.

given that they no longer need to drive

Improved engagement

“In addition, we also got field staff

On the other side of the country, and fac-

involved in the testing process, who

“In summary, VC has become an essential

ing an even larger geographical challenge,

concluded that the Polycom devices met

technology used by all areas of the depart-

the WA Department of Child Protection

business requirements to a high level,”

ment for a myriad of uses. We are now

and Family Support has introduced a

said Harrison. “The Polycom units were

able to communicate better internally and

videoconferencing (VC) solution from

the easiest to set up, deploy and operate.

with our partner agencies to provide the

Polycom to improve its internal commu-

This is important in driving staff uptake

best outcome for the protection of children

nications abilities.

of the technology.

across Western Australia.”

long distances in remote areas.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

....................................................................................................................................................................

KEY

Simplifying the enterprise with data-as-a-service

WORDS

ccording to database vendor

90% of what would normally be reserved

Oracle, for every database in

for capex and opex to be used for more

production, eight to 12 copies

strategic innovation projects within IT

exist sitting idle in non-produc-

— this can help drive business value

tion environments such as development,

back into the organisation versus simply

test, backup and archive. Think about that

spinning up new infrastructure and keep-

from a tier-1 enterprise’s perspective — it

ing the lights on.

has thousands of databases and therefore multi-terabytes (and even petabytes) of

But while data virtualisation provides this

data. That’s a major challenge for any CIO,

value, going down this relatively foreign

particularly with budgets shrinking and

path can be difficult for CIOs that haven’t

customer demands growing.

explored the option before. The first major step requires a concise set of business goals

So how does a CIO increase productivity

to determine the role data virtualisation

across the enterprise and simultaneously

will play; typically, it is deployed to save

decrease — or at least maintain — IT

money on storage, accelerate application

spend when this much data is being stored?

development, and improve data protection

Many are turning to the buzz term of big

and production support.

data analytics. Sure, it works for some organisations, but creating value for all

But the real value lies in data agility; mak-

employees (and consequently customers)

ing copies of data available in minutes (as

while driving business outcomes is difficult

opposed to hours for traditional methods

when a long series of procedures stands

of storage) so it can be accessed faster

in the way.

and on demand at any time. By rapidly

Chris Poulos leads Delphix’s Asia-Pacific and Japan operations and has more than 25 years’ experience in IT enterprise. Prior to his current role, Poulos held leadership roles at Cloudera, F5 Networks and Trend Micro, and senior positions at IBM, Microsoft and Lotus.

provisioning, refreshing and resetting data, Data as a service (DaaS) software, includ-

development is accelerated, and therefore

ing data virtualisation, is fast becoming

cost and strain on resources is reduced.

a strategic IT solution to address the big data trend. DaaS software provides an

Whatever the solution, it must be versatile

alternative to the complexities and costs of

enough to cater for the full enterprise IT

traditional methods of application delivery

landscape, not just the IT department.

and copy-data provisioning. Enterprises

It must also integrate with and support

are using it both on-premises and in the

existing storage and operating systems in

cloud to take data out of development

order to create a streamlined environment

much faster for the benefit of the entire

that branches right across the enterprise.

organisation, not only the IT department.

In short, it must be a futureproof solution to ensure the organisation isn’t locked to

Why? Because it enables a 50% faster

a certain system, giving the CIO much

response to business demands around

greater flexibility in other short- and

application projects, therefore freeing up

long-term investments.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

Chromebase devices recruited to improve workforce efficiency work

ver the last 18 months, recruitment agency

explore technologies such as Chrome OS. While cost was a

Randstad Australia has been improving the

consideration, Randstad had also just invested a significant

IT systems within its offices in Australia,

amount in a new wireless network that it intended to make

New Zealand and Singapore. In an effort

the most of through this IT upgrade.

to implement systems that support the company’s strategy

“From an IT point of view, one of the goals has been to

and enhance their services, it has undertaken an expansive

ensure we implement hardware to which updates would be

project to provide mobile technology solutions that suit their

less cumbersome and consume drastically less time than what

agile workforce.

was already in place,” said Sahid.

Towards the end of 2013, Randstad globally began to

Zabi Sahid was part of the team — headed-up by Kevin

take advantage of cloud solutions with the aim of delivering

O’Neill, CIO – that reached a decision to adopt devices

improvements in the level and quality of IT provided to staff

running Chrome OS. From a hardware perspective there

and the IT systems underpinning them.

were a lot of options to consider. Following a comprehensive review, the most appealing solution was the LG Chromebase because it offers an all-in-one service at a competitive cost. “The benefits were readily apparent to us. Not only was it an all-in-one device designed specifically to work with Google Chrome, it could leverage the new Wi-Fi or the cabled network. Not only does it work brilliantly as a standalone device, but it can also double as a monitor should an employee need to plug in a Chromebook or other mobile device,” said Kevin O’Neill. The implementation of the LG Chromebase allin-one computer units throughout the Randstad ANZ network all went very smoothly. Randstad tested a few of the devices and the initial feedback from employees was very positive. The rollout across Australia and New Zealand then commenced in earnest. “We experienced no challenges in implementing the LG Chromebase offering. They are extremely

Zabi Sahid, service desk team leader at Randstad, said that

easy to assemble, update and deploy,” said Sahid. “The service

this offered a significant opportunity for the business. “The

provided was good and the response times were great. There

IT team in Australia saw this as a fantastic opportunity to

were no delays of issues in the rollout of the LG devices.”

drastically improve the IT services we provide for staff and

The benefits to staff productivity have been almost

to also lead the way in the APAC region for implementing

immediate with a particular focus on the ease of using the

hardware that supports genuine improvements in productivity

devices, either connecting Chromebooks or using the built-in

and simplicity.”

software. With 300 units already placed in the ANZ region

Globally, Randstad had adopted the Google Apps platform

(including Gmail), which presented an opportunity to

and another 100 in Singapore, there will be a further 300 to 400 still to come in Australia.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

innovation nation — B O D Y An the race to the top TA L K There’s no reason why Australia cannot be a leader in the internetdriven, industrial era.

This is great news — a race to the top,

priorities — just as countries like Israel

not the race to the bottom that so of-

and Singapore have done — and to agree

ten marks down our political dialogue.

that Australia’s future lies in becoming

Australia invented Wi-Fi, the heart

a key player in the digitally enabled,

pacemaker, the bionic ear, the black box

21st-century global economy.

flight recorder… So there’s no reason t is unusual for our two major

why we cannot be a leader in the next,

Digital innovation is vital to creating

political parties to find themselves

internet-driven, industrial era.

employment, developing new businesses, linking regional and remote communi-

joined at the hip on an issue of progressive national policy. But in

The new boss of the CSIRO, Larry

ties and finding new ways for delivering

the case of innovation, that’s just what’s

Marshall, recently outlined a bold plan

health and education services. All vital

happened. For a time, Labor had this

that will focus on commercialising

to our economic and social wellbeing.

one all to itself. Then, all of a sudden,

some of the great work done by this

a new prime minister made innovation

oft-neglected national treasure. With

Of course, to achieve our potential as

a personal crusade. Both sides are now

former Telstra CEO David Thodey as

an innovation nation we’ll need fast,

fighting to show who has the best in-

his new chairman, we can expect some

ubiquitous broadband. This is another

novation policy.

very positive results.

area where we could do with some bipartisanship. Internet Australia has

Internet Australia

A year ago, the start-up sector in Australia

taken the view that we should stop

was hardly even on the political radar.

arguing over how to build the nbn and

The Liberal’s Wyatt Roy and Labor’s Ed

concentrate on getting the work done,

Husic have recently been appointed to

together.

high-profile roles within their respective parties devoted to working with and supporting start-ups. They’ve even travelled together to the United States to pick up pointers. So how do we harness this new-found consensus and how do we ensure that it turns into something useful rather than simply a battle for votes? Internet Australia has called on the prime minister and the leader of the opposition to hold a bipartisan Digital Future Forum. The idea is to get a range of peak representative organisations together

to develop an agreed set of national

Laurie Patton, CEO, Internet Australia

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Alan Williams CTO, BlinkMobile

TECH INSIGHTS

2016

What do you see as the single biggest challenge facing the ICT industry in the year ahead?

What are your customers demanding of you more today than five years ago? How will you meet these requirements?

Meeting the varied demands of corporate users for mobile apps

In the enterprise mobile space our world changes and advances

that will transform their business processes (taking out the friction,

so quickly that five years ago we were still just talking to most

improving efficiencies and enhancing service), without ending

clients about mobile-friendly web and e-forms along with SMS

up with an uncontrolled app rash. Other implications of this

notifications within workflows.

challenge involve managing the rapid and continual development demands without duplicating data or compromising security and

Now, our customers expect to be able to rapidly produce any

leaving the organisation vulnerable to threats.

number of enterprise-grade mobile apps to improve their business processes. But also to have them hosted and supported

What do you see as the two or three biggest growth opportunities for your customers in 2016?

in a robust environment so they don’t have to worry about

Contextually aware productivity apps; integration of beacons and

contact with SLAs covering the entire solution.

the demands of different servers and software, upgrades and compatibility, security or licences. They want a single point of

other proximity, scanning and notification technologies; and drilling further into their business processes and expanding both the quantity and capabilities of apps within their ‘soldier app’ fleet.

What new and innovative technologies do you see emerging in your IT solution categories in 2016, and how will they help your customers?

Do you expect to face an increasing burden of new legislation and regulations? How will your company tackle this? There was the change to the Privacy Act last year but it didn’t impact us greatly as typically we don’t hold personal data. And while we’re not facing much new legislation, we do need to respond to our clients’ issues of changing legislation/regulations

Low-cost, integrated modular readers (such as iProximity’s

along with increased accountability as they increasingly turn to

IPR) that will read and write RFID/NFC, transmit a beacon

mobility as a way to address such issues.

signal, detect a beacon, detect a device through Wi-Fi and read barcodes. These devices will make it practical for almost any organisation to engage with their customers, patients, staff or users in new ways through cloud-based location services teamed with contextually aware mobile apps. They’re not new, but wearables are rapidly becoming genuinely useful with the Apple Watch and the LG Urbane now genuine alternatives to a standard watch but with the ability to receive notifications and provide simple responses to great effect in specific work activities. Other forms of wearables that monitor heart rate, temperature, blood pressure and

Alan Williams is a director and CTO for BlinkMobile, and was the original product architect of the Blink Mobility Platform. He is responsible for research and development, testing, support and education w ithin the company. Alan has spent over 30 years in the software industry and prior to BlinkMobile was a founding member and VP of TIBCO.

breathing rates will become fundamental requirements of WHS/welfare centric apps.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

TECH

Craig Macfarlane CEO, Association and Communications Events

What do you see as the single biggest challenge facing the ICT industry in the year ahead, and why?

INSIGHTS

2016

one way of gaining the necessary information and connections to make the ‘right’ decision.

are collecting more data than ever before, while on the other

Aside from your own, which ICT companies will be the ones to watch in 2016, and why?

hand, cyber attacks, breaches and malware are becoming more

Take a look at a start-up called CareMonkey. They exhibited at

sophisticated and more commonplace. Multifactor authentica-

several exhibitions organised by Association and Communications

tion is the way to go.

Events, including EduTECH, RetailTECH X and the CONNECT

The biggest challenge facing the ICT industry in 2016 will be network and data security. On the one hand, businesses

EXPO. As part of the CONNECT Expo, CEO Troy Westley entered

What do you see as the two or three biggest growth opportunities for ICT companies in 2016, and why?

a local ‘pitching contest’ and won an all-expenses paid trip to Finland to participate in a much larger, international pitching contest, where he won first place — a whopping $979,000.

Renewed interest and some successful launches by HR-tech, Fintech and Marketing-tech companies will provide opportunities in

CareMonkey provides a health and safety system that automatically

2016 for start-ups to impact traditional businesses. The Internet

keeps medical and emergency contact details up to date for an

of Things — and more specifically, all the data it produces —

organisation with a duty of care. Then it makes that information

will drive innovation and opportunities across many sectors,

available on mobile devices to carers like teachers, sport coaches

especially health care, aged care, insurance, mining, agriculture,

and first aid officials so they know exactly who to call, what to

retail, transport and utilities.

do or what to tell an ambulance paramedic in an emergency.

What emerging trends or developing technologies may influence or change the way the ICT industry will do business in 2016, and why?

Watch out for fin-tech companies such as On-Market Book-

More innovation and development will be ‘outsourced’ to in-

their fees and charges.

Builds. Its launch in October was attended by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who said that technologies such as this would put pressure on financial institutions to work harder to justify

novation hubs, funded by big business, as well as crowdfunding. Open-sourcing will allow smaller players to get in on the action.

What are your customers demanding of you more today than five years ago, and how will you meet these requirements in 2016? Our customers are struggling to keep abreast of the plethora of new technologies and connected devices flooding the market and — more importantly — trying to understand which technologies

Craig Macfarlane is the owner and CEO of Association & Communications Events, a company that specialises in organising conference and exhibitions that focus on the use and effect of technology in business across a range of industries including ICT, education, health care, retail and banking.

can and should be integrated into legacy systems. They want to know which technologies are just hype and which might be the ‘next big thing’. Attending tech conferences and trade shows is

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Birgir Steen, CEO, Odin

T E C H N I C A L LY

SPEAKING

Silver linings

Hidden cloud opportunities for SMBs in a hyperscale world In an industry dominated by the likes of AWS, there are plenty of prospects for smaller players.

s it possible that the public cloud

second-largest host in the world behind

market will eventually — if not

Amazon, with more than 163,000 servers.

rapidly — dwindle down to just a handful of hyperscale providers?

Can anyone compete with these behe-

Here are a couple of telling proof points:

moths? Likely, no. But while many cloud providers lack the operational maturity,

• Amazon’s AWS cloud division will have

financial firepower and technical scal-

exceeded US$5 billion in 2015. This

ability of their larger counterparts, all

establishes AWS as the largest infra-

hope is not lost.

structure-as-a-service (IaaS) provider. These hyperscale providers have done

• In May 2015, DigitalOcean became the

the industry a big favour by making

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The first comes down to simple maths. IDC

They use a Gmail address professionally

predicts the market for cloud services in

and may not even have a website. They

Australia to reach AU$1.7 billion by 2018,

almost certainly do not know what cloud

which is roughly eight times the growth

applications and services will improve

rate of the entire IT services market,

their business.

while Gartner forecasts the value of the combined Asia Pacific and Japan market

The critical factor is there are many

will be over US$7 billion in 2015 alone.

more micro SMBs than tech start-ups, so there is still a vast opportunity for

To put this in perspective, the global public

service providers to manage an SMB’s

cloud in just the small and medium business

IT needs, becoming a virtual CIO of

“Service providers need to use their market insight to craft offers that fulfill their customers’ needs above and beyo nd what is being asked for.” (SMB) segment will grow to nearly US$100

sorts. However, the industry is changing

billion by 2018. In this same time frame,

quickly and only the agile will survive,

market sizing for all segments including

despite the growing market.

SMB, enterprise and public sector is projected to be US$282 billion, according to

Winning in a hyperscale world

Gartner. So even if AWS and the other large

There are four guiding principles that ser-

providers continue to grow at staggering

vice providers should follow to develop a

rates, they will still command a relatively

sustainable and defensible business despite

small slice of the total pie.

the hyperscale competitors. (Spoiler alert: Not all hyperscale competitors carry the

But why?

same existential threat level.)

This leads us to the second reason — AWS and other hyperscale providers don’t play

Based on our Odin SMB Cloud Insights

in all product areas or offer all the solu-

research, we know that SMBs typically

tions that customers need. Specifically,

don’t understand what IT services and

customers require a very high degree of

applications would best serve their busi-

technical prowess.

ness. Instead, they might receive advice from a colleague or other trusted advisor.

heavy investments in developing the

To illustrate this, let’s use an example of

Maybe a legacy system is in need of a fix

cloud market. The average person may

two very different kinds of SMBs.

so they are searching the internet. Maybe

not fully understand what ‘cloud’ means,

they hire a local IT professional.

but they have certainly been exposed to

One is a tech start-up that has the internal

TV commercials, airport signage and web

resources to manage its web presence and

Regardless, this is where service providers

advertisements promoting these providers

IT needs. They are the perfect customer

need to use their market insight to craft

and establishing awareness of their services.

for AWS and other hyperscale providers

offers that fulfil their customers’ needs

because they know exactly what services

above and beyond what the customer is

However, the hyperscale providers are not

they need and how to manage them. The

asking for. This could look like a bundle

the only beneficiaries of this increasing

second is a micro SMB, a general contrac-

of broadband, business voice and pro-

demand. There are two core reasons

tor for home repairs with fewer than 10

ductivity apps that scales per user and is

for this.

employees and no internal IT support.

billed by the seat.

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However, providing best-in-breed tech-

of their value chain by deeply integrating

the customer might not even know exist.

nologies and services is easier said than

upstream with partners’ solutions and

For this approach to work, however, all

done. It requires provisioning and billing

downstream with their back-office systems

of a service provider’s employees need

automation and enabling the monetisation

to create a tightly coupled relationship.

to be reading off the same page. A sales

of many disparate services. While some

When this occurs, the service provider

rep should have the same visibility as a

of these services are core to the service

becomes an active participant in the IT

support rep or an in-store agent.

provider, others are syndicated from a

ecosystem and not just an observer.

third party and may reside in either the

Partner selectively

service provider’s or a third-party’s data

Contextual selling

centre (eg, Microsoft Office 365).

Each time a customer interacts with you,

in choosing partners who are commit-

it is an opportunity to learn more about

ted to making them successful. Very few

Control the value chain

their needs and potentially offer the right

hyperscale providers are channel-friendly.

In many respects, the cloud represents

upgrade or cross-sell at the right time

In short, they are all about disinterme-

a significant threat to disintermediate

through the right channel.

diation. However, there are exceptions,

the traditional IT channel of VARs and

Finally, service providers must be selective

and some hyperscale providers such as

distributors selling hardware and software

In GoDaddy’s IPO filings, they disclosed

Microsoft and IBM are investing deeply

with services. For example, customers can

that their support organisation made

in the cloud channel.

now go directly to GoDaddy for a website,

US$380 million in revenue in the past

to Salesforce.com for CRM or to Intuit

year. GoDaddy even compensates its

Service providers need to enable and

for QuickBooks Online.

support staff to encourage upselling and

automate solutions from channel-friendly

cross-selling — they are in the perfect

partners while continuing to participate

For a service provider to compete and win

position to then ask about the customer’s

in the bigger IT market with their own

in today’s market, they need to take control

business and probe for solutions or services

services or value-adds.

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Implementing rapid and efficient big work data analytics

ellow Pages is a digital media and marketing solutions

“Because YP Analytics is a customer-facing application,

company serving 260,000 small and medium-sized

performance is critical,” added Langlois. “The YP Analytics

businesses across Canada. In recent years, it has transitioned

application defaults to one year of data, which represents millions

from a print media company to one that offers a full

and millions of events. WebFOCUS integration with other database

spectrum of digital marketing solutions and services for businesses.

software is changing the game for us. Such rapid response times

The organisation’s Customer and Advertiser Analytics group

with that volume of information are just amazing.”

provides advertisers that run ads via the company’s web and

Information Builders was chosen for its performance and

mobile properties with information they need to measure return on

scalability, as well as its intuitive development environment.

their advertising dollars and track the success of their campaigns.

Mobile capabilities, which enable YP customers to access and

“Many of our advertisers are small and medium-sized businesses

analyse information via smartphones and tablets even when they

like florists, dentists and plumbers,” explained Richard Langlois,

are disconnected, were also key factors.

director of customer and advertiser analytics at Yellow Pages. “They aren’t always experienced in digital media and are often pressed for time, so we need to present data to them in a very intuitive and efficient manner.” Yellow Pages chose the WebFOCUS business intelligence (BI) and analytics platform from Information Builders to support an application called YP Analytics. Yellow Pages customers use this dashboard to track interactions and measure key performance © Dario Lo Presti/Dollar Photo Club

indicators focused on ROI and revenue. WebFOCUS integrates with Infobright’s analytic columnar database platform to accelerate query response times. “Our job is to provide facts to our customers, so they can see how their digital advertising campaigns are working and what value these campaigns are delivering to their business,” Langlois said. “WebFOCUS is among multiple tools we use to help accomplish this.” In daily data operations at Yellow Pages, approximately 52 billion rows (9 TB) of raw data are loaded and processed, containing a rolling 25 months’ worth of data. Reaching more than 20 TB

“We needed to present our big data to our customers in a

of total stored data, YP’s systems must be properly packaged to

way they can easily interpret,” said Langlois. “They know they

enable the speed and accuracy advertisers require.

got 35,000 impressions, 800 clicks and 32 calls last month, but

Information from Hadoop is migrated to the analytic database

what does that mean? YP Analytics will show them more than

platform, where it is compressed to an average ratio of 35:1. Yellow

just that raw activity; it will help them measure conversion

Pages uses Hadoop to cluster the entire table every day to ensure

rates and determine how large any related sales transactions

fast response times. Benchmark tests have shown that response

were. In essence, it will translate digital advertising activity

times for both canned and ad hoc queries are in the sub-second

into dollars.”

range for small and medium-sized businesses. For large advertisers

Information Builders’ Professional Services team was on

with thousands of merchants, the response time may vary from

hand to help with the implementation of YP Analytics. They

two to 10 seconds.

assisted with installation, configuration and performance tuning.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

Raj Thakur, Director and GM, Servers & Converged Systems, Enterprise Group, HP South Pacific

T E C H N I C A L LY

SPEAKING

The Compute Era begins Forward thinkers are aggregating pools of end-to-end resources to power a new style of business.

f there’s a defining characteristic of

the on-demand economy and consumer

business in this millennium, it’s that

behaviour can be catastrophic.

failure comes faster. Think about the shift from VHS and DVDs to on-

However, businesses in Asia Pacific and

demand content streaming services, and

Japan (APJ) are starting to take notice

the impact this had on retail stores. Giants

and understand the importance IT plays in

in the industry stumble when they fail to

innovation. In fact, according to a recent

innovate — the inability to adapt quickly

survey, 54% of firms in APJ now view

to the changing technology landscape,

their IT teams to be at the heart of their

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

opportunities. The trouble is, many IT

business unit manager needing to unify a

organisations aren’t equipped to capitalise

distributed development team ahead of

on these trends quickly enough to deliver

a key deadline? What if business leaders

differentiated services as they’re created.

could simply define their goals and order

Simply put, they’re saddled with traditional

internal IT resources to support them,

IT systems that are inefficient, slow and

on-demand, like any other service?

manually driven. Financing should be just as flexible. TraA new approach is needed. Rather than

ditional, top-down IT may work for some

seeing infrastructure as a collection of

companies. Others may prefer a managed

servers, storage and networking gear,

hosting model where owned resources are

“Emerging technologies such as cloud computing, advanced mobility and big data present new business opportunities. The trouble is, many IT organisations are not equipped to capitalise on these trends.”

forward-thinkers are aggregating pools

governed and apportioned by a third party.

of end-to-end ‘Compute’ resources for

Others may prefer to rely on the public cloud.

use from the edge to core, up and down

A growing number are pooling all their in-

an integrated workload stack, and with an

house gear and software for use as a service

advanced set of economics and automated

that IT leaders broker and departments

operational approaches to power a new

consume according to budgetary limits.

style of business.

This is not a nice-to-have but rather is

Flexible consumption models

a strategic imperative. Business moves

There was a time when technology needed

is governed by systems of engagement.

to be a fixed point. Servers and software

Adapting to the users who engage with

could be tightly configured to handle a

these systems — from mobile banking

limited number of operations, squeezing

and e-commerce to online music stores

cost out of the enterprise. Automation

— is no longer optional. Systems in the

allowed for efficient handling of processes

Compute era are designed with this sort

that rarely changed, because they didn’t

of flexibility in mind, breaking the fixed,

need to. This ‘one size fits all’ approach

brittle moulds created by their predecessors

will no longer work.

and built with three distinct characteristics

too fast, especially when so much of it

for serving business needs:

business and believe IT is fundamental to their success. In addition, 87% of business

In the Compute era, IT leaders need

1. Converged. Discrete servers are in-

executives in APJ understand that they

to offer users and departments flexible

effective for serving ever-changing

need to collaborate with the IT depart-

consumption models for achieving busi-

markets. Instead, we need pools of

ment in order to meet business objectives.

ness outcomes. We’re already seeing this

resources, virtualised and converged

dynamic at work in the public cloud

with networking, storage and man-

At the same time, emerging technologies

as online retailers scale up resources to

agement, that can be shared by many

such as cloud computing, advanced mo-

handle the holiday shopping rush. What

applications as well as managed and

bility and big data present new business

if this same flexibility was afforded to the

delivered as a service.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

“Longer term, we’ll have autonomic systems that mirror the

We’ve already added analytics capabilities

human immune system, applying software patches as if they

that allow systems to pre-emptively add

were white blood cells.”

to need it at certain times of the day or

Compute power to departments known year, like when an e-tailer needs extra

2. Composable. In the Compute era,

resources at work in the right place.

processing to handle traffic during flash

infrastructure isn’t metal, it’s fluid.

Flexible, assemble-on-demand Compute

sales or new product launches. Longer

Pools of processing power and storage

infrastructures confer this same level of

term, we’ll have autonomic systems that

are captured in a networked fabric and

customised performance but without

mirror the human immune system, ap-

disaggregated so they can be quickly

calcifying the underlying system.

plying software patches as if they were white blood cells dispatched to heal a

composed to service workloads and then decomposed back into the pool

The evolving enterprise

for others to use as the occasion

How far can we push the Compute model?

calls for it. Importantly, this work is

That remains to be seen, but there’s no

In that sense, Compute isn’t so much a

performed entirely in software and,

doubt we’ve come a long way already.

technology model as it is an approach

as such, requires new architecture in

Organisations that used to spend thou-

that’s flexible, service-oriented and de-

order to implement.

sands of dollars on licensing to slice up

signed to capture opportunities as they

inefficient servers to get more value from

happen — and head off disasters before

3. Workload optimised. There’s a rea-

them are now instructing their IT chiefs

it is too late. Don’t let your company

son why legacy IT systems are rigidly

to build service bureaus that collect and

fail to capture the opportunities when

implemented. Rigidity, when applied

distribute precious Compute resources

the technology is at your doorstep. Get

to a specific problem, puts optimal

where they’re needed, just in time.

ready to accelerate Compute.

spectrum squeeze: safety agencies’ data dilemma roundtable: learning from private enterprise HealtHcare: data drives real-time insights

Digital formula: Paul Shetler’S

radical mission at dto

OCTOBER 2015 • ISSUE 29 PP100021607

it auditing’s vital role ● mobile-friendly makeovers GTR OCTOBER 2015 | 1

wound, such as a cybersecurity breach.

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OFF THE

CUFF

The benefits of fostering a data culture

IOs are about to be joined

security safeguarded. CDOs can build

at the C-level summit by

trust in data by tracking its quality and

CDOs — chief data officers.

lineage and providing multiple use cases

As companies increasingly

depending on the data quality.

use data-based insights to make decisions, CDOs can develop a data strategy, manage

Develop reward-sharing. Essential to

the information ecosystem and educate

promoting a healthy data culture is

staff on the power and possibilities of

celebrating data successes aligned with

data. Here are six steps that CDOs can

the organisation’s innovation objectives,

take to nurture a thriving data culture

whether it’s reducing customer churn,

for a competitive edge.

increasing customer intelligence or penetrating new markets. Such recognition can

Map the use of data. Employees must

occur in many forms, including videos,

perceive data as a flexible asset whose

blogs, special-occasion gatherings or a

use and value ripples throughout the

company portal.

organisation. CDOs can encourage this by mapping the organisation’s data supply

Identify areas of friction. In a thriving

chain into a big-picture view of available

data culture, information-sharing should

data — who creates it, where it resides

be a way of life, not a source of tension.

and who consumes it — so that everyone

The CDO can help various departments

understands how their own data usage fits

find common ground. Data can be used

into the broader enterprise. Data maps

to prioritise needs and make objective de-

can also uncover ‘dark data’, or pockets of

cisions, thus improving collaboration by

information that go largely unstudied but

keeping the focus on facts, not emotions.

Poornima Ramaswamy is Assistant Vice President of the Enterprise Information Management (EIM) practice at Cognizant. She has worked across multiple industries in the EIM space and is passionate about how data and insights play a key role across processes and businesses.

can yield valuable insights, such as machine data and customer service call logs.

Elevate the conversation. The real purpose behind a data culture is to sharpen

The ‘art of the possible’. Data culture

the corporate strategy and drive inno-

involves understanding the versatility of

vation. When employees see how data

data and identifying alternative uses for it.

connects to corporate objectives, they

Employees regularly encounter data that

will overcome their reluctance, apathy

is of little value to them but might be

and fear about data-sharing. CDOs

of value to someone else. CDOs should

can promote the link between data and

encourage a mindset of finding alterna-

strategy by hosting ideation sessions and

tive or unusual uses for data by sharing

hackathons to accelerate strategy and

it with other teams.

innovation efforts.

Be transparent. Data can become a val-

By taking these steps, CDOs can help

ued asset only if its accuracy is trusted,

their organisations to manage data as a

its provenance well established and its

strategic asset.

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

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