Anna’s Blog: An Outsourcing & Offshoring Journal

Tech Innovation & Leadership Can Be the Key to Growth

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:38:38 +0000

At the Harvey Nash annual Leadership Lecture, Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, spoke about four central points where government and business can focus their efforts and encourage economic growth.

They were:

1. Promoting small business growth
2. Reforming education
3. Encouraging immigration
4. Innovating (with technology)

I won’t go into minute detail on these four issues except to say that Carly made a compelling argument that short-term successes are needed in immigration legislation and small business regulation reform to spark an economic recovery, and that more needs to be done across our education system in the longer term to ensure we have a workforce capable of succeeding in the 21st century global knowledge economy.

It is the role of innovating with technology that I am most interested in. For obvious reasons, as Managing Director & SVP of International Technology Solutions at Harvey Nash, this is an important part of my job. But I couldn’t help but agree with her point about the need to balance technology innovation with effective leadership, which she said are intrinsically linked.

The existence of effective leadership in an organization has a direct impact on the likelihood of technology innovation occurring and succeeding. After all technology cannot innovate itself, it needs talented and visionary leaders to create the environment for innovation to happen.

When Carly talked about her own career and her own leadership principles it was clear why HP was known for innovation under her watch, with 11 new patents filed every day by the end of her tenure. (You can watch a replay of Carly’s full keynote address at our Leadership Lecture.)

Carly argues that leadership is about changing the circumstances for those around you, rather than simply managing within the constraints and conditions you find yourself in.

Both leadership and technology innovation are about achieving a degree of balance. Balance between the short term operational issues that need to be addressed and longer term opportunities that need to be pursued. Balance between the tactics and the overall goal. Balancing the realistic with the optimistic.

As Carly concluded her case for leadership in a changing world, it is her optimism that I was left with.

Her leadership and technology innovation is a success story that we need to repeat across the country, in organizations big and small, in schools and in corporate mentoring programs, so that 21st century American businesses can spark a new generation of economic prosperity.

It is a message I will be taking with me as I look to develop and grow the Harvey Nash Technology Solutions business.

BYOD: Is It Ending or Only Just Beginning?

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 03:00:06 +0000

Is Personal Mobile Technology in the Workplace a Threat or Asset?

Just as I was reading a headline in InformationWeek about the predicted end of BYOD (bring your own device) trends in the workplace, I was sent another article on the very same topic. It offered stats showing how employees in emerging markets and high-growth fields are more willing to participate in BYOD.

Suggesting that employees in emerging markets and high-growth fields see leveraging their own mobile devices as a way to set themselves apart, the second article made me wonder if the authors considered the U.S. an emerging marketplace. I see and hear of people using their own devices in the workplace fairly regularly.

The fact is, consumers/employees are buying and upgrading mobile phones and tablets faster than their employers can. It’s put employers in a very tricky position. Do we allow employees access to enterprise systems, applications and information through their own devices in order to fuel their productivity and ambitions? Or, do we slow them down, asking them to work only through company-issued and monitored resources for the sake of control and corporate security?

The security and optimization of IT infrastructure is something that has always played a big role in my career. The “conservative me” wants to confiscate mobile devices and limit access like an overzealous TSA agent. But then there is the “iPad loving, mobile-only me” (that’s right, you can only reach me by cell phone). Mobile technology allows me to be at various Harvey Nash locations and client sites all over the world. It has allowed me to expand my workplace across three continents in the last few years, and I love the flexibility of being able to use my own devices when needed.

While many may feel that the BYOD topic is a lot of hype, that conservative side of me keeps saying businesses should be wary. Many businesses are segregating their environments into: 1) a cloud-based environment that allows for broader access but limits information access and 2) one that is more proprietary and has very limited access and no BYOD access.

Right now, we need balance. We need mobile and device flexibility to fuel workplace autonomy while still keeping a close eye on company security and information access. That said, I think this is an evolving issue. What is your business or your employer doing to limit or encourage BYOD trends in your workplace? Are you worried or unconcerned? Share your thoughts on where you think BYOD is heading with me @annafrazzetto.

An Open Source Advantage

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:42:55 +0000

...for Small & Mid-size Businesses

Our CIO Forum in Denver this September had a different feel when I compare it to our other nationwide forums. Was it the mile-high altitude affecting this lowlander? No, it was not the thin air making my mind spin.

It was actually the makeup of our panel which included Robert Green, Co-Founder & CTO of Dizzion; Robert Hagens, CTO of Envysion; and Stan Hume , VP of IT, Maximus. These three technology executives know firsthand the challenges and opportunities of being a young and growing tech business or small business at a time of great economic challenge. Each of them is helping to lead a young (one company being just over one year old!) or small tech business in historic times for both the economy and the evolving tech sector. If you’re not familiar with their businesses, I encourage you to check them out.

Their optimism and passion for technology and their businesses were palpable. However, everything they said was buttressed by a solid foundation of business pragmatism. One of the best examples I can share is their endorsement of open source technologies and solutions as viable, cost-effective and strategic options for small and mid-size businesses. As the panel saw it, open source offers many smaller-sized and resource-limited businesses a way to be more competitive and adaptable without breaking the bank.

Open source—that’s edgy, right? But back office business efficiency and increased competitive advantage—that’s old school practicability. And that is how the Denver Forum felt—like a mash up of cutting-edge thinking supported by pragmatic, logical planning.

The open source discussion grew out of one of today’s most common technology topics: cloud computing. It was a topic well covered in each of our forums, from New York to Seattle, where audiences and panels discussed the most effective approaches (private, hybrid, etc.) and how much cloud may or may not change IT operations. As we discussed cloud computing and its opportunity to reduce IT spending costs in Denver, the panel came back with insights into the increasing usage of OSS among small and mid-size businesses today (and even their own businesses) as they look to both innovate and expand capabilities.

It seems like it was just a few years ago when OSS was portrayed as fringe or rogue technology now it’s becoming common place, a welcome new entrant to the IT environment. Since the forum I have had OSS on the brain and in my news feed. Wouldn’t you know, it’s not just the smaller guys looking to take advantage. With cloud computing on the rise and OSS mature, more enterprises are looking into open source cloud solutions, as this ZDNet article reports.

I want to thank our Denver panel and audience as well as all of our CIO Forum audiences and panelists nationwide. The energy and ideas you brought to our Forums ignited critical discussions and creative thinking. As my last few weeks of CIO Forum-focused blogs demonstrate, you provided us all with a ton of technology insights to ponder and bring back to our businesses.

For anyone interested in exploring the topics, issues and opportunities of the Harvey Nash CIO Survey and local market forums, please click here to learn more. In the meantime, we at Harvey Nash are busy refining the 2013 CIO Survey in which the cloud, OSS, innovation and efficiency discussions will continue. Stay tuned.

The Futility of Comparing IT to a Utility

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:58:59 +0000

In recent weeks, I have been sharing some of the common topics of our fall series of CIO forums across the U.S. and the ideas and debates they inspired. During both the Chicago and New York forums, a topic we all know well, “IT as a commodity versus IT as a value driver,” came up in a couple of ways. The headline of this blog will tell you where I stand and where the majority of our CIO Forum audiences stood as well.

For me, IT is not comparable to a common business utility when competitive advantage is won and lost due to the performance and competence of the IT professionals who understand, integrate, manage and optimize technology. While the technology we buy out of boxes or from the Cloud may be equal at its start, the ways businesses adapt and use those technologies are never identical. Some businesses can be more efficient with their electricity usage. However, operating models and business processes cannot be reshaped by the power that keeps the lights on and the servers humming. Technology—even out of the box—can transform how businesses engage customers, sell, get products to market, etc. What IT and business teams do with the technology they employ is vastly different from business to business.

In our Chicago CIO Forum, the commodity debate evolved into a discussion on the IT discipline itself and how it is seen and taught. We were very lucky to have two bright stars from the academic world on the panel who put the question to the audience as to whether IT should be structured as an engineering discipline, a mathematical discipline or even an analytical discipline. As technology continues to increase in sophistication, we need more and more engineers who understand how it works and how to build it. So engineering and math, right? At the same time, technology shapes our world and fuels the institutions of our global marketplace—from stock exchanges to ecommerce to the media and networks that connect us. So perhaps it’s an analytical discipline after all? Our panelists’ insights underscored the fact that the technology discipline can and must evolve to address the evermore sophisticated role technology plays in our businesses and in our lives.

As the panel discussion turned away from commodity talk and toward the challenge of finding skilled IT professionals, I was reminded of what today’s IT professionals and new tech graduates are looking for in jobs and employers. Challenge. The opportunity to grow. A chance to make an impact and contribute ideas. The chance to innovate and be a part of business progress. I have never recruited someone into a tech job by selling it as commodity work. That’s not what today’s IT professionals want, and it’s not something that will inspire a new generation of STEM professionals. To me, this is another reason why the “IT as a commodity” vision doesn’t work. We need to inspire and attract new technology workers—those with engineering talents, those with analytical minds and those with mathematical gifts. We rely on technology to drive, shape and transform business today. Let’s not sell it short to ourselves or to those we want to join the industry.

Talent or Education Shortage? Which Is It?

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 16:08:00 +0000

Just recently I posted insights gathered from the Harvey Nash CIO Forums in Chicago and New York. In both cities, IT leaders and our CIO panelists had quite a lot to say about the IT talent shortage. Their words were echoed in the Northwest on September 18 when Washington-based IT leaders joined us for an exploration of the 2012 Harvey Nash CIO Survey results.

However, something from that talent discussion in Seattle really grabbed me. Something I didn’t hear in New York or
Chicago. In Seattle, panelists and audience members agreed that there is plenty of enthusiasm for technology careers among new graduates and skilled professionals. Plenty of talented people want to enter the industry. The real problem, they said, was not getting enough people into the field. Educational institutions across the Northwest, they explained, do not have enough seats, funding and programs to educate and produce a world-leading IT workforce.

Seattle-based Harvey Nash recruiters confirm that they come across many gifted and intelligent graduates and professionals who want to get into the industry but are not able to get the education they need to achieve it. I know a lot of us tend to think that today’s students simply aren’t interested in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) areas of study but on the ground, the story is much more complex.

As reported oneSchoolNews.com, the 2012 National Study for STEM Education revealed a lack of educational funding to be one of the major reasons the U.S. is not producing enough STEM professionals. As the talent demand grows, educational opportunities must also expand and keep pace with an economy that is increasingly more technology dependent. Is the solution more public-private partnerships and funding? Take for example Microsoft’s Technology Education and Literacy in Schools program and Google’s computer science skills enhancement program for teachers, CS4HS, which were both recently detailed in this New York Times article.

Should the government play a bigger role in increasing STEM education opportunities? Can we continue to be global innovators when the U.S. is 27th in producing top math and science engineers as John Calabrese, General Motors vice president of global engineering, explains in this Detroit Free Press article?

Believe me, this is a topic Harvey Nash is diving into full force in our CIO Forums and surveys and we will be sharing those insights in the months ahead. Does your business see a shortage of STEM educational opportunities in the local market? Have you seen opportunities for public-private partnerships to support STEM skill development among young learners and college students? Should government play a larger role in expanding STEM education? Feel free to share questions or insights that Harvey Nash can include in upcoming CIO Forum/Survey events.

Confronting IT’s Unknowns

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 17:07:49 +0000

Insights from Harvey Nash’s CIO Survey Forum Events

Last week I had the challenge and the pleasure of leading two back-to-back Harvey Nash CIO Survey Forums. One in New York on September 12th and one in Chicago the following day. The executive panels, detailed below, consisted of leading thinkers and doers in business, technology and academia.

New York Panelists
--Lorraine Cichowski, SVP & CIO, Associated Press
--Mark Dianora, CIO, Jefferies International Limited
--Alex Spinelli, Global CTO, McCann Worldgroup
--James Veall, SVP Global Business Operations, Viacom

Chicago Panelists
--Patti Schmeda, CIO & VP of Information Technology, Elkay Manufacturing
--Yvonne Scott, CIO, Crowe Horwath
--Kendra Von Esh, CIO, Veolia Water North America
--Ce Cole Dillon, CIO, Chicago State University

Every year, these two regions produce great debates among panelists and critical questions from our audience of IT and business professionals. This year was no exception as we explored a host of issues within the survey, from the drive to innovate and the ongoing mobility race to IT efficiency, compensation and budgeting issues. In both regions however, three issues dominated the discussion: 1) the IT talent shortage, 2) IT as a commodity vs. revenue driver and 3) the Cloud.

Because each of the discussions on these topics produced a variety of points of view, I will focus on them one at a time. This week, we start with an issue I am certain is universally felt across U.S. businesses big and small: the IT talent shortage.

The survey revealed serious IT talent concerns from CIOs worldwide. The 2012 survey found that 48 percent of global CIOs (up six percent from 2011) are concerned that a skills shortage is preventing their organizations from keeping up with the pace of change. With that number on the rise, we posed an IT talent question to our executive panelists who agreed that all businesses today have a stake in cultivating STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) talent in the U.S.

In New York, IT leaders explored the challenge of attracting and retaining young IT workers. Mark Dianora of Jefferies argued that training and investment are not what engage and retain IT talent. “It takes passion,” he explained. James Veall of Viacom felt that offering IT professionals a strong career map—letting them see their potential for growth and leadership—was critical in keeping top talent.

In Chicago, where each panelist came to his or her technology career after succeeding in a different field, the panel explored the need for adaptability among IT workers today. Patti Schmeda of Elkay Manufacturing explained how she keeps her eyes open for aggressive grads who can expand their skills and grow with technology. As the discussion evolved, the Chicago panelists hit on one of the most fascinating IT talent debate points of the survey forums to date. Some argued that IT was evolving into an engineering-like science in which IT teams are asked to engineer solutions to complex problems. Other panelists and attendees felt that the IT discipline fell into the realm of cognitive science in which sophisticated logic and planning are critical skills.

To me this debate reflected the crossroads so many businesses face in deciding the role of the IT organization within their business. Does IT provide solutions to the challenges the business brings it? Or does IT go out into the business, analyzing challenges and opportunities and developing solutions as a key player in business strategy and planning? How a business answers that question likely reflects the kind of IT professional—strategic or tactical—they seek out.

No matter the strategic outlook or skill set of the professional(s) sought, all panelists and regions are feeling the strain of a shrinking talent pool. In both New York and Chicago, panelists agreed that to attract more young people to IT careers they needed to focus on IT’s greater contribution to both business and (often the world). People are drawn to being “part of a solution,” explained Yvonne Scott at Crowe Horwath. “Is there any spot better than IT to be a part of creating solutions?” she asked.

I loved that question and that moment because it reminded the entire room of why we all love technology and being a part of this ever-evolving industry. It made the challenge of overcoming today’s STEM talent shortages seem possible, which can be a hard thing to do. But it’s because she’s right. Why wouldn’t someone want to be a part of an industry that is designing and building remarkable solutions to today’s most complex business, science, medical and communications challenges? Why not indeed!

Join me back here in the days ahead and read what our thoughtful New York and Chicago panelists had to say about commoditization of IT and cloud computing.

The DNA of Innovative CIOs

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 17:47:34 +0000

The 2012 Harvey Nash CIO Survey is rich with insights from technology leaders on the most pivotal IT issues facing business today. With almost three-quarters of CIOs believing their organizations need to embrace new technology or lose market share, they have clearly elevated innovation as a critical competitive differentiator for business. Not so surprising. Innovation today means “business.” Innovation is the way in which companies and people are creatively transforming technology to make their businesses unique, and as a result, more effective, more profitable, better known and better able to beat the competition. If innovation is so important, then it stands to reason that the most innovative CIOs will have the inside track on helping their organizations achieve industry leadership.

So how do you develop the vision, insight and creativity to transform technology into market opportunity? That is a topic I recently explored in an article for ICOSA magazine.

To understand the profile of transformative technology leaders, the Harvey Nash CIO Survey examined the traits of CIO innovators. Business leaders first and foremost, they must demonstrate ambition, influence, job fulfillment, boldness and progressive thinking. Those who have been most successful in cultivating innovation and driving transformative change are able to balance both new-economy skills and old-school technology smarts. They understand the business today, but are willing to embrace a radically different tomorrow.

To shed light on how individuals can become transformative CIOs and businesses can identify them, we compiled ten lessons and best practices of IT leaders and business innovators gleaned from the CIO Survey.

While a core principle of innovation is to be unique and original, it never hurts to study those you wish to emulate. Every one of the top 10 innovations of the 21st Century, (which, granted, is little more than a decade old itself), is a technology product or a product of technology. So whether you work in IT or any other field, there is gold to be gathered from the practices of innovative CIOs and almost 90 years of opportunity ahead to become one of the innovators of the 21st Century yourself.

To learn what we learned from some of the world’s most innovative and visionary CIOs, check out the complete article, entitled “Ten Lessons from Digital Innovators.”

Global Business Can Be Hilarious

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 16:30:35 +0000

Why Ketchup Isn't Ketchup & Other Adventures in Cross-Cultural Confusion

Over and over again we hear how every business today is a “global business.” You’ve likely heard the line that “the world is getting smaller.” I have heard it so often that I am fairly sure the whole wide world will fit right into my pocket by this time next year.

Despite the marketing hyperbole, it is amazing how businesses big and small today interact on a global scale. In one of my recent plane rides between Harvey Nash’s Vietnam and Australian operations, I found myself pondering the opportunities that come with working across borders and cultures. And then I start laughing. I was alone, I was the crazy person on the plane and I was reliving some of the best moments of cross-cultural confusion I have been lucky to experience over the last year. For example:

• The time I was momentarily flabbergasted when a colleague in Australia asked me to arrange a “hook up” with a client. I am a New York girl and a “hook up” is something totally different. Recognizing my American bafflement, my colleague was quick to explain that “hook up” simply means “meeting” in Australia.

• Then there are the cabs. For a New Yorker, riding in a cab in Australia or Vietnam will, without a doubt, induce some serious culture shock. Not only do the cab drivers in Australia talk to you (yes talk, not grunt or grumble), they are welcoming ambassadors of culture and kindness. They are so nice you almost expect that cartoon birds and gentle woodland creatures will break out into song around them.

They chat you up, they share local insights and offer travel tips. And they even invite you to sit right up front and ride next to them. The first time this happened to me I thought there was something wrong with the backseat. In Vietnam, cab drivers are also extremely kind, polite and will stop anywhere you like if you want to get a picture or need information. Can any of my New York and New Jersey readers imagine this happening on our turf?

• Now Black Cabs in London are very knowledgeable but typical British fashion is somewhat reserved. Drivers will only engage in dialogue if you start the conversation and they keep themselves nicely blocked off behind a Plexiglass divider.

• In the UK, I have left plenty of prospective client meetings 100% convinced that we had won new business. The deal was done. The audience was enthusiastic. They loved the materials. They were impressed with our presentation, asked many smart questions and had only positive things to say. Imagine my shock when we were promptly turned down (albeit extremely politely). It turns out that in the UK saying “no” directly and up front is impolite. I have learned to measure the temperature and mood of the room very differently in the UK than I would in the U.S. or Germany where people tend to be very direct in their questions and manner.

• In Vietnam, you never shop alone. Shop attendants will follow you around, sticking to you like glue, which hasn’t happened to me since I was a kid and shopkeepers worried about teenagers shoplifting. In Vietnam, they do it because they want to ensure you have all the help and assistance you need. You’re unlikely to ever hear a common Australian shopping phrase I have grown to love: “Do you need help or are you happy just having a wander?” As a stranger getting to know these diverse and incredible lands as a business traveler, happy wandering always sounds great to me.

• My early restaurant experiences in Vietnam were also eye opening as the wait staff stayed close by the entire meal, always checking to see if the food was good and to my liking. While it takes time to get used to it, I have learned that all that kindhearted hovering is one of the many ways the Vietnamese people demonstrate the pride they have in their food and culture. Where I come from, hovering at a restaurant usually means “someone wants your table so hurry up and move on!”

Fortunately, the people I have met throughout my travels have been patient and recognized my commitment to growing as a global business professional. I have also been introduced to helpful sites like Culture Crossing, which can provide insights into the workplace customs around the world.

I have also learned to sit back and enjoy the differences, the confusion and the laughter they can cause. Take the time a seven year old—the son of dear friends—gave me a crucial culinary lesson. I was lamenting the lack of ketchup with fries in Australia when my young friend Leo told me that I really wanted “tomato sauce.” No, I explained knowingly to the adorable young man, “Tomato sauce is for pasta, ketchup is for fries.” “Ms. Anna,” he said. “It’s a sauce and it’s made of tomatoes and here it is called tomato sauce.”

And since that little lesson, I have had no trouble at all getting the right sauce for my French fries whenever I am Down Under. I have also learned that the things that confuse and make us different are often the things that bring us closer together. The more my global colleagues and I share what makes us different, the closer we get through laughter and storytelling. Our world might not be getting smaller, but we are growing closer.

Women in Tech: A Story of Under-Representation?

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 14:18:50 +0000

The Harvey Nash CIO Survey has once again gripped the marketplace with insights into the challenges, changes and opportunities facing today’s IT leaders. This year, one of the biggest stories of the survey points to a lack of representation of the number of women in IT leadership. Here are just a handful of the many articles the survey has sparked on the topic:

• Reuters – “Fewer women in top U.S. tech jobs since 2010: survey”
• Forbes – “How Women in Tech Are Losing From Top to Bottom”
• Wall Street Journal’s CIO Journal – “Lack of Women in IT Is Cause for Concern”
• MSNBC – “Where Are all the Powerful Female Nerds?”
• Mashable – “Number of Female CIOs Is Dropping Fast — But Why?”
• Insurance & Technology – “Survey Finds Fewer Women in Top Tech Jobs”
• Business News Daily – “Number of Women in IT Leadership Roles Declines”

Growing gaps in the IT talent pool in general are also an important story the media gleaned from the survey, especially staffing industry publications. For example, Staffing Industry Analysts: Daily News published an article called “Survey: 56% of CIOs Report Skills Shortage.”

In the news industry, they like to say “if it bleeds it leads,” which is part of the reason many people are drawn to the story of shrinking talent resources (female or otherwise). And it’s true that the growing demand and limited supply of IT talent will continue to be a very big issue for the IT industry for years and years to come. That said, I also believe the CIO Survey points to another very interesting reason the squeeze for IT talent is tightening.

Several of the survey findings revealed that IT leaders and their technology organizations are doing a heavy amount of strategic and revenue-generating work for their businesses. As IT leaders and their organizations are asked to do more strategic business work and expected to deliver revenue-driving, business growing innovations, the skills needed across today’s IT organization are changing.

From my experience and from the survey’s findings, it seems we are seeing a rapid evolution in the kinds of skills and strategic thinking in IT leadership and the organization beneath it. The right candidates are harder to find because strategy, analysis, critical thinking and business planning have not always been foremost skills in an IT job requisition. As more and more IT professionals—from CIOs down—are exposed to the expanding role IT is planning in business strategy and growth, skill sets will expand, the talent pool will ripen and the gap will start to contract.

Will the talent gap in IT ever disappear? Not completely. It’s the price we pay for working on the forefront of business progress and technology innovation, and it’s the reason why trusted staffing and IT services partners are essential today. Everyone wants to be here.

Harvey Nash Wins Three Coveted IT Awards in Vietnam

Fri, 11 May 2012 21:03:52 +0000

One of the many rewards of working for a global company is witnessing the success of our teams across the world. I am doubly excited about the three Sao Khue Awards recently given to our Harvey Nash Vietnam offices because I have seen firsthand the tremendous technical brilliance, pride of work, commitment to excellence and camaraderie that define our Vietnam offices and colleagues.

For the last five years, Harvey Nash Vietnam has been the recipient of several Sao Khue Awards, which recognize exceptional contributions to the development of the Vietnamese IT and software industry. This year Harvey Nash was honored for its work in Software Development and Outsourcing Services, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and the “Silk People Suite,” which is a Harvey Nash payroll management software package created for the Vietnamese market.

While these awards are not easy to come by, they have become an annual milestone that reminds us of how quickly and how purposefully our Harvey Nash Vietnam operations have grown.

So first, I want to offer a big “congratulations” to my talented, dedicated and deserving colleagues in Vietnam. Secondly, I want to invite my readers to learn more about these coveted awards. Discover what makes Harvey Nash Vietnam award-worthy year in and year out, and you’ll learn what it takes to build a world-class IT outsourcing operation.

Global Teambuilding: How Bowling Brings Us Together

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:32:30 +0000

My bowling scores have never crossed 100. Laser tag, however, I take seriously and am quite a competitor. When it comes to pool, I can manage though I enjoy the social aspect more than anything else. But these games are not something I would typically run out to do with my friends. In fact, I rarely thought of them as something I would want to do at all until I started spending extended time in Vietnam.

At our Harvey Nash Vietnam centers of excellence, we strive to make our offshore teams easy and accessible extensions of our clients’ teams. We put a high priority on building camaraderie among the dispersed teams our technical experts support for the simple fact that it’s easier to work with someone you know and understand.

Before I began visiting Vietnam, a lot of the cross-border and cross cultural team building I was engaged in was training and development oriented. There were classes, ice breakers, lunches and dinners. There were drinks at the bar, but rarely do I remember enthusiastic and playful hours of bonding. That’s the difference that we — and quite often our clients — enjoy in Vietnam.

I have relearned an essential lesson in Vietnam — one that may seem quite obvious but nonetheless essential in building successful, multinational technology teams. Fostering team unity is as important to our staff members as it is to the clients they support. The gutter balls, laughter and friendly banter that come with a night at the lanes — be it in Hanoi or Silicon Valley — are treasured time to build cohesion and common ground. And when you come from different cultures, live on different continents and work in distant time zones, common ground is a valuable asset.

The sky-high enthusiasm from our Vietnamese staff for adventures with clients, to laser tag centers and pool halls reminds me of the many meanings of the word “company.” A company is a business of course. But “company” also means companionship and friendship. A company can also be a circle of friends, a band of brothers, a party of people who come together to share. Everyday our Vietnam-based developers, testers, programmers and analysts share expertise with clients around the world. They do it with confidence and carefulness because of how highly they value the “company” they keep. You can see it in the team pictures I have shared below. There’s a closeness that comes from enjoying time together and its makes us better at our jobs.

It’s a funny thing, but I never thought there was that much to bowling. Now I know better.

HarveyNashUSA Webinar:The Big Opportunities of Big Data

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:23:42 +0000

It's 2011-Do You Know What All Your Machine Data Is Worth?

Last week, I had the pleasure of welcoming Doug Harr, CIO of Splunk, to the Harvey Nash webinar stage. In a presentation called, "The Big Opportunities of Big Data," Harr started off his talk by continuing a discussion that recurred at several of our Harvey Nash CIO Survey forum events this fall.

All year long, our CIO Survey forums have been addressing the importance of innovation. The Harvey Nash CIO Survey took a deep look at innovation and what it takes to be an innovation CIO who not only contributes to the ground-breaking work that their companies do, but leads and shapes it. The question for so many IT leaders at our forum events was this: How do I become a bigger force for innovation within my business? Doug Harr gave a compelling answer in his presentation.

Pointing out that the most important letter in CIO is the I-representing intelligence and innovation-Doug introduced our audience to big data and the growing innovation opportunity it represents to businesses of all sizes and their senior IT practitioners. One of his most elegant points was to remind CIOs that to be successfully innovative they must break out of the back office and focus on the customer-facing world.

Big data (also called machine data) he explained offers CIOs a unique pathway to this customer facing world. Every day businesses produce awesome amounts of machine data and the vast majority of it is unstructured. That means it can't be measured, analyzed or used to improve the business.unless today's CIOs decide to harness this powerful business intelligence resource. Doug explained how businesses can better understand customer activities and behavior, identify patterns of usage and revolutionize their transaction visibility simply by tapping into their ever-growing big data resources.

Based on the questions we heard at the end of the webinar, I know that many attendees were both excited and overwhelmed by the opportunity of big data. And that's what any innovation opportunity should be, challenging enough to test you and valuable enough to reel you in.

I want to thank Doug for taking the time to share his insights and experience with our webinar audience and being a part of the Harvey Nash learning series and CIO Survey forums. For those of you who would like to learn more about big data, I invite you to review Doug's presentation below.

The Big Opportunities of Big Data: It's Unstructured, It's Unwieldy, It's an Unreal Business Opportunity

Harvey Nash USA Webinar: The Big Opportunity of Big Data

View more presentations from HarveyNashUSA

Harvey Nash October Webinar Q&A Transcript

On October 27, 2011, Harvey Nash's SVP of Technology Solutions, Anna Frazzetto hosted a webinar for IT professionals including senior leaders of IT. Anna was joined by Doug Harr, CIO of Splunk, to discuss big data - what it is and how to use it to your advantage. The presentation concluded with a short Q&A session; the following is a transcript of the session.

Q: Is there a size organization that this [Splunk] is best suited for?

DOUG: I do not think that it is related to the size of the organization. We have had customers that have just downloaded and used a free product, and we have people who are paying for terabytes of indexing a day. I think you can make use of this, no matter what the size of your business is.

Q: Are there any examples of unstructured workforce data that drive operational excellence?

DOUG: I know that as you look at what can be done with this information, you can take information that employees are obviously generating in your systems, and gain insight into how they are using them. You might have a professional services automation system, maybe that employees are getting in and using that system, you might have a helpdesk solution. We are looking at feeding data from ServiceNow (http://www.service-now.com/), which we are working on implementing as sort of our help desk tool and looking to feed that information into Splunk. The idea being that if there are any dashboards or reports that are not being provided by that particular solution that we might be able to add to that. One example is marrying up the helpdesk phone line information, like who is calling, and how long it is taking, with how long a ticket is taking to close out.

Q: You did mention defining the problem of unstructured data and then you presented some examples where companies were able to structure the data into dashboards; the piece that I don't understand is how you were able to derive those answers out of this bucket of unstructured data, and the process to get there? I am assuming it takes iterations, and maybe a lot of people.

DOUG: Yes, there are iterations, though not necessarily quite a lot of people needed. In my own implementations of Splunk, we have system admins who are there to help when we are looking to forward some additional log data, events or machine data, into Splunk, that's sort of one step. The next step, what Splunk does is it indexes the information. It lines it all up by date and time, across different functions, and it gives you a way to then start searching through and playing with the information. Then you can look for key values and things, and as soon as you find one, and define it, it is available to you from that point on to be used in named queries and searches and reports. You do refine the data over time; you can also immediately look for things for sort of search and discovery. So you start with this unstructured or semi-structured information, and you enrich it as you go through the process, and discover what you want to do with it.

Q: Can you compare your solution more closely with Hadoop?

DOUG: Splunk is fundamentally different from Hadoop in many ways. Hadoop is used by developers to store big data streams from their Apache web code for later use by custom-coded routines for that website or other related purposes. Splunk can now also ingest and do analytics on Hadoop data, or use Hadoop as a cold tier of long-term storage for our big data streams, although it is more of a tool for analytics on top of machine data.

We do have customers who are using both. Actually, just this week, Splunk announced the planned availability of a new software package called Splunk Enterprise™ with Hadoop. This new offering will include Splunk Enterprise™, the Splunk Hadoop integration layer and Apache™ Hadoop™.

The Splunk Hadoop integration layer will provide more than just point-to-point connectivity, with support currently planned for the following operations:
• Issuing MapReduce queries or higher-level queries from the Splunk search language (using Pig or Hive for example), or to pull the resulting data sets back into Splunk
• Indexing the output of Hadoop jobs in Splunk
• Indexing data storied in HDFS in Splunk
• Delivering data from Splunk to HDFS
• Calling Splunk APIs directly from Hadoop jobs

Q: How do you tie unstructured taxonomy to structured taxonomies for big data BI?

DOUG: Unstructured data sent into Splunk can be examined to determine the name/location of meaningful fields, whether they are actual data such as a product line="Garments" or a product line ID such as "12345." With Splunk, you can then call out to a database or other data source to pull in lookup values. So, for instance, you could look up the product line of "Garments" in Siebel, matching to id=12345. In which case, you would've taken an "unstructured" log file entry, and pulled in data from a structured source to give you activity by human readable categories (i.e. - how many people dumped their shopping cart of garments on 11/11/11 at noon?).

Q: How do you analyze market research data in local PCs and on the data center/servers in an organization to provide instant insights and analysis?

DOUG: We can Splunk data from PC servers and the like and correlate them to the same Splunk instance. Although it depends on what form the market research data is in, most data can be forwarded into Splunk for later reporting. We can pull in CSV files for instance and treat them like "log entries" or "events" for use in Splunk. Or, for example, we can put these into lookup tables, taking CDRs and looking up rates for a mobile phone company.

Cloud Crazy: The NYC CIO Forum Can't Shake the Cloud

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:07:48 +0000

Harvey Nash and PA Consulting’s final U.S. CIO Forum of 2011 was held in NYC this October and the focus of the night—without question—was cloud computing. It was a high-energy event where opinions were strong and insights uniquely New York. To give you an example of how animated and fun this cloud-centric discussion got, I will share with you one of my favorite quotes of the night: >“Cloud computing is like a beautiful woman that I would love to take out, but do not want to take home.”

It’s safe to say with passionate and hilarious insights like that, we had a great night of discussion. For my part, I felt one of the very best cloud computing issues that we explored was a question of approach. It seems that the senior executives (CEOs, COOs, etc.) are often very eager to jump into the cloud in one way or the other. However, our CIO/CTO panelists and attendees were for the most part far more cautious in their approach to pursuing the cloud.

That’s not to say attendees and panelists were not using the cloud or excited about its benefits. But the event did reveal that a good deal of CIOs feel that much of the frantic push toward the cloud is driven more by marketing than it is by strategic business analysis and decision making.

While the discussion got heated at times, the room agreed when the point was made that cloud computing is not a revolutionary new approach to IT but instead another sourcing strategy for businesses to consider. Attendees agreed whole heartedly with the advice given by the panel that CIOs need to take the reins in the cloud computing exploration. After all, cloud computing benefits businesses very differently based on industry, field and the company’s data media and data needs and engagement. One important piece of advice shared was that CIOs need to educate their CEOs on cloud as another sourcing partner and play the lead role in analyzing its business benefits, drawbacks and opportunities.

Several attendees and panelists also underscored the data risks of cloud computing. They felt the risks of giving over company data and intellectual property to a third party provider is high today for several reasons. First, it’s high because data is extraordinarily valuable in today’s knowledge economy. The breach, loss, theft or corruption of valuable data could be devastating. Secondly, data accessibility is also an issue. Cloud providers not only house data, they control how and when a business accesses their data, which is an important consideration as businesses examine where they want their growing stores of business data to reside.

The NYC event was an excellent end to our 2011 six-city tour of Harvey Nash CIO Survey forums. It reminded us all that while the cloud is still flying high at the top of many IT and innovation agendas, success is not merely a matter of finding the right solution or sourcing strategy. The business strategy and leadership behind a solution determines it success. The CIOs we met during this tour, from New York to California and everywhere in between, are demonstrating their determination and proficiency in playing a very prominent, very vocal role in planning, building and leading business strategy.

A special thank you to the panelists who share their evening and their insights with us at the 2011 CIO Forum in NY:

• Peter Grazioli, VP/CIO, Young Broadcasting Inc.
• John Donnarumma, CIO, GroupM
• Doug Harr, CIO, Splunk
• Michael Kolbrener, CIO, Aurora Bank FSB

From Chicago's Streets to Denver's Peaks...

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:12:52 +0000

This Land Was Made for Innovation

This September was a big month for the Harvey Nash CIO Forum events as we visited both Denver and Chicago in our global road show dedicated to our annual CIO Survey. I have always noticed differences—some subtle and some glaring—in these two IT communities in my visits with clients and local technology groups. However, this year the mood in both cities was identical.

Was the atmosphere nervous because of unsteady global marketplace? Depressed from poor employment releases and economic indicators? Not one bit on either count. These events were packed with enthusiastic and competitive IT executives and professionals who everywhere see opportunity and a chance for technology teams to play a central, vocal role in their business’s strategic growth. Part of me kept waiting for recession clouds to gather over the events—after all, the media keeps pushing them on us wherever we go—but neither Chicago nor Denver would have any of it.

I would like to give you a few short topic highlights to share the ideas that did captivate our CIO panels and IT executive attendees. My goal is to give you a real-world sense of the energy, hope and creativity I am seeing in IT communities across the U.S. I also want to thank the talented CIOs who served on our panels and gave our audiences a ton of interesting ideas to debate and strategies to consider.

Topic Highlights From Chicago’s CIO Forum

Innovation – Innovation was a central discussion point in Chicago where the majority of IT leaders and CIO panelists agreed that the role of IT innovation must be about changing the business and/or finding new revenue opportunities versus driving incremental increases across the business. The innovation discussion took an interesting twist as the talk examined Agile development and how it could further innovation activities. As participants examined Agile’s potential in fostering innovation, CIO panelist Ken O’Brien of RR Donnelley questioned whether or not it was fast enough and if businesses using Agile could compete with the speed and creativity of “dorm-room” velocity development.

IT & the Business – The separation of IT and the business was also a major topic of discussion at the Chicago event as attendees explored if technology was playing a role throughout businesses in eroding the separation. With CIOs and their IT organizations playing an increasing role in strategic business projects and plans, some businesses now put their IT development teams directly into the business units and teams they support. While the barriers or lack of barriers between IT and the business are different for every business, it’s clear from the Chicago event that IT’s role across the business is increasing for every business.

Topic Highlights From Denver’s CIO Forum

Innovation – Innovation and its critical role in helping businesses identify and take advantage of market opportunities was also a central discussion point in Denver. Business leaders at the event spoke to the fact that IT innovation today has to go far beyond finding new efficiencies. IT innovation today should be focused on driving growth and tapping into new market opportunities. The idea was thrown out that in today’s marketplace, all businesses need to be technology businesses in one way or another. Technology’s pervasiveness requires technology acumen and innovation from every business, no matter the industry, no matter the size.

Cloud Computing – The growth of cloud computing was an important topic in Denver as attendees debated what businesses—big or small—benefit most from it. The panel asked whether the name, cloud computing, was deterring smaller businesses that see it as an expensive trend for global enterprises. One thoughtful panelist pointed out that if you use the words “on demand” small businesses are much more accepting of cloud computing because they know and understand it.

Both Forums ended late as questions continued to flood the panelists, and attendees debated how to drive innovation, leverage emerging technologies and balance efficiency with the need for growth and greater competitiveness. As the talks went on and people stayed late, I was reminded of this fact: No matter how big and diverse America is, the drive to compete, the creativity to invent and the hopefulness needed to earnestly pursue bold ideas and big goals is one of our richest resources.

Once again I’d like to thank the Chicago and Denver CIO Forum Panelists and I invite you to contact me at anna.frazzetto@harveynash.com to learn more about the 2011 Harvey Nash CIO Survey.

Chicago Panelists
• Patricia Anderson, CTO, Apartments.com
• Ken O’Brien, CIO, RR Donnelley
• Bruce Schinelli, VP CIO, TTX Company
• John Vasilj, Former CTO, Chicago Transit Authority
• Andre Zardini, CIO, Rewards Network

Denver Panelists
• Mark Hagan, CIO/SVP of IT, EMSC/American Medical Response
• Stan Hume, CTO, Policy Studies
• Bill Perkins, CTO, Verecloud
• Brian Scriber, CTO, Open Scan Technologies, Inc.
• Philip Winterburn, CIO, Rivet Software

Recognizing and Being Recognized in Vietnam

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:57:52 +0000

We are very proud of our Vietnam team for recently receiving two Gold Sao Khue Awards in the BPO service and software development categories. Created by the Vietnam Software Association (VINASA), the awards recognize the contributions of organizations and individuals to the Vietnamese technology sector. Vietnam’s Vice Minister of Information Technology and Communication presented the awards in Hanoi on June 9. I was in Vietnam two weeks earlier on May 21 meeting with our client The Standard Media Index (SMI) and I had the fortunate opportunity to meet with a group of MBA students from Rider University that were visiting our software development and support services facility in Ho Chi Minh City.

The group traveled to Vietnam to learn more about the country and tour different types of businesses in Asia. Part of their course work focused on globalization and they reached out to our headquarters in Vietnam because they wanted to learn more about a successful business process outsourcing and software development facility. The Rider MBA group was a mix of professors and business executives. We provided a short presentation and took them on a tour of the facility. They also had the opportunity to meet with SMI. The group was blown away with our facility and said they envisioned a much smaller operation and that our center vastly exceeded their expectations. Everyone expressed that they were very impressed with the operations at the facility and asked to stay in touch.

SMI also enjoyed speaking to the group and sharing more about their business’ offerings. Based in Australia, SMI is a unique, independent source of advertising expenditure data. SMI combines the financial booking data of major media buying agencies to create a transparent advertising market for the first time. I have to tell you, they are a model client. Their commitment to our partnership and the success of the offshore team through their personal time investment and the camaraderie initiatives they have incorporated into the operation are great examples for others pursuing offshore engagements. We are working collaboratively on aggressively meeting their milestones. I look forward to sharing more about our work with SMI and both new best practices and lessons learned in future blogs.

I left energized from my meeting with SMI about our work ahead. As I boarded the plane in Vietnam to return home, I felt a sense of excitement and pride for our two offshore facilities. Seeing the Rider MBA group marvel at our facility, made me feel a great sense of accomplishment in our Vietnam team and the work they’ve been doing for the past 10+ years. As I’ve shared before in my blog, Vietnam has some of the most talented, hardworking IT professionals in the world. Both of our Vietnam facilities are truly world-class centers and will continue to have a significant impact on the international business community. Hearing about them receiving their fourth Sao Khue Award, was the icing on the cake.

Below are photos of our SMI client in HCMC.

This is our Software Development team

This is our BPO team

And here is a picture of the U.S. delegation from Rider University.