Interview: Daniel Alexiuc, The Living Room of Satoshi

How a Brisbane firm is playing a role in the digital currency landscape

David Gee (CIO) 09 April, 2015 13:10

The world has moved into online spending with the use of new payment platforms like ‘tap and pay.’ Despite this, we are still largely using cash and credit cards to pay our bills.

But digital currency is borderless and it’s shaping to be the next platform in the payments war. Bitcoin and other crypto currencies threaten to provide the lowest cost and fastest platform.

Australians are now using this digital currency through companies like Brisbane firm, The Living Room of Satoshi, which offers free BPay facilities in Bitcoin for consumers.

CIO contributor, David Gee asked The Living Room of Satoshi’s founder, Daniel Alexiuc, about the small part his company is playing in the digital currency landscape.

The Living Room of Satoshi founder, Daniel Alexiuc

CIO: The Living Room of Satoshi is a great name. What was the inspiration behind it?

Alexiuc: The story of Satoshi Nakamoto is an inspiring and romantic one, and has surely contributed to Bitcoin’s success so far. He’s a mysterious and reclusive genius, who had the forethought to create something brilliant, release it to the world, and disappear completely and accomplish it anonymously – no small feat in the internet age.

But I like to imagine that Satoshi still kicks back in his living room at the end of the day and pays his electricity bill just like the rest of us – hence “Living Room of Satoshi”.

CIO: Your platform permits people to pay their bills and day-to-day items with Bitcoin. What has attracted them to your service?

Alexiuc: All of our customers find Bitcoin a fast, secure and convenient way to pay bills. You can see from our graphs page that our customers are paying all sorts of everyday bills, from toll road charges to tax bills. Many use Living Room of Satoshi to pay off their credit cards with Bitcoin, which opens up an even greater range of places to spend Bitcoin.

What this means is that I can pay my utilities invoice with Bitcoin through this facility, even though that is not an officially supported mechanism of this organisation. This all happens within our interchange. Some of our customers are also paid in Bitcoin, so our service allows them to live without ever using Australian currency.

CIO: Your business was recently suspended for a few months due to regulatory uncertainty but now you’re back. What lessons have you learned in the short history of this company?

Read more Webjet Exclusives trials Bitcoin payments

 

 

Alexiuc: Don’t let fears about regulation stop you from developing innovative solutions because the regulations might change anyway.

Bitcoin is a nascent and unprecedented technology that regulators are still struggling to comprehend. The software developers in Australia need to continue to innovate and demonstrate the utility of Bitcoin, which will in turn shape regulation.

CIO: What will prevent Bitcoin from expanding more broadly in the future? What do you see as the biggest barriers right now to the success of crypto currencies?

Alexiuc: In Australia, by far the biggest impediment to the adoption of Bitcoin is the recent GST ruling on Bitcoin. This was also identified by international expert Andreas Antonopoulos at the Australian Bitcoin Senate hearing.

The GST ruling means it is very difficult for any Australian-based company to embrace Bitcoin, and this is hindering adoption. Our own Satoshi Pay biller solution, a competitor to BPAY, cannot be launched until we either relocate overseas, or the ruling is changed.

CIO: Every hour, Coinmap is updated with new players embracing Bitcoin and Blockchain. In your opinion, what’s going to be the tipping point?

Read more Where are mobile payments heading in 2015?

Alexiuc: I think the tipping point will come when it is easy for workers to be paid in Bitcoin – again this is something being hindered by the GST ruling.

There are lots of places now to spend Bitcoin, and you can pay all your bills with Living Room of Satoshi, but to have a healthy ecosystem, it needs to be easy for businesses to transact completely in Bitcoin - to sell products in Bitcoin, pay their staff in Bitcoin and purchase supplies in Bitcoin.

CIO: In which country is Bitcoin most accepted? Do you know why?

Alexiuc: Bitcoin is accepted everywhere the internet is accepted – it’s one of those pervasive technologies that is available everywhere and to everybody, and why it is such a revolution in payments.

In terms of supporting business though, I think that the traditional FinTech hubs of London, Hong Kong and Singapore seem to be attracting the most innovators away from Australia right now. They have so far adopted a more sensible wait-and-see approach to regulation and have avoided stifling innovators.

CIO: What APIs are you seeking to establish to allow further development and growth?

 

Alexiuc: Actually our API is built on the open and widespread REST standard, and isn’t tied to any particular company. We simply use Apiary for our documentation, something akin to a Wikipedia for software developers.

Our API allows other programs and websites to pay bills using Bitcoin – no humans required. For example, you could set up a system that pays your health insurance with Bitcoin automatically each month.

CIO: As a startup, it is a hard road with many bumps. What's the one piece of advice you would give to new entrants into this space?

Alexiuc: I agree with Shark Tank rhetoric ‘ideas are nothing, execution is everything’.

Don’t get wedded to your idea, it probably isn’t that great. Always be prepared to pivot – this is my sixth start-up, some raging successes, and some dramatic failures. But Bitcoin is in my opinion the most innovative technology since the internet, and there is still heaps of work to be done in this space.

CIO: If you could actually meet the fabled Satoshi or Bitcoin’s inventor, what would you ask him or her?

Alexiuc: Can I buy you a beer?

Why I don’t have to buy an Apple Watch

Is the Apple Watch just another distracting device?

David Gee (CIO) 20 March, 2015 11:57

The time is coming for each of us to decide – do we buy this new Apple Watch or not? There are many choices and price points for the product, plus we can expect third parties to provide accessories and apps to make these products even more individualised.

I’d love an Apple Watch to keep my golf score – an app with that function is appealing and saves me looking for a pencil to record my progress when I’m on a course.

What else? Being the sports nut that I am, the cricket score, rugby or basketball progress would also be nice. Yes I can do all of these things on my iPhone 6 but for a few months no-one would be the wiser. The Apple Watch is not waterproof, so keeping track of my laps in the pool is not going to be possible.

So is the Apple Watch just another distracting device?

So often I see drivers behind me in traffic with one hand on the wheel and the other on a smartphone. 

It just annoys the heck out of me and makes me a little concerned about a potential accident.

Avoiding people who are walking down the street with their heads buried in their smartphones can be just as hazardous. Also in the office, we consider it rude to be playing with one’s smartphone when there is important business at hand. At least the Apple Watch is hands free.

At the moment, My Apple iMac, iPad, and iPhone all make ‘ding’ noises within a few seconds of each other when I receive a message. Do I also want a fourth device to ‘ding’ me?

Choosing a model

Ok, so if it’s still on my wish list then which model would I buy? There is a range from A$499 for a Sports model to a price tag of A$24,000 for a watch at the very top of the range.

That top model is encased in 18 karat gold but if you really want to splash out then buy a Brikk, yes that really is the company name. At US$115,000, a Brikk costs about the same as a really nice sports car, and it’s covered with diamonds.

The Brikk is an Apple Watch that has been augmented and stylised – and you’ll have to wait six weeks after the launch date to get one.

April Fool’s Day?

What’s going to happen in April when this goes on sale? Will the public accept the luxury price for a watch that needs to be recharged every 18 hours?

 

Yes, the Apple Watch works like a Fitbit or other wearables that track your fitness. However, I can buy a Fitbit for $100.

GPS devices on the market also have turn-by-turn navigation (helping me to avoid those walkers I referred to earlier). Other devices have facial recognition for those embarrassing situations when you know someone walking towards you but you simply can’t remember their name. Sadly, the Apple Watch does not have this capability.

The fourth screen

Let’s remember we started with one screen, the TV. We added a second, the computer; and a third, the smart device. Will the Apple Watch become our fourth screen?

As a complementary product, the Apple Watch uses WiFi and Bluetooth to pair your new timepiece and then connect to the outside world. In short, it is a fourth screen that is reliant on others to be effective. Without connectivity, it’s just an expensive watch.

The irony is that the advent of smartphones has seen Generation Y not even bothering to wear a watch and I’ve seen them laugh at the oldies with their dated timepieces. Mere items of jewelry they say.

There is no question that the traditional watch makers have struggled to generate demand. However there are a few exceptions and classical Swiss watchmaker, Rolex, has enjoyed a rise among the middle and upper class in China. Now Apple is getting into the luxury market, but with a technology twist.

Famous last words

I’ve told myself that I won’t buy an Apple Watch and no amount of technology envy will make me.

But future apps might just make me change my mind. Apps have made the iPhone and iPad much more compelling.

So if anyone at Apple is reading this, I’d be delighted to test drive an Apple Watch with that wonderful golf score app. And while you are there, if the watch can also measure my swing to get the right tempo and monitor my heart rate when I putt, that would be fantastic.

Then I’ll be sold. I might even splash out on a sports model!

Transformation for SMARTIES

inShare5

[Blog post] Steps to avoid being a dummy.

These days nearly every organisation in the private and public sector is undertaking transformation efforts in one form or another. We all know that a business transformation is hard and involves both perspiration and inspiration.

As an IT professional this is both a threat and an opportunity. How you react when you are thrust into this position will be the key to you both surviving and thriving. I’ve had the privilege of leading more than my fair share of transformations, starting from my first in the '90s.

At Pioneer International, we challenged all the assumptions of the business and in doing so reengineered all processes and implemented new systems across the entire value chain. Later I completed a number of major transformations in Asia Pacific, Japan and in the USA when I was with global pharmaceutical group Eli Lilly.  More recently at CUA I completed a core banking transformation aided by an amazing team. I’m now advisor to an institution in New Zealand undertaking a core banking transformation.

As part of my journey I have collected scar tissue from both success and failure. Some learnings are transferrable between industries. We are all familiar with the reference book series marketed as "for dummies". I’ve always cringed at the notion of being a ‘dummy’, hence here is my guide to transformation for smarties.

S = Simple 
While we understand that transformations are complex and difficult programs of work, what really counts is that the change is ‘simple’ when done well. The best transformations don’t try to do too much or be too cute. We have to remember the change management of a transformation --that human beings are not able to absorb radical shifts when they do not understand the change.

I use my Pioneer project of 2000 as an example. The team tested the basic assumption of what value our business offered - which was that we produced concrete and building material products. But the subtle nuance was that customers really want a delivered product.

This meant how we organised the business could be radically changed. We changed the business from 300 order points to a single location. That single city location controlled all the 2000 delivery trucks which were now fitted with onboard computers.


M = Momentum
Transformations work against the natural order of a business, hence they are often surrounded by significant inertia. In my experience transformations feel like a roller coaster, and like gravity is working against you – it feels hard to push against the doubters and those that are spectating on the sidelines. 

 

It is only when the whole team pulls together and momentum starts to build that kinetic energy and physics work for you.  In a transformation the team always knows when they are doing the hard yards and the project is flying along - it is all about maintaining this momentum and ensuring it is focused on the right things.


 A = Anchors
Every successful transformation has clear anchors --the principles that everyone is working towards that provide crystal clarity. Conversely we have all seen the examples where the average person in the program is not on the same page and without realising, is working against the true direction of the change.  For example, Eli Lilly had 25 different flavours of CRM system around the world. The goal of the One Lilly project was to create a single CRM system on a single server in a single year using a single source code.

To support this aggressive goal, one anchor we adopted was 'vanilla’ - meaning no modifications. We also decided to try to standardise to one global process with 20 standard reports.  We ended up with just 25 global reports from 2000+ different reports globally previously. A few simple anchors established a framework that made the transformation a success.


R = Respect
In large projects, there is so much detail that the old adage "people respect what you inspect" really is true. As a leader you want focus on certain critical areas, and while you can delegate and empower, it is critical that your team knows what you really value.  Over time, this behaviour will end up with the team understanding and hence giving due credit to these facets.

Respect is also critical in transformations when dealing with people who don't react well to the change. By treating these people with respect, you make the process a lot easier for both parties.


T = Talent
Yes the T word is talent, not technology, training or testing.

I was once asked to take on a significant transformation for an organisation that had in excess of $1.4 billionb revenue per annum. Their technology was among the worst I had ever seen.  In accepting this role, I had a conversation with a global HR executive, who advised me that this was all about “people”. At the time I smiled and agreed. 

Over the next four years I realised how very correct he was, and my greatest achievement was not the delivery or turning around what I thought was the worst IT shop that I had ever seen. Instead it was building talent that has since sustained and grown this business.

My proudest achievement is in growing leaders who are change agents, and are now CIOs, partners or VPs in the vendor community. That’s the meaning of a real transformation, as each of those leaders and their teams are making a difference with their own careers.

I = Integrity
There were many “I” words that were strong candidates: innovation, integration, intelligence and intensity. But during any significant transformation there will be many moments of truth where how you act and the integrity you display can be a defining event.

As a leader you need to back your team in the tough times. It is never blind faith but a “trust, but verify” approach. The integrity of a transformation also includes the support of the individuals delivering the project and the willingness to go that extra mile.  

Clarity of the anticipated benefits and an understanding of why the change is imperative will create and maintain the integrity of the journey. When times are tough and the team is tired, they need to draw strength from understanding that bigger picture.

E = Essence
The essence of a transformation is about its focus. It is about boiling down all the fluff and aspiration then agreeing what exactly is going to add the most value in the shortest time.

In any transformation, it is hard not to get caught up with the superfluous add ons that have been in the back pocket of many in the organisation. It takes real courage to challenge and ensure that this essence is maintained and there is none of the normal scope creep that comes into large programs.

S = Starts with you 
The reality is that any transformation has to start with you. We can't expect the organisation and everyone else to transform while we stay the same. That’s just not realistic and it has to start with you.

Gandhi’s advice to “be the change that you want to see in the world” really resonates with me as a person and a leader.

Give my SMARTIES guide a try and let me know how it works for you.

Read more: http://www.itnews.com.au/BlogEntry/401006,transformation-for-smarties.aspx#ixzz3TGJLta4V

Spotify, the agile posterboy

[Blog post] Agile coach Anders Ivarsson streams his views.

IT shops across Australia are struggling with increased demands for digital innovation while battling reduced budget and cost pressures. These businesses are often competing with more nimble companies which can innovate rapidly.

Many are turning to agile development practices as a possible answer to gaining momentum for planned innovation efforts and as an alternative method to reduce the cost of developing new systems.

The result for many organisations has been mixed, and some say a lack of success can sometimes be reflective of a company’s culture. It’s been recommended to have a disciplined project management office (PMO) work side by side with an agile methodology.

I don't see this as a religious war over which is better, as clearly there is a place for traditional waterwall and agile to both co-exist. The trick is that there is insufficient sharing of best practice.
So what does work and how does one go about figuring out the best approach?

Spotify's benchmark
In CIO circles, Spotify is the benchmark of agile software engineering. The music streaming service is an incredible success story and has disrupted an industry where innovation is at its heart.

Spotify, from a standing start in 2008, has grown an impressive user base of 60 million users and 15 million paid customers. The company is renowned for retaining an innovative spirit despite rapid growth.

There are now around 600+ software engineers in Spotify, located around the globe in locations as diverse as Stockholm, Sydney, New York, Boston, and San Francisco. A size and scale that is not that different to many multinational corporates.

I sat down with the company’s Stockholm-based agile coach, Anders Ivarsson, to find out more about his role.

DG: I've heard about Spotify as a world leader in agile. What does Spotify do that is unique? 

AI: Spotify as a company has a genuine belief in and understanding of agile values and thus boasts a very agile culture. It can be seen in all levels from top management down to our individual contributors.

We're putting a lot of effort into keeping a culture of high trust, high transparency and where people are passionate about always improving and getting better results.

Within our product development, we have an organisational structure that has really helped us have autonomous teams, while also scaling to quite a large size.

It has also allowed us to keep being quite fluid and experiment with improving how we work, both within the teams and as a whole organisation. This is what most people are interested to learn about from us - how we've structured into squads, tribes, chapters and guilds.

There’s more information on the company’s engineering culture on the Spotify labs blog.

DG: Is this home grown and is it still evolving?

IA: This is very much home grown and is a constant evolution. We are always experimenting with new solutions and ideas, and adapting to new challenges and problems that come up.

DG: What issues still remain to be refined?

AI: When it comes to agile, I think we still could be a lot more disciplined around agile tech practices. As an organisation, we've achieved high levels of autonomy, but a challenge is to find and keep alignment between all the autonomous parts without reducing the autonomy.

As we keep growing, there is an ongoing challenge with clarity of vision and intent while also allowing for innovation and initiative to solve real problems.

DG: How are team assignments made? By whom and how?

AI: Just like many other things at Spotify, the answer is that ‘it depends’. Sometimes squads are spawned from an existing squad and take over part of their mission and backlog.

At other times we have a new idea - that might have come from anyone in the company, developed during one of our company-wide hack weeks, or perhaps realised through analysis of user behaviours in our product - that we want to test. We then spin up a new squad with the mission to solve that problem.

The squad themselves are most often heavily involved in finding their mission and defining what problem they should tackle.

DG: Has your team experienced any scaling limits to the agile model?

AI: We believe that each tribe should roughly follow Dunbar's number – that is maximum 100 to120 members which allows everyone to know and interact with one another.

That gives some upper limits to how big a tribe can become, but we’ve also seen tribes grow beyond that size and come up with ways of organising themselves to make it work.

I think the general pattern of highly autonomous teams with clear a mission works on all levels, so may likely scale beyond the current size.

DG: What is Spotify looking for in new hires?

AI: When we recruit to Spotify - no matter if it's for developers, product people, UX or other roles - we always look for technical excellence and skills, as well as a cultural fit and willingness to really participate in teamwork.

Finding the people with this mix of skills, experience and attitudes can be challenging and we put a lot of effort into constantly improving our recruitment.

DG: How long does it take to orientate new recruits to your culture and approach?

AI: It really depends. A lot of people come here and feel at home right away. But since we're growing so fast and are now quite large - plus we also keep constantly tweaking the way we work and how we're structured, it means it can be quite hard to get an overview of the whole organisation, what we're doing and how things work. This can be a bit of a shock to some at first.

We're running boot camps with every new engineer to give them a quick introduction to help easy onboarding, assist as to where to find information, etc - and that has really helped people get started more quickly.

DG: How well does the team collaborate globally?

AI:  Cooperating across geographical barriers, especially across several time zones, is always tricky.

Rather than having a distributed team working on the same thing from multiple locations, we often try to find enough people to build a small team in each location that can move more independently and autonomously, and thus reduce the need for constant synchronisation.

DG: Do you think it is possible for other organisations to mimic the ‘Spotify method’?

AI: I receive emails from companies that after reading our articles or watching our culture videos have been greatly inspired. Those companies have started making changes beneficial to them.

I also get a lot of questions from companies that have been trying to implement some of the things we do, but are looking for clarifications on details or have found places where it doesn't fit well with their current culture or way of working.

My personal take is that while it's great to look at what other companies are doing to find good behaviours and inspiration, you always have to start where you are and make gradual changes and improvements that fit within your context.

I don't think complex things like organisational design can just be copy-pasted like a blueprint for what will work.

David Gee presented his investigation into Spotify’s agile approach at the 7^th CIO Strategy Summit.

Read more: http://www.itnews.com.au/BlogEntry/400490,spotify-the-agile-posterboy.aspx#ixzz3TGIcFvVf

How big business can innovate like a startup

[Blog post] Inside the Spotify model.

A true startup is like an artist, in that it is driven by an undeniable passion for its craft and an endless curiosity. The art is the goal, and the money and other trappings of success are a mere consequence.
It is not surprising therefore that big business struggles with innovation.


Enterprises are designed to be factories of repeatable and scalable business processes, whereas startups aim to change the world.

Unfortunately, this repeatable and scalable business model is not an agile and flexible one - it's the opposite.

One advantage of startups is they have the concept of a minimum viable product down pat - a working prototype that is stripped back and likely to be missing functionality. It's there to demonstrate the concept, and doesn’t have to be perfect.

Those working in enterprises know that big business tends to be sucked into the trap of making services ‘production ready’. Stakeholders want to see the full system, and there can be severe pressure against conducting a simple proof of concept.

In startups, the driver to achieve a MVP is simply a greater hunger to make that first sale, because until they do, they are burning cash. Enterprises just don’t have that same motivation and as a result find it really hard to build a minimum viable product.

It's not all bad news, however. Some organisations such as Spotify are leading the way as enterprises that get it. They have adopted approaches to use the stripped-back startup model and make it work for the big end of town.

The answer?
Spotify is a music streaming organisation that provides a freemium model with a paid option. It has 60 million users of which 15 million are paid members.  Spotify has used agile approaches to deliver innovation for a global company with multiple offices around the world.

It has tried to emulate how a startup works by forming teams into ‘squads’, which have a clear objective and are a part of larger incubators called 'tribes'.

To allow cross functional learning, Spotify also has guilds where experts can share and learn across different tribes. To allow for the reality of the enterprise, there is another construct called the 'chapter' - which in effect is line management.

Using this home-grown methodology, Spotify is able to create a high performance team within a successful and growing enterprise.


David Gee will explore the Spotify case study further during his CIO Strategy Summit keynote address on February 13th at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne

Read more: http://www.itnews.com.au/BlogEntry/399730,how-big-business-can-innovate-like-a-startup.aspx#ixzz3R0RMTRrl

Step-by-step: preparing your business for big data

[Blog post] David Gee offers his practical tips.

Big data. It’s the hype-fuelled juggernaut that few CIOs can afford to ignore for any longer. But jumping on the bandwagon is not going to be easy. Here are some practical ways to make sure your organisation is ready to make the most of the deluge.

Consider a study tour
Alan Grogan, partner at Advanced Capability Solutions in London, says that letting third parties in on your big data plans can be vital “as this will help you later on if you need their buy-in and support with a project”.

But he adds a cautionary note.
“IT alone won’t be able to help you with commercialisation of your data into information and then business knowledge,” he said.  For this you will have to do some personal study and network heavily to get detail on user cases both in your sector and across other industries.
One way to accelerate this learning process is to seek out some expert guidance. An option is to undertake a ‘field trip’ to a handful of leading-edge analytics organisations based out of India and/or the USA.

Sri Annaswamy, founder at advisory firm Swamy & Associates, endorses this approach
“There are a number of options, with varying degrees of usefulness. You can buy a standard industry analyst report (Gartner, HF etc.) or a white-paper from a standard consulting firm (KPMG, Deloitte etc.) But neither option would provide the ‘hands on’ learning associated with being on an analytics factory floor during a field trip” he said.

Another learning to pursue is getting an idea of what an onshore and offshore analytics centre of excellence will feel like and indeed how this could work for your own enterprise. There is nothing like seeing an offshore centre in action and getting a sense for the talent pool that is in place.
The degree to which your business will consider ‘partnering versus owning’ is a key question. But certainly does not have to be answered immediately. This can definitely wait as you and your team learn by observation and also by osmosis.

Learn by outsourcing
Ok, so you want to learn more about this strategic topic – big data.

But you’re also aware that this skillset is in short supply and that no-one wants to expose their thinking or share information at this stage.

For those of us that are true-believers but lack the requisite deep experience, then the best way to learn is to consider outsourcing big data functions. From my own experience, I used this approach many years ago in another domain as I was establishing a customer contact centre for Asia Pacific.

This may sound counter intuitive, but it is actually the fastest way to learn what best practice looks like. From this position you can then decide whether you want to grow your capability internally or continue to outsource.

There is a saying that when the processes are a mess then you will be outsourcing a mess. It is true, but you can also learn from working with great partners.

Picking my partner?
For those of us that have been around a few seasons there are some common sense criteria for selecting a suitable partner. In essence you want to be buying high quality data analysts who have done this before in industries that you rate as being leaders of this new category.

Grogan has narrowed his advice down to four tips:

1. For your specialist areas and projects you should have dedicated – ideally named – people who support only your business. This is not just to ensure analysts who ‘get’ your business, but also to protect any intellectual property.
2. Be careful that the vendor lets you exclusively own any new processes they develop for you. This may sound obvious, but I’ve heard of companies effectively signing away their business models.
3. Be careful of vendors using very fancy phrases, promising the latest technologies and overstating their capabilities. Be mindful that it’s known for consultancy and technology companies to ‘wash’ their capabilities with other more basic capabilities, and then re-outsource the difficult stuff. 
4. Contact any potential vendor’s current big data clients and ask how their needs and wants have been supported.

Who should ‘own’ big data?
As a CIO, should big data even be your responsibility?
Alan Grogan says the way to approach this question is to forget about ‘ownership’ and ‘territory’.

For big data to succeed there needs to be a strong focus on the customer and an understanding that the culture of the organisation will evolve with this transformation.

“Big data ideally needs to be sponsored by a CEO (local, regional or global) who is the custodian of culture.

 “In terms of driving the agenda, the owning technology area (CTO/CDO/CIO) should really engage with each business area and function that stands to benefit. Over time, as big data processes become more embedded in the organisation, it’s not unimaginable that ownership will split between functional leaders (head of product, head of sales, head of finance) etc.”

He recommends that appointing a joint sponsor is the best approach, within the function or area which will fund the project. It’s critically important that this strategically positioned executive straddles the entire organisation and reports to the CEO.

Self-service philosophy
Big data demands self-service from day one. This is what will drive success. It is a long way from the traditional data warehouse and data mart approach and IT will have to evolve to work within this paradigm.

Let’s remember that the single-most important purpose of big data and analytics in an organisation is to enable end-users to go directly to the data source and carry out the analysis and visualisation they require directly, without relying on an IT-department-based BI and reporting team to prepare reports for them.

This approach shouldn't result in a lack of governance but it is radically different from how it was approached in the past. In effect, it means those of us in IT will have to let go of a little control.

One proof-of-concept is not enough
Cloud options have lowered the barriers to making a start with big data. But it is also important not to rush into anything that hasn’t been thoroughly tested.
The concept of testing big data through a proof of concept is clearly the recommended path.

In fact Annaswamy recommends enterprises don’t just run one POC “but three to five POCs in parallel, utilising different potential strategic analytics partners”.
He explained that this “helps accelerate proof of the value of big data and analytics to the executive and in a tangible manner as well as uncovering the specific capabilities of different service-providers in a defined timeframe and cost bound manner”.

What changes to the organisation are required?
One can argue that big data is naturally already the job of the CIO or CTO – so why would you hire a chief data officer or chief analytics officer?  I remember the rise and decline of chief knowledge officers that have come and since gone from the ranks of corporations.

My advice is: let’s not let this happen again, so IT, including the CIO, have to embrace this change.
There is still a need for an appropriate framework – with end-to-end data stewardship to drive data quality and make sure all data falls within a governance, risk and compliance framework. The most important thing is to get executives to grasp the importance of big data and analytics for every part of the company’s business.

Business gap analysis
A gap analysis is not a business case. Instead it is designed to illustrate how real the gap between your organisation and the industry leader(s) is – and how to bridge that gap.
Annaswamy maintains that the length of the review depends on the type of analytics project. In the case of a simple cross-sell uplift or an attrition problem project then it could be within 12 months.

However if it this is a complete revamp of your analytics platform, to say an enterprise data warehouse with the incorporation of a Hadoop-based system for unstructured data plus visualisation and newer software, you could be looking at a three-plus year scenario.

Copy cat – who should I benchmark?
Benchmarking against peers is the trickiest aspect because anyone that is doing this well is not going to share their intimate details.

Recently I was speaking to a CIO in Singapore who worked in an industry completely removed from my base in financial services. Despite my best attempts I could not convince him to divulge big data specifics.

But one hint is to look for organisations that are customer focussed, have made significant investments in this area and have appointed chief data or analytics officers.

In Australia it is understood that Suncorp and CBA are the most advanced in this space, but watch out for Walmart, AIG, Amazon, Google and Pay Pal.

Reskilling my team
I’ve been really curious about what skills are really needed to manage an outsourced big data capability. The most important part is managing the diversity of staff – standard IT developers, programmers and BI techies won’t do!

You will need engineers with strong statistical-modelling experience, behavioural scientists to pick out the insights and operations people to plug the insights into specific interventions.

There is an assumption of course that vendor management today is a given. Most organisations have been through the IT offshoring/BPO cycle for several years now that they have reasonably sophisticated procurement and vendor management teams.

Reinforcing this view was a further insight from Grogan that relationship and listening skills are all key. The biggest challenge is simply getting the outsourced capability stood up.

Read more: http://www.itnews.com.au/BlogEntry/399125,step-by-step-preparing-your-business-for-big-data.aspx#ixzz3R0QgHSsv

Is 2015 your chance to reinvent yourself?

Blog post] Consider targeting your skills to the hot trends.

It is a cliché to say that the world is changing as we speak, but it is indeed true.  There are roles in IT that won’t be in existence in five years time, or they will be considered roles of lesser value than today.

As IT professionals we need to be always reinventing ourselves, moving our skills to where the action is going to be – it is about preparing to fight the next battle not the last.  My view is that unfortunately this common sense is not that ‘common’ and many IT folks don’t believe they can easily move across specialist areas.
I feel that in Australia a career change is more feasible than some other locations. It’s about having the transferable skills that will take you from sitting in your own comfort zone to  tackling a completely new challenge.

What are the hot trends?
There are some key roles that are emerging, including: data scientists, cyber security experts, digital business analysts and cloud architects.
If you were going to take a punt on a career change, then I would pick one of these areas.
There is also a list of alternative hot spots that is not hyped or talked about as much. These are roles where there appears to be quite a shortage of skilled IT professionals like middleware integration analysts, COBOL programmers and mainframe skills in general.

Time for reflection.
My own motto is “life is too short to be doing a job that you don’t love”.  I’ve met many people who dislike or don’t enjoy their work and it always shows. It is hard to have ‘passion’ and ‘energy’ when you feel that your role is a dead end and leads nowhere.
Either way if you decided to go after a shiny new career in ‘Big Data’; there is clear evidence that there is a global shortage of skilled staff.  Similarly, the number of enquiries that I receive to refer cyber security specialists is staggering.  There is just not enough skilled staff to fill demand for any of the hot trends.
Taking the alternative path and moving into a legacy like COBOL can also provide great rewards as the skill is not being taught at all institutions but the requirement is still there.

Transferrable skill.
Getting an opportunity to get some experience with a new skill, as part of a project is one avenue to build a different career direction.
In 2015, should look for opportunities to learn new, or for that matter old, technologies.
Don’t die wondering. Have a discussion with your supervisor about your longer term career goals, your commitment to the organization and your desire to learn a new skill that both helps the business and grows your value.
The most important transferrable skill is actually not the technical aspects, as those can be learned, it’s your ‘positive’ attitude and ability to learn.
For example, taking a person that has for instance been an ERP specialist and having them transform into an information architect is clearly a long bow. This can be achieved when there is a positive and receptive individual who is willing to work as a team member.
Hence we could take any role and with the right coaching and mentoring, that person can move over a 2 year period into a new IT profession.

Barriers to entry.
You may be thinking, “Surely there are barriers that will prevent me from making the change?” Perhaps and it is likely that your request may be somewhat of a surprise at first to management.
I maintain that approaching this in the right manner will have you seen as an engaged employee that wants to progress and learn.
In my experience any good manager or supervisor will want you on their team.
Thus the biggest barrier is indeed you.  This has to start with an assessment of you.

SKEB=skills, knowledge, experience and behaviour.
One of the simplest and most effective tools that I have used is a piece of paper and pen. With some quiet time to reflect you can write down what are the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviour that I need for my next role. I came across this approach during my time in Japan and developed this matrix.

Your notes should feel like a stretch and not just a routine thing like completing a certification course.

The intention is to write just one objective for each of these dimensions and if you then feel comfortable share this with your manager.

In the example included here, I have identified three improvement areas in each section.

Developing a similar SKEB diagram would involve insights from your supervisor and I would envisage that this may require more than a single discussion.

“Do nothing” as an option.
This is always a possible approach, and it is likely that this may be acceptable. The acid test is do you love your job?

If your answer is “well…not really”, then it is not too late to reinvent yourself.
Take your time during this month to consider your future. It really is the best time of the year to take the opportunity and ask what’s important?

Have a great 2015 !

Read more: http://www.itnews.com.au/BlogEntry/399175,is-2015-your-chance-to-reinvent-yourself.aspx#ixzz3R0QFZ4jJ