Information Week

When it comes to service outages, data breaches or systems failures, there is typically only one thing IT leaders can say with total confidence: This won’t be the last time.   No matter how effective your tech and security investments are, risks cannot be entirely precluded. And if a crisis does occur, it can not only demonstrate your effective planning — but it can also be turned to your advantage.   For example, let’s turn to an area that few people would associate with an appetite for risky behavior. Economics is famous for advancing “one crisis at a time” and CIOs could benefit by taking a leaf out of its (many) books. Like firefighters battling a fire, the immediate job for CIOs is to put out the flames. Once the situation is under control, teams need to forensically identify what sparked it off in the first place, so that they can help prevent future issues.   Events such as a major outage are a signal for CIOs to consider:  Using the crisis as a catalyst to make the case for funding for cost avoidance, risk mitigation and foundation investments;  Focusing on who are your partners and who are your vendors;   Analyzing your non-financial response measures   A Crisis as Catalyst   One of the toughest things for CIOs is to get funding for issues that haven’t yet occurred. Who among us likes paying for problems that haven’t yet happened? Cost avoidance can seem hypothetical versus solving problems that are clear and present dangers.   Related:2024 InformationWeek US IT Salary Report: Profits, Layoffs, and the Continued Rise of AI The costs for those immediate challenges are usually more obvious. And mitigating the issues before they occur may be much more cost-effective and these risks may be much more than financial.   CIOs can not only learn from the experience of others, but they can use it to show how their tech investments are securing their business and saving them financial and reputational damage.  Partners or Vendors?   There is a major shift to outcome-based contracts in the tech industry, largely driven by developments such as generative AI. The latter is now realizing its potential to boost productivity, which is altering traditional value propositions. Traditionally, vendors were paid based on the volume of work or hours done. However, the new model emphasizes compensation based on the achievement of specific outcomes, such as cost reductions or revenue improvements. This approach not only aligns the vendor’s incentives with the client’s goals, but it also means that vendors take on a greater share of risk. The subtle shift here is away from the typical buyer-vendor relationship toward a technology partnership. Of course, this can be a powerful thing: Both organizations become deeply invested in the project’s success, sharing in both the risks and rewards. Related:Curtail Cloud Spend With These Strategies However, it won’t eliminate all risk. Both the client and vendor need to think clearly about how their collaboration will work beyond just the technical capabilities. Both organizations will need to consider if their corporate cultures are aligned, along with their shared vision for the project. Tech leaders need to consider if their potential partners are not only capable of driving innovation but are also culturally attuned to foster a collaborative and sustainable relationship. They may likely be sharing headlines together — in good times or bad. So how will that feel, and to what degree will it impact each company’s brand, identity and customer trust?    It is imperative for companies to establish clear risk-mitigation strategies. And they will need to have agreed, robust frameworks that ensure continuity and reliability, even when unexpected disruptions occur.  A Focus on the Non-Financials   When it comes to contracts, tech leaders focus on mitigating risk and discussions tend to revolve around “who pays if X goes wrong.” There is one aspect, though, that they need to feel total ownership over: their company’s public reputation.  Related:Forrester Speaker Sneak Peek: Analyst Jayesh Chaurasia to Talk AI Data Readiness Companies need to have thorough restorative plans for when something does go wrong — including how they mitigate customer and public impact and perception. In the wake of a crisis, CIOs need to consider how they respond immediately so that customers and clients feel supported.   To effectively prepare for inevitable incidents, companies need a rapid reaction plan. This plan should prioritize customer support, ensuring that clients feel adequately supported during disruptions.   What’s on the CIO’s Mind   There is an evolution taking place in the role of the CIO. As the role of technology has expanded in business, it has created an isomorphic effect in the IT function. The CIO’s role has also grown in importance and scope: They need to consider how to grow from being an effective cost manager to being a growth driver. Similarly, that shift toward outcomes-based contracts means that tech leaders are now being judged on costs but also on non-financial outcomes.   In my experience, ambitious tech leaders typically operate in two mindsets.   Like most C-suite leaders, to some extent they are considering their next step or role, perhaps with a bigger organization. That may be beyond the CIO function or they may be considering evolving that function to a new form altogether.   The second mindset is more concerned with legacy: As a C-suite leader, they don’t just want to keep the lights on, they want to make an impact that their name will be tied to. This will be a major move, driven by technology and perhaps requiring an acquisition, a significant investment, a people transformation program, or all of the above.   Whether you are trying to reach the next level or create a legacy, having the right risk-mitigation strategy, partners, and both financial and non-financial response is a key building block. A little trouble might just be what you need to reach your goals.  source

A hacker on Tuesday managed to briefly commandeer a National Press Club-hosted zoom broadcast featuring Ukrainian officials and others about Russian disinformation — broadcasting explicit pornographic videos. The Institute for Democracy and Development (PolitA) and the Coalition Against Disinformation organized the event, featuring Ukrainian officials, religious leaders, cybersecurity experts, and political experts discussing the ongoing and escalating Russian disinformation targeting the West and other parts of the world. An extremely graphic pornographic video with the words “CCP ON TOP” was shown on the main presentation screen for a couple of minutes before event organizers regained control. One attendee commented in the chat, “the hand of Moscow.” Live attendees at the Washington, D.C. National Press Club were also exposed to the video. Russia is pouring millions of dollars into a broad disinformation campaign meant to destabilize western governments, stoking partisan fires using fake images and stories attractive to political extremists and conspiracy theorists, the panels said. While this effort has been active for decades, it has gained significant momentum and sophistication in the past several years. Kateryna Odarchenko, president of PolitA and a political consultant, said Russia’s disinformation attempts are at an all-time high as the US elections draw near and the two-year Ukraine war rages on. “I have a background in election organizing and direct consulting, and we worked in Ukraine, we worked in Georgia, we worked in Bulgaria and with the European Parliament a lot,” she said. “From a practical point of view, we saw that Russian intervention in elections and disinformation is horrible … and it’s very effective.” Related:2024 Cyber Resilience Strategy Report: CISOs Battle Attacks, Disasters, AI … and Dust Panelists said Russia is targeting religious communities and western governments with operatives using social engineering and active cyberattack campaigns to promote chaos and is particularly active during election cycles, with the US presidential election just days away. Russia is believed to be behind the massive hack of the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. ‘Zoom-Bombing’ As more and more organizations turned to video chats during the COVID-19 pandemic, the “zoom-bombing” phenomenon gained traction. The term refers to the unwanted takeover of the main presentation screen, sometimes used to display offensive or pornographic images or videos. While the culprits have ranged from internet trolls to so-called “hacktivists,” nation-state actors may be getting in on the action. Related:Juliet Okafor Highlights Ways to Maintain Cyber Resiliency In 2020, a Zoom-bombing attack targeted a US government meeting, according to a blog post by cybersecurity firm Bitdefender. “The FBI issued a stark warning … regarding the use of Zoom and dangers of Zoom-bombing, followed by advice to avoid using the platform for government affairs,” according to the blog. Zoom in 2022 agreed to a massive $85 million payout for a class-action lawsuit over Zoom-bombings. The FBI recommends the follow steps to avoid being zoom-bombed: Do not make meetings or classrooms public. In Zoom, there are two options to make a meeting private: require a meeting password, or use the waiting room feature and control the admittance of guests. Do not share a link to a teleconference or classroom on an unrestricted publicly available social media post. Provide the link directly to specific people. Manage screensharing options. In Zoom, change screensharing to “Host Only.” Ensure users are using the updated version of remote access/meeting applications. In January 2020, Zoom updated their software. In their security update, the teleconference software provider added passwords by default for meetings and disabled the ability to randomly scan for meetings to join. Lastly, ensure that your organization’s telework policy or guide addresses requirements for physical and information security. Related:Beyond the Election: The Long Cybersecurity Fight vs Bad Actors source

Developer productivity depends on more than just how quickly code is written. Communication, collaboration, and achieving the “flow state” — where developers feel fully focused and energized — are equally important to maximizing efficiency.  Technologies such as AI-augmented software, cloud-native platforms, and GitOps streamline development, automating workflows, and boosting collaboration for higher productivity.  Esteban Garcia, managing director, Microsoft Services Americas at Xebia, explains via email that it’s easy to assume developer productivity tools exist simply to help developers write more code, but he considers that a narrow view. “True productivity isn’t about producing more lines of code but about creating value efficiently, with a focus on quality and innovation,” he says.  He adds that productivity tools should simplify workflows, reduce friction and enhance collaboration — not just push developers to output more. “These tools can help improve focus, automate repetitive tasks, and facilitate smoother communication, all of which reduce stress and prevent burnout.”  Boosting (and Measuring) Productivity   Stephen Franchetti, CIO of Samsara, explains via email that GenAI is already paying dividends in the productivity space — with copiloting, code generation, quality assurance (QA) and documentation — easing the burden of the repeatable aspects of these tasks.  Related:2024 InformationWeek US IT Salary Report: Profits, Layoffs, and the Continued Rise of AI “It’s also a leadership challenge,” he says. “How do you ensure that developers not only have the right tools, but also the space to work on the most important priorities?”  He adds that developer productivity can be hard to measure as no single metric provides a complete view of performance. “Instead, tracking various indicators can reveal trends over time, whether improving or declining, but these should be viewed as individual data points rather than a holistic measure of team performance.”   When used alongside metrics that assess business impact — such as whether the projects are driving the intended outcomes — IT leaders can gain a better understanding of developer contributions.   Metrics like cycle time, lead time for changes, deployment frequency, and change failure rates reflect efficiency and code reliability, while code quality, and technical debt help assess long-term maintainability.  “Tracking these metrics in conjunction with the business value being delivered ensures that productivity isn’t just about output, but about meaningful results that support organizational goals,” Franchetti says.   Related:Curtail Cloud Spend With These Strategies Garcia notes that qualitative measures such as developer satisfaction surveys and feedback sessions provide a human-centered view of productivity, highlighting areas that might need improvement in the workflow.   “In our work with clients, we’ve found that organizations that focus on both quantitative and qualitative measures, while fostering continuous feedback, consistently see higher productivity and engagement,” he says.   Enable Collaboration, Communication   Franchetti says it’s important to incorporate the development processes into modern collaboration tools. “With an increasingly dispersed workforce, it’s more essential than ever that these team-oriented tools become the backbone of the development process. If done well, these can be great productivity enablers.”  Steve Persch, director of developer relations at Pantheon, says that IT leaders should stay conscious of the analog predecessors of modern digital collaboration tools. “Chat tools like Slack can feel to any given employee like they are in countless, endless in-person meetings at once,” he cautions. “It’s bad for productivity and communication if everyone is constantly moving between tables of conversation.”  Instead, Persch suggests modern tools be paired with decidedly old-school conventions like weekly or monthly meetings in which decisions are made.  Related:Forrester Speaker Sneak Peek: Analyst Jayesh Chaurasia to Talk AI Data Readiness Helping Devs Attain Flow State   Developers reach “flow state” by immersing themselves in problem solving with code and technology during focused sessions with minimal interruption.  “Creating and fostering the kind of deep work sessions that lead to that flow state requires IT leaders to embrace a flexible work environment, flexible schedules, access to an effective set of tools that keeps developers within that state,” Garcia explains.   Most importantly, leaders should support and empower teams to experiment and iterate through new processes. Providing autonomy, setting clear goals, fostering open communication, and ensuring psychological safety for risk-taking without fear of failure are key to keeping developers focused and productive.  “Reducing external pressures, such as unnecessary meetings and administrative tasks, allows developers to maintain concentration and stay in the flow,” he says.   Persch says developers are more likely to stay in a flow state when they can easily see that the concerns beyond their work are getting handled.  Bug reports, stray product feedback, and other communication can come in through email, chat, and an uncountable number of other channels. “Rarely is the best option for a developer to break their focus and immediately jump on the new bug report,” he says.   Modes of Motivation   Franchetti says companies should foster a culture of continuous learning and experimentation to keep developers current and motivated, offering them flexible and personalized training paths.   Hands-on learning, mentorship programs, and cross-functional collaboration help solidify new skills, while knowledge-sharing sessions and dedicated time for both learning and experimentation encourage ongoing development.   “Supporting certifications, contributing to open-source projects, and ensuring access to modern tools can further enhance engagement,” he says. “Companies should also track and recognize upskilling achievements to boost motivation.”  Garcia thinks that leaders should promote a work culture that encourages regular breaks, flexible hours, and setting boundaries to avoid overwork. “By fostering an environment of psychological safety, where developers can freely express concerns or suggest improvements without fear of criticism, organizations can maintain a high level of engagement and creativity.”  source

“Is Your IT Service Desk Overwhelmed?“ Brought to you by TeamDynamix It is not hard for your IT Service Desk to become overwhelmed by the increasing demands of modern business environments. To address this challenge, it is essential to implement key strategies that can significantly reduce resource drain and improve efficiency. Below are actionable approaches designed to optimize your IT service operations: -Reduce Administrative Tasks: Streamlining these tasks through the use of effective management tools can save valuable time and effort, allowing your team to focus on more critical issues.  -Automate Manual Processes: Implementing automation for routine processes reduces the likelihood of errors and frees up resources, speeding up service delivery and enhancing accuracy.  -Improve Self-Service Adoption: Encouraging users to utilize self-service options can reduce the burden on your IT team. By offering comprehensive self-help resources and intuitive interfaces, users can resolve common issues independently and quickly. Deploying these methods empowers your IT service desk to not only meet current demands but also to maintain a sustainable performance level, preventing burnout and fostering a more resilient team environment. Offered Free by: TeamDynamix See All Resources from: TeamDynamix Thank you This download should complete shortly. If the resource doesn’t automatically download, please, click here. source

“The Ultimate Guide to Intelligent Document Processing“ Unlocking success with end-to-end automation: We’ll show you where to start with Intelligent Document Processing Enterprises run on documents and communications.Almost every process, in almost every department, needs a document or message to get the job done. Hiring and onboarding, accounts payable, sales and order management, customer service—the list goes on. The larger the organization, the more documents it needs to process and the more information it needs to extract. And, as every enterprise knows, managing it all can be a major financial and resource burden.   Combined in a single AI-powered IDP solution, UiPath IDP makes it simple to automate document-intensive processes, reduce manual paperwork, and increase operational efficiency right across the organization.  This paper provides a guide for enterprises looking to embrace the true potential of AI-powered IDP—discussing  where to start and how to succeed. Offered Free by: UiPath See All Resources from: UiPath source

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With concerns about and regulation of artificial intelligence on the rise, it can be easy to focus on questionable practices associated with the recent boom in AI technology. There can be ways to further AI’s use that include best practices, without putting privacy at risk or stirring other fears. Lawmakers at the state, national, and international levels continue to draft policy meant to ensure public safety, protect privacy and ownership of original content, fight misinformation, and a plethora of other concerns AI now raises. But does AI have to be “the bad guy” to be innovative and useful? How much more scrutiny is on the way for AI? Are there uses for AI that do not raise concerns of risk to the public, disruption of society, or harm to creatives behind original content? In this episode of DOS Won’t Hunt, Octavian Udrea, chief scientist with Code Metal; Kjell Carlsson, head of AI strategy with Domino Data Lab; and Sohrob Kazerounian, distinguished AI researcher with Vectra AI, share their perspectives on AI development and use with ethics and regard for the public good in mind. Listen to the full podcast here. source

Generative AI is one of the hottest trends of the century. And also, the most disappointing trend for many companies.   “Productizing GenAI has proven to be incredibly illusive. Commercials for AI services insist you must adopt AI in your business processes in order to remain competitive. Meanwhile, the difficulties in actually productizing GenAI are now starting to have tangible effects on financial markets, as tech companies struggle to justify their capital expenditures on AI hardware and infrastructure. So, what gives?” says Sohrob Kazerounian, distinguished AI researcher at Vectra AI.  Some blame exaggerated hype for GenAI’s failings.   “It was inevitable that generative AI would eventually dip down into the trough of disillusionment — no technology can fulfill that level of hype,” says Saurabh Abhyankar, EVP and chief product officer at MicroStrategy.  Others think the soar-to-crash cycle is common to new technologies where vendors over-promise and customer expectations are not pinned to reality.  “The disillusionment has occurred because many enterprises had inflated expectations from many of the great demos and hype. They thought these models would be as accurate as a spreadsheet or database and that they would be able to incorporate their own data easily. Many enterprises didn’t actually define success criteria for GenAI; enterprises report that 90% of proof of concept projects never make it into production,” says Naveen Rao, vice president of AI at Databricks.  Related:Do’s and Don’ts of GenAI Spend But perhaps more to the point is the fact that far too many organizations have found far too few use cases that GenAI can do.  “GenAI is not a technological Swiss army knife, so to see value, enterprises must focus on what it does well, which is understanding and generating natural language within context,” Abhyankar says.  Even so, most companies stumble on being far too deep in the investment well to stop drinking from it now.   “Firstly, let’s remember that transformative technologies often stumble before they sprint, like you say. Consider the early days of the internet or even electricity — initially dismissed, then indispensable,” says Lars Nyman, the chief marketing officer of CUDO Compute, a platform that supplies the computational horsepower behind many of today’s breakthrough AI programs.  The good news is that GenAI is not a complete loss — and likely not a loss at all — if a few measures are now put in place. Here’s what needs to change to turn the situation around:  1. The chase for more models and features stops  Related:Will Generative AI Replace Developers? Losing interest in more models and features sounds counterintuitive but it actually isn’t. Organizations need time to learn the models and features that exist now to see clearly how they can be leveraged. The rush to constantly upgrade before you get your bearings borders on insanity from a purely business, capture- the-ROI perspective.  “There is an obsession over the glamour of data models and the instinct to constantly fine-tune ML algorithms to chase that elusive ‘perfect’ model for GenAI apps. But here’s the thing: This model-centric approach is fundamentally flawed because it causes data teams to overlook the foundation of effective ML — the data itself,” warns Kevin Hu, the co-founder and CEO of Metaplane and an MIT PhD researcher in machine learning and data visualization.  Get your data right first. Know what you have and define what you need. Then pick a model and features accordingly. In most cases, you’ll find you need more than one AI model so that the combined capabilities perform to your expectations or goals.  2. GenAI breaks its mold  GenAI tools are marvelous. They make so much that’s pretty and so little that’s practical. And one big reason this happens is that despite the heft of the data and the might of the model, GenAI applications largely function as isolated standalones.    Related:The Rise of Autonomous AI Agents “Although GenAI as a standalone application has been intriguing, for it to take hold in the shorter term, the odds are good that it will happen due to the network effect of existing mega platforms: Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, and the like,” says Eli Goodman, CEO and co-founder of Datos, a global clickstream data provider and a Semrush Company.  “GenAI’s real hook is its integration as a value-enhancing complement to existing everyday products and services. Whether it be Google AI-assisted search, Amazon shopping assistant Rufus, or Apple’s newly launched AI features in the iPhone 16, successful adoption within these already massive consumer systems is where GenAI will transform from exception to rule,” Goodman adds.   GenAI is also expected to become both the UI and the conductor in multi-agent architectures.   3. GenAI shows its true age  GenAI is not new. It just seems like it is because of how OpenAI’s ChatGPT made such an unexpected splash in the market and how fast everyone then jumped on it and other applications. Certainly, OpenAI created new models and ChatGPT was and is an impressive model, and other vendors and open-source projects have followed suit with their own creations. Even so, this AI category is established tech for the most part.    But in all that time, little progress has been made in establishing what to do with it.   “Many companies treat GenAI as a science fair experiment,” says Scott Gnau, vice president of data platforms at InterSystems, a provider of AI-enabled data management solutions for healthcare, financial services, and supply chain and logistics. “Doing it for the sake of doing it because everyone else is and they don’t want to be left behind. They never break out of the theoretical into the practical. Simply deploying GenAI without a clear strategy or measurable objectives will only lead to more roadblocks and further disillusionment.”  Once everyone stops gawking at GenAI like it’s a new toy and sees it as a fairly mature tech among other even more mature forms of AI, then organizations can begin to match capabilities and use cases on a far more sensible basis.   4. Companies begin to routinely break down their strategies and tasks 

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“State of Accounting and Legal Services“ An InformationWeek Report | Sponsored by TeamDynamix Accounting and legal services rely heavily on high-performing IT systems to ensure business efficiency. When technical issues occur—such as unusable endpoints, connectivity failures, or critical application outages—productivity halts. Key Challenges: -High Expectations: ITSM teams must uphold stringent SLAs and deliver exceptional service to meet the demands of accounting and legal professionals.-Compliance and Security: These teams need to implement compliance-ready procedures and ensure top-notch security due to the sensitive nature of financial and legal data.-Varying ITSM Maturity: Survey insights reveal that while some firms exhibit strong ITSM maturity, others face challenges in basic service delivery.-Lean Teams: With lean IT teams, many organizations must achieve more with fewer resources. Explore how ITSM solutions can help your accounting or legal firm enhance service delivery, maintain compliance, and drive profitability. Download our full report for detailed insights. Offered Free by: TeamDynamix See All Resources from: TeamDynamix Thank you This download should complete shortly. If the resource doesn’t automatically download, please, click here. Thank you This download should complete shortly. If the resource doesn’t automatically download, please, click here. Thank you This download should complete shortly. If the resource doesn’t automatically download, please, click here. source