best practice business information...
TRANSCRIPT
Best Practice Business
Information Technology
Presented by: Micheal Axelsen
Director
Applied Insight Pty Ltd
INTRODUCTION
About this presentation
Objectives
• To provide an overview of what's on the horizon in the next
generation of IT for business, and how to prepare your business to
take advantage of these future IT advances.
Agenda
• Next generation IT - what's on the horizon in the next 2 - 5 years
• Managing risk and protecting your systems in a wireless and mobile
environment
• System selection for your business
• Getting your systems right
– Creating opportunities to develop your business
– Maximising your return from your technology investment
• Conclusion – meeting the challenges of IT
About the speaker
Services
• Micheal Axelsen provides consulting services in
the business governance of information
technology, and the development and
implementation of information technology business
strategy
Position and qualifications
• Director of Applied Insight Pty Ltd
• Chair of CPA Australia Information Technology &
Management Centre of Excellence
• Qualifications
– Bachelor of Commerce (Hons)
– Masters of Information Systems
– CPA (Specialist in Information Technology)
NEXT GENERATION IT
Advances in technology
On crystal ball gazing
• Looking into the future is fraught with danger, and will probably miss
some things
• That said, let’s get the crystal ball out
Major themes for the next two to five years
• Mobility & Convergence
• Innovation is not on the desktop
• Social networking & social media
• Data privacy and quality
Mobility & Convergence
Innovation is not on the desktop
Social networking & social media
Data privacy and quality
Data privacy
• Far more data stored than ever before
• Identity theft and data loss
• Secure access is increasingly necessary
• International trend to increased privacy
requirements
Data quality
• Increasing reliance upon data
• Systems are less forgiving of poor data
• Data’s fitness for the intended use in operations,
decision making & planning
• National Privacy Principles
• Sarbanes Oxley and audit & governance requirements
MANAGING RISK IN A
CONNECTED WORLD
Wireless networks
General advice
• Monitor your internet bill & router log for usage
• Ensure you have a firewall between the wired and the wireless
Internet connection to prevent intruders from accessing your
network
• Firewall between wired & wireless networks, and the internet
Wireless networks
• Change the default security settings as these are well known and
may allow intruders access to your network
• Secure wireless traffic through WEP (Wired
Equivalent Privacy)
• Minimise the transmission range of your
wireless network
Wireless networks
Secure wireless devices
• Wireless comes with many machines by
default – turn it off if there’s no legitimate
need (otherwise, people can browse through
other networks and get past your security).
• Don’t superglue anything!
• Intel vPro allows hardware-level access to
remote laptops and desktops.
• The Laptop Guardian from Lucent
technologies provides a complete
control option for laptops – if this is
that important to you!
Mobile & remote manageability
Mobile machines
• Easily lost so - backup, backup, backup!
• Consider what happens if a Blackberry or USB key falls into the
wrong hands or is lost!
• Remote kill features for mobile devices
• Buy robust machines that will survive
• Consider disk encryption – BIOS
passwords are no use
• Telework implications and the
mobile environment
• iPod slurping (and digi-cam slurping)
Being clear about policy
Consumer mobile technologies
• People can easily circumvent the rules you put in place
and bring consumer technologies in
• Need clear policies and they need to be enforced
• They also need to be sensible and match the risks
• The reasons why:
– Can walk out with all your files
– Could carry viruses, trojans, etc
– Can install software on machines
that create headaches for IT
SYSTEM SELECTION
Assessing systems
Market scan, Vendor focus
Focus upon
• Risk reduction
• Vendor knowledge of your industry
• Quality of named clients
• Short-list quickly
• Vendor compatibility with your business
• Strategic plans of vendor and software
• Vendor client testimonials
• Good software is good, but not as good as bad software
is bad...
Market scan, Vendor focus
How to carry it out
• Document the drop-dead, showstopper issues
• Understand your budget
• Document technical considerations
• Document your expectations from the vendor
• Identify known options
• Develop your Request for Information & forward to
vendors
• Rate, weight & score
• Move to next phase
Market scan, Vendor focus works better
The reasons why
• Long-term relationship with the vendor
• Vendor’s ability to work with your business
• Makes the vendor think outside of the
square
• Focus on vendor’s proven capability
• Less resource intensive
• Shorter timeframe to get to a short-list
CONCLUSIONGETTING YOUR
SYSTEMS RIGHT
What strategic effort fits your business?
What is your organisational focus?
People Process Technology
Scenarios - improving incrementally
Incremental, flexible
• Identify chokepoint
• What is the key impact?
• Devise a solution
• Implement
• Review
Selling stuff
• Salesforce automation
• Electronic mobile
workflow
Doing stuff
• Location based services
• Digital evidence
gathering
Administering stuff
• Fixed mobile
convergence
• Teleworking technologies
Turning strategy into action
Rightsourcing ICT
Turning strategy into action
CONCLUSION
Conclusion – meeting the challenges of IT
Information Technology & Management Centre of Excellence
Forthcoming: Social networking policies & procedures
CONTACT DETAILS
Micheal Axelsen
Director, Applied Insight Pty Ltd
m: 0412 526 375
t: +61 7 3139 0325
blog: www.michealaxelsen.com
Applied Insight Pty Ltd
PO Box 603
Toowong DC 4066
AUSTRALIA