@tcicco: Manager is the problem, unfortunately. I'm hoping that the upper managment comes to realize that. Until then, I clean messes and keep doing the best I can with what I have to work with.
As far as the C-suite getting too crowded--before they were "Chiefs" they were managers or directors or some other title--so I don't see it as much as getting crowded as being a title change
The main challenge for the Hurricane Katrina response was how to enable our response teams to collaborate across multiple issues--health, environmental, infrastructure, etc. Katrina was so devastating that every major unit in GAO was called upon to assess the impact and recovery. So tying all those unbits together so they could get theior work done and collaborate at the same time was the biggest challenge.
@tcicco: Sounds great, but i'm one of the mess cleaning peons. I try to keep all communications to middle and upper management professional, but it gets darn hard sometimes.
@Tcicco-- I call them shade tree mechanics--they know just enough to get into trouble! I think you have to have an avenue for communicating in a non-emotional way what they messed up, what they should have done and how you are going to work with them to prevent it from happening again. :)
Question: You played an important role in leading the IT response to Hurricane Katrina, I believe. What sticks in your mind as the special challenges you gaced there?
Collaboration among C-suit can be difficult. There is a natural tension--competitiveness. But if the CEO puts the proper incentivces/processes in place (and they don't have to be monetary) I believe you will see collaboration become a norm.
Wow, Tony! It's one thing to talk about implementing some sustainable initiatives, and quite another to be as involved as you are in finding out information and driving new opportunities. Great!
@TCicco: How do you deal with middle management who talk the talk but can't walk the walk when it comes to IT and especially security but end up making a mess of things that they then rely on the 'peons' to clean up? Yet they tell the 'C-suite' that they have it all under control?
In terms of collaborating with the business--it starts with gaining their trust through a well managed and operating IT function. Once you achieve that the business will look to you as a solution provider.
Regarding collaboration, we've spoken a bit on Internet Evolution about the need for harmony and collaboration in the C-suite. Have you found, in your experience, that C-level executives from different departments don't work as well together as they should? (Whether within AEA or in other organizations you've worked for.)
I am a member of the Uptime Institute, the Green Grid and others. These organizations provide a wealth of information. As well as Dept. of Energy and EPA.
I do collaborate with the CXOs in the AEA Group. I report to the AEA CEO but also collaborate with all the executives and try to offer assistance wherever I can.
Are there any publications you read that address sustainability opportunities specifically that you read? I'm thinking CIO Magazine has some articles? Where do you get ideas for new initiatives?
I have looked at the cost of moving to the cloud and when you add in all the services, including security it is not the right move for us. I think if more organizations had the information on their current cost of operations they would be in a better position to make the decision. And yes I am a huge proponent of virtualization
I think the CIO role is much more interesting now than it was 10-15 years ago. With business relying more heavily ontechnology the CIO is in a perfet position to be a game changer--add value to the business by reducing cycle times for business functions, improving BI, etc.
Tcicco, agreed. And a lot of these looking for new attack scenarios are now heavily backed by organized crime funds as well as foreign governments (and even companies like Huawei).
I think we are prepared but with the threats changing daily it is always a concern. There are some very smart people out there who spend all their time looking for new attack scenarios. It is a worry but I feel we are as prepared as we can be.
I think the European community is far ahead of us in having buy-in. We are still resource rich and haven't faced the same energy problems the europeans have. Until them I think we will be lagging in buy-in
I always worry about the potential for a serious cyber attack. We just learned recently were some utilities were breached. A successful attack could be devastating
Tony, also, do you notice any difference in different locales as to how much buy-in you get from the business side, i.e., US vs. other parts of the world?
It is just an acronym now--but I am sure they kept it for name association. AEA still does many of the same functions it did before it went private. A very talented group!
Another question I was going to ask on air was about the need to protect the nation's cyber infrastructure. Tony, do you worry about the United State's preparedness, or lack thereof, for a cyber attack?
Question: I am old enough to remember when AEA meant Atomic Energy Authority. Any reason for keeping that old acronym? Does it mean something different now?
I have toi get the business units to be partners in any initiative to reduce energy cost. I really try to arm myself with facts that compell them to make the necessary changes.
Joanne - The program reduced dorm energy consumption 10-30%. It was somewhat graphical and involved a polar bear that got killed by too much energy consumption.
Joanne, I wouldn't be so sure about that. Granted there are more energy using devices out there, but those devices are a lot more energy efficient than the devices used 10 years ago.
@Lin: Interesting. Energy consumption has increased with technology use. I'm sure college campuses have seen significant increases in energy costs vs. ten years ago.
@SecTech and Joanne: Actually, the example I read had to do with charging government departments for use of storage on site versus in a cloud. If a dept wanted to stay with the premise solution, they had to pay extra.
In some dorms, social pressure was exerted to decrease energy usage by identifiying the dorm rooms that were the biggest energy users. Updated in real time and was very effective at decreasing energy utilization.
@Mary: I'm not sure. I think we need to get more officials elected that have experience in the business world. Career politicians are out of step and out of touch with reality.
@Mary: Interesting point about being charged for energy. If departments, divisions or business units were charged for their energy consumption as a line item, they would probably be motivated to reduce costs.
@SecTech: I think it depends on the company in the private sector. Also, it's a cultural thing. I worked at SAP and the new building constructed was state-of-the-art in sustainability.
@Joanne: I don't know how it is in the real world, but here (local gov't) they want the savings upfront and ongoing, but aren't willing to spend to get what they want. Some of our servers are so old that they aren't energy efficient at all.
@ lin: Are you kidding? I'm the first one in in the AM and I turn the overhead lights off and just turn on a small lamp in my cube. I can't stand the flickering of flourescent lights.
@SecTech: I would think that would be an opportunity for savings, but like you posted, it would cost some money initially to implement it. ROI could probably prove the case to do it.
The other problem is that they want cost savings, but they don't want to do anything that might cost them some money on the initial outlay or that will in any way inconvenience them.
@SecTech - like anything else, that starts at the top. I worked in an office once where the lights automatically turned off. If you were still there, you had to turn them on.
How can you get the people in charge to get on the energy savings bandwagon when they don't even bother to turn out the lights in spaces that aren't being utilized?
I didn't realize this was the same AEA which was the Atomic Energy Authority in the UK when I was growing up. Totally moved away from nuclear power now.
This sounds more than interesting. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it today. :( Good the archive exists, even though the great discussion in the chat I will miss.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
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M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
