NC1705

NETWORKNEWS
NETWORK NEWS - MOVES, ADDS AND CHANGES
A REGULAR LOOK AT THE STORIES INVOLVING PEOPLE, COMPANIES AND SOLUTIONS
Preparing an organisation to profit
from the opportunities offered by a
digital world - digital transformation
- is growing in significance, and its
impact is being firmly felt by IT professionals.
According to a survey undertaken
by Talend, 88 per cent of IT leaders
believe that their organisation truly
understands its customers, but in contrast,
only 61 per cent of consumers felt
that companies understand their needs.
From the survey conducted by
Researchscape, 63 per cent of IT respondents
indicated that using data to better
understand customers is a top business
priority for 2017, with 80 per cent ranking
it at an 8 or above on a 10-point
scale. It's clear that IT organisations must
recognise the importance of putting customer
data in the hands of more employees,
with 80 per cent of surveyed companies
indicating they're making customer
data accessible across business units.
Ashley Stirrup of Talend said, "While the
majority of companies recognise the
importance of data in driving company
strategy, many are scratching the surface
when it comes to understanding the dramatic
impact customer-360 initiatives
can have…"
Digital transformation is still in its infancy
and a consensus has yet to be established,
but one thing is for sure - the network
will be central to success. In another
survey, 67 per cent of network managers
said that a digital strategy was
important to reduce the threat from competitors,
yet 49 per cent say legacy technology
holds them back, according to a
survey conducted by Axians UK. They say
that this comes at a time when the lack
of digital transformation is actually forcing
companies into administration, citing
fashion retailer Jaeger, who went into
administration part way through a digital
transformation project.
Russell Crampin at Axians says,
"Organisations are risking reputation and
can't always obtain adequate skills, causing
disparity between the long-term business
vision and the present reality for network
managers. CIO's must look beyond
software… to truly address the digital
strategy and secure success."
Ransomware, another current topic,
would benefit from Government intervention.
This is according to Sean Sullivan,
Security Advisor at F-Secure. He claims
that the availability of Bitcoin has made
crypto-ransomware's business model
viable and profitable, feeding an online
crimewave.
"Bitcoin survived and thrived during the
last U.S. presidential administration," says
Sullivan, adding that "... if the U.S. pursues
all the forms of potentially illegal
payments, ransomware's growth could be
abated. Otherwise, we expect to see the
new ransomware families we discovered
in 2017 to at least double."
Could it be that Bitcoin is ransomware's
only constraint? Apparently Chinese companies
have made considerable investments
into the vast server farms needed
to mine the digital currency, resulting in
42 per cent of Bitcoin transactions last
year taking place in China exchanges,
according to the New York Times.
Sullivan concludes, "The U.S. Government
has shown little interest in legitimising the
virtual currency as investment…"
We are often reminded that IT is experiencing
a skills shortage and it appears
that demand is growing. The global IT
trade association CompTIA has said following
some more new research that the
UK technology jobs market got off to a
strong start in 2017, with job postings in
the sector reaching more than 365,000
for the first quarter. Since Q4 of 2016
the amount of IT positions advertised has
increased by nearly 90,000, up from
275,679, meaning that of the total job
posts in this quarter, technology claimed
14 per cent.
Graham Hunter, VP at CompTIA said,
"It is positive to see the technology sector
playing a key role in producing jobs
across the country. The growing investment
in the nation's digital economy
highlights how the IT industry is contributing
to a prosperous UK marketplace." NC
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MAY/JUNE 2017 NETWORKcomputing 7