On the subject of recruitment, please outline the issues, as you see them today, for maintaining and retaining a workforce of sufficient proficiency, especially in terms of training.
It is critical for me as CIO to be able to recruit the brightest talent and gather the most advanced skill-sets around the world. Obviously, the technology is now advanced, robust and reliable, so it's very much a matter of finding smart people who are well-trained enough to get the best out of our IT solutions.
In my 560-strong GIS (Global Information Services) organization, we have designed a clear training development plan and have categorized everyone according to 12 roles. I make sure our people achieve industry certification in each of the 12 categories they fall into. About 75 percent of our GIS team members already hold ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) certification, with many others holding CISSP (Certified Internet Systems Security Professional) accreditation.
Do you think that IT people today are any different from 15 years ago?
I think it is important to fully understand IT people and what makes them tick. For example, they are not necessarily motivated just by money--but they do thrive on access to the latest technology. They want the very best they can get in training and skills, so that they can be proud of their capabilities.
CA truly understands IT people and the kind of values and priorities they hold. That's why we will be spending about US$1 million a year on the training program I mentioned. As well as producing very clear standards of accreditation, the results will include greater career satisfaction for the GIS workforce and enhanced skill-sets that will ultimately benefit customers.
Describe CA's IT environment. Do you feel it meets the requirements of a leading global IT company, and how do you plan to improve CA's IT environment?
My organization comprises enterprise infrastructure services, business solutions and compliance security. Our IT hubs are Islandia in New York State and Chicago in the United States, London, Hyderabad in India and Sydney in Australia. The following statistics help to give an idea of the scale of our organization:
- 40,000+ network devices;
- 1,300+ production servers running Linux, Unix and Windows;
- Four IBM mainframes, [with] 20+ LPARs (logical partitions), [and capable of computing] 15K MIPS (million instructions per second);
- 1,500+ voice and data circuits worldwide;
- 150+ phone systems;
- 300+ routers and 465+ switches;
- 500+ TB of array storage;
- [Customized] and packaged applications.
[In addition], we have just started [the third year] of a large-scale SAP implementation, which is aggressive, as we are replacing older applications. Having said that, a few "extended" applications will interface with our SAP core, [and] these are a combination of internal applications and remotely-hosted services.
As a global company, CA must cope with a variety of regulations around the world. How does CA manage these various IT resources and satisfy differing regulations?
We run a matrix IT organization to provide dedicated support within individual geographies, but which also remains aligned with the organization's overarching IT disciplines. For example, I have staff in Korea that report to the international IT team, but take overall functional direction from our head office in the United States. This ensures that both local and international standards are followed and that our overall environment cannot be compromised.
GIS people on the ground are trained in regional regulations that often differ around the world. Most importantly, my staff is distributed around the world in such a way [so] as to make sure we are close to our internal clients. After all, CA has some 15,000 employees globally.
Do you think CA should be focusing on other parts of the IT management spectrum? In other words, does your portfolio have any gaps, in your opinion as CIO?
We are in all the right spaces, as far as our products are concerned. Our portfolio is very mature in some areas, with room for improvement in others. CA believes in the philosophy of continuous improvement. The last two years have seen CA making some very tactical acquisitions to fill gaps in our portfolio. Frankly, today's CA portfolio is the best CA has ever had--we are in better shape than ever before to achieve our EITM vision to unify and simplify IT management for MNCs (multinational corporations) and enterprises alike.
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