Michael Warrilow, director, Hydrasight
 |
| |
 |
||
| IT should be a business enabler and not an inhibitor to corporate streamlining and growth. | ||
 |
Q: What technology innovation or product are you looking forward to next year?
While I wouldn't say that I'm 'looking forward' to Windows 7, I believe it will be critical for Microsoft to succeed with this release. Windows is a key foundation upon which Microsoft have built their success yet many would argue it is increasingly becoming a noose tied around their neck.
At home, fear of the complexity and effort involved in upgrading to Vista have stymied all but the most ardent gamers and those buying new hardware. In the office, it is rare to find any medium-large organization that has been willing to commit to Vista--whatever the reason. Customers, competitors and the industry in general will therefore be watching Windows 7 with a keen eye. Can Microsoft continue to innovate on the desktop? Will organizations continue to stick with XP? Is there a viable alternative to Windows? Moreover, does the desktop OS matter anymore?
What technology release disappointed you this year?
I would have to say the so-called 'netbook' market because I believe is has failed to innovate as a solution. In a very quick period of time most netbooks have simply become a budget mini-laptop rather that a new or distinct class of device.
What is the biggest challenge facing IT in 2009?
The first is over-confidence. Hydrasight research shows that many organizations in the Asia-Pacific region now feel confident that they can resist most external threats and/or that those attacks will have minimal (if any) financial impact. This high degree of confidence has pervaded IT decision-making with regard to enterprise security.
We believe IT organizations must ensure that over-confidence does not adversely impact security vigilance and overall security posture. There are many new types of attacks rising 'up the stack' and we'll see social engineering be increasingly used, for example in harvesting personal information from Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Plaxo among other social networking sites.
Second, Asia-Pacific organizations must ensure they have made a decision whether it is necessary to continue with a 'best of breed' approach, and at what cost.
Do you expect it to be business as usual, in light of the recession?
Absolutely--for the leading IT organizations.
In 2009, IT departments will still be expected to deliver according to business needs and ever-decreasing timeframes--yet now with slightly tighter budgets. It is therefore the CIOs who took advantage of the 'good times', to develop and prepare their teams, that will fare best in the tougher global and regional economic climate. As a result, I believe 2009 will further differentiate the leading IT organizations in Asia Pacific from the followers.
While there will not be drastic reductions in IT spending, many IT vendors will be forced (or take the opportunity) to reduce headcount in order to demonstrate financial restraint (to shareholders). Similarly, the leading IT organizations in the region will take advantage of the downturn to reduce the bottom 5 percent of their IT personnel.
There are currently no comments for this post.