When it comes to technology, you and I both know that it’s best to let the experts take the lead. Your customers, well-intentioned though they may be, may disagree—and not to their benefit. Do you have a “Do-it-Yourself” client?.
With thousands of different brands that are not always compatible, millions of different configurations, and innumerable ways a network can be compromised, your customers’ technology should not be a DIY job.
For a long time, the most effective way for an organization to benefit from the power of IT required committing to a single vendor’s technology ecosystem.
You bought or leased the designated hardware on which you ran the designated software and, perhaps, a compatible service or two. But when you inevitably bumped into the limits of your chosen technology ecosystem, you faced a stark choice:
Either give up on that capability you were hoping to implement in the manner that would serve your business best — or alter the way your business operated in order to “sort of” get at least some of what you needed from the technology ecosystem in which you’d already invested plenty.
Typically, technology customization stayed out of reach and businesses were cornered into the second option, forced to adapt to the technology tools available rather than the other way around. Certainly, the ecosystem vendors didn’t mind, as customer lock-in proved extremely profitable.
When clients contemplating a move to the cloud ask for advice, we tell them to start by being realistic about what cloud computing actually offers. Yes, the cloud frees budgets from constant investment in infrastructure, reducing CapEx expenditure. But the cloud is a technology, not a solution that will automatically deliver benefits like faster time-to-market or streamlined methods or a fix for personnel or process issues within your enterprise. Next, we advocate a know thyself approach. You’ll get the most
Have you noticed how customers are talking more about risk these days? Not surprising, given the spectacular nature of recent hacks and immobilizing disasters. Yet, all forms of risk that threaten your customers’ environments and reputation are only part of a much larger problem which you can help resolve. Begin by strategizing with your customers using these key tips:
These days, two-thirds of all applications rely on open-source components. While open source has many virtues, it also has a key vice: once an open source component is integrated into an application, that app inherits any vulnerabilities it contains.
Further, whenever that application is referenced by other software, the inheritance of the initial vulnerability persists. The 2014 Heartbleed bug occurred in this way, and some version of this issue is likely to keep happening because most vendors don’t list all the third-party components their software relies on.
Ensuring data security can be tough, since attacks and breaches and plain old mistakes have so many sources. Often the real cause of a technology risk is deeply buried. Consider this example :
