I have long admired Peter F. Drucker and his works. One of my favorite quotes is” the best way to predict your future is to create it”, which is exactly what I have been doing for the past year.
Since moving to Switzerland, social media has taken a back-seat. I was fully focused on finalizing the dynamics of my new leadership team, reaching out to the business, and establishing myself within UBS. And now it is time to revisit the social media arena.
Earlier this year, I was surprised and honored to receive the #2 spot on the top 100 most social CIOs on Twitter 2014. My social media activity has been practically non-existent compared to my earlier activities. I still see a significant potential for CIOs to be more active on social media.
When I reflect on the past year I see that the consumerization of IT is important, no matter which industry you are in. I noticed this when I changed from the hi-tech industry to the financial services industry. Getting the right balance for the consumer experience for the end user in the enterprise, in the banking environment and in my case, the level of investment to make in applications for banking mobile applications is critical. Consumer friendly is the way forward. Complexity is an unnecessary hurdle for innovation.
Consumerization of IT is not a one-off event. New devices are entering the market at an unbelievable pace. I am still hungry for the next new trend, most innovative gadget and am eager to see how wearable devices can be put to use at an enterprise level. The key question from an enterprise level always remain the same – should we embrace this gadget/trend or not, no matter which industry.
However, the issue keeping me awake most at night, is securing application services without limiting usability and user experience, whilst fending off cyber threats. The balance that ends this risk and brings usability is an ongoing challenge for CIOs of today. The cloud could be the answer here. Depending on industry, region and security I see a different speed of embracing, which confirms the way IT is delivering services is in the middle of a big change.