Episode 2

IT as Problem Solvers

Published on: 25th July, 2023

On this episode of The Smart IT Podcast, I welcomed Gerald Caponera, GM Risk Products at ThreatConnect, to the show where we chatted about the value of IT to the business by pivoting to the challenges IT faces in communicating what it does it as opposed to its intrinsic value. That value is all work enabling innovative technology to work in a way that powers digital transformation. How that rapid rate of change in the business environment is driven by IT’s ability to introduce new capabilities. It is not just business that is innovative; IT is as well. We discussed several insightful areas, including:

  • There is a dichotomy at play: as it gets easier for the business to use tech, IT does an excellent job of masking the backend complexity. 
  • How risk compounded in one area of the business can impact risk in another area. 
  • Exploring the types of tradeoffs organizations must make between business timelines and security considerations. 
  • Using common risk language communicated across various teams to help support strategic and operational decisions for deploying new capabilities into the field. 
  • Decision tradeoffs between time to value and security, speed versus cost, quality versus cost. New and improved skill of balancing cost, schedule, and capabilities. Quality takes time, otherwise you can introduce new risks. 
  • Need traceability for our decisions that can be defended. Must communicate this in a way that everyone understands. Making smart decisions faster with better collaboration. Managing risk better to feed in decision making process. 
  • IT moves so fast, cyber must continue to adapt and security professionals must become risk practitioners. Money is an effective way to standardize the language of impact and tradeoffs as better linkage to the business. 

Parting thoughts on future professional skill development is too always keep learning. So many options to learn and improve soft skills like communication, teaming, and collaboration. Always be learning something new.

 

Learn More Information:

LinkedIn: Gerald Caponera

#crq #cyberriskquantification #unittesting #scrum #leadership #communication #team #teambuilding

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About the Podcast

The Smart IT Podcast
Where IT explores what's next...
The Smart IT Podcast, where IT professionals can assemble and hear from each other, industry leaders, thought leaders, and those in adjacent fields to collaborate and learn from each other and explore what’s next for IT.

The Smart IT Podcast explores what’s next for IT as it continues to find ways to get the important things done for our organizations.
Preparing for the next decade, we need to think differently about how we approach our work to continue to thrive into the future.

Smart IT is an approach, conceptual framework, and development model to getting the important things done by transforming the way traditional IT thinks, works, and leads. It supports the disruption of the status quo, simplifies the complex, reduces uncertainty, and improves risk mitigation.

There has never been more pressure to deliver for our organizations; but I know IT is up to the challenge.

That will require IT to lead by working smarter. Let’s do it together.

About your host

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William Reed

I am an advisor of technology for business use, have seen the possibilities, the challenges, the constraints, and the risks. I have seen firsthand the technical debt, silos, broken communication, despair of IT, and business frustrations. And, I have seen the possibilities, the hopes, and the opportunities while working in the trenches of IT.

As someone that has analyzed, designed, built, and supported technology infrastructure for many businesses over the years, and followed the technology trends and cyber threats, I see the opportunities for our organizations and for the professionals of IT as a fulfilling and thriving career.

I believe we have been blessed with great opportunities to continue to improve ourselves and organizations. If it’s possible, there is no reason enterprise IT cannot reach new heights and help our businesses thrive in age of disruption, complexity, and risk.

I have a passion is bringing a fresh perspective to the challenges in front of IT and help inspire a team to tackle and win. And to help individuals and organizations make better decisions to improve outcomes and experiences.

I advise on matters of technology use for organizational benefits. He has over 20 years’ experience in the Information Technology field. He has worked for multiple technology value added resellers, representing the major vendors and technologies in the industry. He has consulted across the major industries, including banking, health care, retail, oil & gas, education, government, finance, and legal.