Becoming Future Flexible - 4 Key Tech Investments for Retail Banking in 2021
LinkedIn
September 02, 2021
Simplify, Streamline and Optimise Data Value! These are the 3 pillars behind the 4 key technology investments that can catalyse retail banking today – and in so doing, provide the foundation to build for digital agility well into the future.
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Tags: AI, Cybersecurity, Fintech, Retail
Acceleration in Innovation! The Latest Breakthroughs in Conversational AI, Computer Vision and Recommender Systems with NVIDIA
LinkedIn
August 05, 2021
It is a dynamic and threshold breaking time for advancing innovation across Conversational Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision and Recommender Systems (RecSys), with NVIDIA accelerating new ground with the launch of TensorRT 8, alongside multiple RecSys competition successes - more on this news in depth shortly! But firstly, let’s set the scene on exactly why this matters so much today. As we move into an Era of Convergence blending algorithm, engineering and culture alike, and reflecting both the level of integration and the increased pace of socio-technical change, it becomes imperative to manage the demands this inevitably creates - in order to optimise the vast opportunities.
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Tags: AI, Cloud, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Inspirational Stories of Social Impact Success Click to Commit - Call For Code
LinkedIn
July 29, 2021
Where Tech Meets Purpose! Are you thinking about submitting an entry to this year’s Call for Code competition? As the phase for submission fast draws to close, the time really is now to ‘Click to Commit’ your entries here! And to help inspire you, here are some inspirational stories of success from previous winners which brings to life the scalable real world impact you can make by taking part. Plus, some insights from the wonderful talent for the future – the voices and actions of brilliant children who I have loved working with, and who show just why this matters so much!
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Tags: Innovation, Sustainability, Climate Change
Enabling Your Data Driven Organisation - Part 2
LinkedIn
June 29, 2021
In Part 1 of this series, we explored the factors that are inhibiting the actualisation of that critical 5th V of Data - Value. And now in Part 2, the focus is all about this enablement and achieving it at scale, taking into consideration the holistic but integral combination of emergent technologies, culture, process, people, partnership and skills. This is the alignment that can afford the active and agile intelligence that can drive sustainable competitive advantage, and moreover, drive societal impact that lasts as well. Thanks again to Thomas Harrer, CTO IBM Server and Storage for a wonderful conversation which is available to listen to in full here.
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Tags: Analytics, AI, Big Data, IoT
Game On! The Wimbledon Championships: Democratising Experience for All
LinkedIn
June 28, 2021
“Today you’re ‘great,’ tomorrow you’re ‘not,’ but then you’re ‘great’ again. It makes for great stories. Now, I always look at the long term and, by doing that, I can stay calm through the storm.” Rodger Federer
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Tags: Analytics, AI, Big Data, Digital Transformation
Enabling Your Data Driven Organization
LinkedIn
June 24, 2021
Achieving data value is arguably the greatest challenge and opportunity organizations face today. Accelerated by the pandemic and rate of change, our expectations have evolved and indeed expanded as we embrace an increasingly hybrid world that demands the data capability to be always on, always sensing, and always accessible; real-time. With remote working levels increased by x5, and research reflecting people wanting that flexibility to stay; cloud spending by enterprises rising significantly [59% from 2018 to $73.8M in 2020 IDG]; ecosystem collaboration expanding; rapid advances in bio and life-sciences creating a sphere of influence across multiple sectors; and global data consumption accelerating by 5 Years, these are trends and impacts set to last! I believe we have entered a new era of convergence, partnership and active agile intelligence.
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Tags: Analytics, Big Data, Cloud
Building Back Stronger – Security as the Foundation for the UK’s Digital Transformation
LinkedIn
June 03, 2021
We have been experiencing ‘a perfect storm’ when it comes to accelerated change and accelerated cybersecurity risks. In the opening plenary to CYBERUK 2021, the National Cyber Security Centre’s flagship annual event, John Lambert, General Manager at the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Centre commented that ‘resilience is created by being tested, and this last year it was tested!’ – a reflection and experience I think we can all relate to. This set the stage for a deep dive webinar session on how Cyber Security is the foundation for the UK’s Digital Transformation.
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Tags: AI, Cybersecurity, Privacy
The Era of the Data Paradox and Ascending the Apex of Change
LinkedIn
May 26, 2021
We are living in the age of the Data Paradox - and an Intention or Assumption and Reality Gap. In 2020, simulation research found that the natural assumption that increases in data would make it more likely that data mining would discover valuable new and previously unknown relationships was flawed – in reality, the patterns and associations identified were found to be more spurious. Briefly, this came down to a lack of human-machine partnership, with more people involvement necessitated within AI/ML model specifications to enhance results, and move beyond data volume, to actionable data insights at scale (Smith 2020).
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Tags: Analytics, Big Data, Digital Transformation, Future of Work
Driving Trust, Agility and Security With Glen Robinson, National Technology Officer at Microsoft UK
LinkedIn
May 13, 2021
As an ‘adventurer and explorer, in both the physical and digital worlds’, Glen Robinson is perhaps uniquely prepared to navigate the acceleration in hybrid working, learning and living that we have all experienced over the last year. And as National Technology Officer (NTO) at Microsoft UK, he is also uniquely placed at the intersection of technology, policy, impact, education and regulation to make a difference. Helping navigate the challenges, and enabling the opportunities hybridity brings, so that customers, partners and community alike can all achieve more. With so many takeaways from our recent discussion, here are some of my highlights, providing insights into the many different aspects impacting security, the tangible steps you can take today, and both the technology and education support available and accessible - from SME right through to Enterprise.
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Tags: Cloud, Cybersecurity
Powering an Inclusive Future for All
LinkedIn
May 07, 2021
When we feel we belong then we are living, working and socializing in an empowered space where views, beliefs and values are integrated and consequently, personal growth and collective innovation thrives. To advance inclusion in 2021 and beyond, I believe focusing on belonging must now take center stage which can only be achieved by enabling inclusion to its fullest spectrum. This recognises that diversity comes in many forms, across gender, age, ethnicity and disability right through to place, finances, social mobility and skills – truly a diversity of experience. Inclusion for all must therefore both enable both a democratization of opportunities to access, and a democratization of opportunities to develop too.
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Tags: Innovation, Edtech, Future of Work, Diversity and Inclusion
Pioneering Startup, to Pioneering Leadership in Enterprise Cloud & HCI: Meet Nutanix
LinkedIn
March 17, 2021
From Datacentre to DevOps to Desktop, our technology needs have changed and organisations today are increasingly seeking ways to achieve new economic and business value advantages enabled by IT. This can range from increased efficiency and cost savings, to the enhanced automation and real-time AI enabled insights to identify new innovation and accelerated time-to-market opportunities. Today, Nutanix stands as a pioneering leader in the enterprise cloud software and hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) space that addresses these very needs - bringing together compute, storage, networking and virtualisation, in one invisible stack. HCI enables lower TCO, increased performance, and greater productivity within IT teams. But what was the journey to get here and what were the key milestones along the way? Who are the people and the underpinning culture behind the technology? And what areas of differentiation are helping Nutanix stand out to become ‘the techie platform of choice’?
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Tags: Cloud, Digital Transformation, Startups
Scaling New Heights! How To Get Leadership Talking About Cloud
LinkedIn
March 04, 2021
IT and Business strategic alignment has always been critical. But I believe never more so with the acceleration in digital transformation actualised in the last 12 months, meeting needs for remote/hybrid work capabilities, secure connectivity and advanced analytics to unlock real time and actionable insights from data. But achieving this alignment has also always been a challenging area, underpinned by recent research by IDG establishing that CIOs and CEOs are not ‘talking to each other enough’ about IT, and specifically about cloud. What are the key issues, and why does this matter so much?
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Tags: Cloud, Emerging Technology, Leadership
How to ‘Conquer Every Cloud’ The 4 C’s of Cost, Cyber, Cloud, Compliance + Culture
LinkedIn
February 25, 2021
The alignment of people, technology, processes, culture and skills are core catalysts for agile and scalable digital transformation that lasts - and the recent ‘Conquer Every Cloud’ virtual conference by Veritas Technologies afforded exactly that critical combination in focus. This was a conference designed to support businesses in overcoming challenges, notably managing and protecting data in the cloud, and optimising the opportunities, especially as we transition beyond the pandemic. As I recently discussed on a panel exploring the future of digital events, it was fantastic to see such strong attention to detail in the curation of the day – right across design, content and audience engagement. And all sessions are now available On-Demand Until March 31st. Some highlights below!
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Tags: Big Data, Cloud, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Driving Innovation and Digital Transformation The Key Imperatives For Change
LinkedIn
January 28, 2021
At a time of accelerating change impacting across all sectors, how can we better develop the capacity to meet these needs with speed, resilience and confidence too? This was the focus of our recent session ‘Key imperatives to help drive innovation and digital transformation’ at the Cloud and AI Forum bringing together expertise from across IBM and RedHat, now available on demand.
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Tags: Big Data, Cloud, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Empowering Digital Transformation from SME to Enterprise - From Data Storage to Data Driven
LinkedIn
January 14, 2021
We create over 2.5 Quintillion bytes of data every single day - set to reach some 175 zettabytes a year by 2025, according to IDC. Indeed, the total amount of data in the world is doubling every 1-2 years and organisations must store it for longer to meet business, regulatory and compliance requirements, which often vary by geographical location. Additionally, not all data is made equal and so demands will vary regards from data sensitivity and protection, opportunity for reuse and speed of accessibility too.
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Tags: Big Data, Cloud, Digital Transformation
Innovation Actualised for Business and Society: SAP Innovation Awards 2021
LinkedIn
January 12, 2021
Inspirational innovation successes delivering sustainable impact and solving challenges across business and society - as we enter the final weeks for submissions to the SAP Innovation Awards 2021, the time really is now to make your entries before the deadline of February 1st! The categories for 2021 are Social Catalyst, Industry Leader, Partner Paragon, Business Innovator, Transformation Champion, Cloud Genius and Adoption Superhero – aiming to recognise and celebrate future-thinking companies and individuals that are actively harnessing the capabilities of SAP product solutions and advanced technologies to drive innovation creating positive economic, environmental, and social impact at scale.
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Tags: Cloud, Innovation, Sustainability
A Zettabyte World: The Data-Education Partnership Opportunity
LinkedIn
January 05, 2021
Our digital world is encapsulated by the three V’s of Data – Volume, Veracity, Velocity and in the context of a 4th V – Volatility. It is now entering a new phase where humans and machines will generate, at minimum, 175 Zettabytes of data over the next five years alone. Putting this into context, if you were to store 175 zettabytes onto DVDs, the stack would be long enough to circle the Earth 222 times (IDC 2018). This rate of acceleration will only increase with 5G becoming mainstream and the number of IoT devices set to double by 2025. While the impact is cross sectoral, as described in the new Dell Technologies “The Zettabyte World” eBook. this piece is focused on education.
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Tags: AI, Big Data, Future of Work
A New Technology Diplomacy: Our Imperative for Global Progress From 5G and Security, to Tech as a Force for Good
LinkedIn
December 29, 2020
I believe the time for advocating and accelerating a global Tech Diplomacy is now, especially as we pause to reflect, reframe and reimagine the future into 2021. The advance and increasing intersection of emerging technologies affords significant promise for the global good, with the pandemic bringing tech to the fore as the vital conduit that goes beyond connectivity, to the very nature of connection itself. In addition, we see the critical enabling role of technology for digital transformation for business and society across a range of sectors, from early disease detection and treatment development, to negating climate change impacts and addressing digital equity gaps by democratizing accessibility. Collaborative action has proved key, a case in point being the development of the High Performance Computing (HPC) Consortium bringing together academia/research and tech vendors in a spirit of collaboration not competition to combat a common goal, in this example the fight against COVID-19.
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Tags: Cloud, Future of Work, Climate Change, 5G
The Machine Learning Imperative: Empowering Business to Innovate Faster - Giving Builders the Freedom to (Re)Invent
LinkedIn
December 22, 2020
Machine Learning took centre stage at AWS reInvent from being a key focus in the opening keynote by CEO Andy Jassy, to the entire focus of the inaugural ML keynote by Swami Sivasubramanian, VP of Amazon Machine Learning – very fitting given AWS being such an early adopter of ML at the core of their business. In combination, this resulted in an inspiring plethora of transformational announcements covering Instances; Data, Search and Analytics; Amazon SageMaker; Development and Application Performance; Devices; Amazon Connect; Industrial/Manufacturing/Commercial; Conversation and Text. These aim to benefit all user types and with tools tailorable to different environments - from novices to field experts, from SMBs to large scale enterprises, and across a diversity of industry sectors.
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Tags: AI, Big Data, Cloud, Digital Transformation
The IoT Security Challenge: A Digital Assurance Imperative
LinkedIn
December 21, 2020
We are racing to digitalize everything. Seeking to take advantage of the combination of big data insights, improved connectivity and emergent technology integration, from improving business efficiencies, performance and resiliency, to enabling education and training, as catalysed by the hybridisation impact of COVID-19. As a result, we are living in an increasingly interconnected, always on, always sensing and intelligent world and this pace, scale and hybridity of innovation and digital transformation is only set to accelerate. It is estimated that by 2025 the number of IoT connections will more than double to some 75 Billion connected devices creating significant new value. As an example the revenue in the IoT value chain generated from cellular and LPWA connections is estimated to reach some $211 billion by 2028, primarily from applications and hardware (Analysys Mason). And in respect to IIoT, this is estimated to reach over $922 Billion by 2025.
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Tags: Cloud, Cybersecurity, Digital Transformation, IoT
Power Partnerships and Tech For Good IBM Power Systems & SAP HANA
LinkedIn
December 17, 2020
In this year probably more than any other, the power of partnership has come to the fore, proving to be a core catalyst for accelerating innovation, and at scale. And as the year draws to close, and with the power of words able to affect our reality, perhaps now is the time to reframe the narrative of the pandemic towards one of a contagion of positive change. One with integrative emergent technology, collaborative ecosystems and trusted partnership at its heart. A very tangible example of this is the long established relationship between IBM Power Systems and SAP HANA creating shared value for business and wider society too. Let’s explore some examples of this positive power partnership in action!
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Tags: Big Data, Cloud, Digital Transformation, Sustainability
Technology as Empowerment 5G for Good
LinkedIn
December 16, 2020
Why is it that innovation always seems more possible during a crisis? Reflecting on 2020 and all that has been achieved, technology as empowerment has deservedly become centre stage. Indeed, this is a global imperative embedded in the must-have achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 2030. From the NHS in the UK building a 4,000-bed hospital in just 4 days, to the global HPC Consortium advancing vaccine development by years through AI/ML technology and researcher collaboration - the acceleration of innovation has seen digital transformation programs exceed all expectations.
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Tags: Big Data, Innovation, 5G, Ecosystems
Data As Insight - Powered by Hybrid Multi Cloud Storage
LinkedIn
December 14, 2020
Data as insight - with its value leveraged to accomplish business, technology and broader societal objectives - this is the vision of the data driven enterprise fit for purpose for Industry 4.0. Data is the ‘currency’ of our time with the rate and impact of change creating an array of opportunities to enable nuanced informed decision-making, improved cost management, enhanced employee and customer engagement/experiences and strategic competitive edge. But it raises challenges and vulnerabilities too, especially in respect to security, privacy, integration and compliance – and underpinning this, having the requisite skills, agility, trust and architecture. Managing the ‘data deluge’ is critical too with data volumes, velocity, veracity and volatility only set to increase - and so the agility with which organizations can organize, maximize and apply their data is becoming an imperative for sustainable success.
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Tags: AI, Big Data, Cloud, Future of Work
SAP Innovation Awards 2021 Inspirational Stories of Success
LinkedIn
December 11, 2020
In a global environment of rapid change and uncertainty, inspiring change and developing innovation capacity in organizations has probably never mattered more - and from SME’s to large enterprises alike. This can be the critical catalyst to retain or build sustainable competitive advantage for business, and a driving factor for social impact change. Sharing inspirational stories across incremental and rapid innovation, from process and products, to people and storytelling is increasingly important.
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Tags: Big Data, Digital Transformation, Innovation
Shaping the Future of IT: AI and AIOps
LinkedIn
December 10, 2020
AI and AIOps are transforming the future of work and IT Operations respectively and this pace is only set to accelerate given the pace of digital transformation and the catalyst of COVID-19. So it was a pleasure to take a part in a recent panel hosted by IBM UK and BEE Executive Events on this critical subject area, with this session available now on demand. Here are my takeaways and reflections on shaping the future of IT, covering the adoption of AIOps, AI and automation fears; reducing downtime and improving productivity, collaboration and experience; and achieving workforce balancing across technology, culture and skills. How can companies more easily plan, adopt, and ultimately deploy AIOps more efficiently and what are the primary benefits this will bring? Hint – this is people and tech in partnership.
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Tags: AI, Big Data, Cloud, RPA
Democratizing Access to Connectivity and Digital Literacy: Enabling Every Young Person with Information, Skills, Opportunity and Choice
LinkedIn
November 19, 2020
In this year of reflection, reset and reimagination, November 20th 2020 is World Children’s Day celebrating the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This year is especially poignant marking its 30th anniversary, and the 10 year milestone for achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for which education is vital – enabling upward socioeconomic mobility and the conduit to freedom from poverty.
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Tags: AI, Sustainability, 5G
Sally Eaves: Forecasting a decade where smart tech becomes the norm
irishexaminer
January 08, 2020
Ahead of CIT’s Beyond IoT event later this month, Sally Eaves looks to the changes incoming for our everyday lives.
In 1950, 746m people lived in cities, but just 100 years later in 2050, this is anticipated to surpass 6bn — some 66% of the world’s population.
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Tags: AI, Emerging Technology, Mobility
The Future of DevOps: Purpose and the Integration of People Process, Practices and Products
linkedin
June 27, 2019
Despite a perennially evolving definition, ‘DevOps’ is all about integration. It brings together processes, people, practices and products to deliver new application value faster, more stably and with enhanced quality through a continuous delivery pipeline to better meet the dynamic needs of consumers. A DevOps approach aims to break down the potential for silo-ed development and operations activity – but offers far more than this to enable a tangible improvement on earlier methodologies such as waterfall, prototyping, spiral, rapid application, joint application and most recently agile. Fostering a culture of collaboration, tighter feedback loops and an ethos of constant refinement and discovery is an integral part of this end to end process, bringing people together to work towards a shared vision and goals, versioning, automation, measurement and improvement. According to the latest World Quality Report - 99% of respondents are now using DevOps practices in their organisation.
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Tags: AI, Blockchain, Digital Transformation
Industrial Companies are Ready for 5G, says Capgemini
linkedin
June 06, 2019
5G has been one of the most ‘hyped’ technologies over the last 12 months – with continual media headlines covering everything from the advent of 5G phones and the need for speed, concerns around cybersecurity, and above all, whether it will deliver on ever rising expectations. 5G was undoubtedly the overarching theme from attending this year’s Mobile World Congress which I have written about previously.
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Tags: AI, AR/VR, Digital Transformation, 5G
From 5G, AI and Devices, to Trust and Digital Inclusion – MWC19 with Huawei
linkedin
March 15, 2019
A fusion of technology, media and telecoms encapsulates Mobile World Congress Barcelona (MWC19) and this year, beyond typical headline attracting announcements around 5G, AI and device innovation, there were two interlinked themes integral across sessions – that of Digital Trust and Digital Inclusion.
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Tags: AI, Digital Transformation, Diversity and Inclusion, 5G
Shifting Gears – From AI to Machine Learning: Tech Takeaways Transforming the Tour De France and Beyond
LinkedIn
August 15, 2017
Over three pulsating weeks from Düsseldorf to the Champs-Elysées, fans of the 104th edition of the Tour De France have been treated to an immersive, real-time and increasingly co-created viewing experience, powered by the Internet of Things, Machine Learning and Data Analytics. In terms of key numbers, this equates to 198 riders in 22 teams generating over 150 million geospatial and environmental data readings along the 3,540km (2,200 mile) route.
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Tags: Analytics, AI, IoT
Conceptualising technology, its development and future: The six genres of technology
Technological Forecasting and Social Change
November 01, 2020
One approach to developing futuristic views of technology is to draw upon experience and expertise. However, this becomes increasingly speculative as one moves to more distant timelines and visionary technological forms. This raises the question of whether it is possible to rationally predict how a technology development trajectory might unfold into the future, perhaps to some ‘ultimate form’, that is accessible, surfaces the necessary technological features for development as well as considers the implications for human–artefact relationships.
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Tags: AI, Digital Transformation, Management
Mind the gap: But Does the gap Matter in Social Science Research?
European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies
July 01, 2018
This paper explores the issue of the ‘gap’between research and practice in the social sciences with specific focus upon business and management domains. This is important and timely given the current interest by funding bodies in the impactful nature of research. However, it is also problematic since such research is frequently viewed as irrelevant by the practitioners it is intended to impact. On the one hand, there is a need to advance knowledge which is abstract and conceptual, though, not uncommonly, whilst empirically grounded, this is construed as being that which is interesting by the scholarly community, where the emphasis is upon developing the field. This is compounded by the need to consistently publish in ‘quality’journals. On the other hand, are the requirements of practitioners which are driven by a solution provision and immediate relevance orientation, with scant regard for rigour. This emphasis upon results is to the detriment of theory and the needs of researchers for quality empirical data. This invites the question of how to bridge this gap in terms of what is construed by both academics and practitioner as relevant. In response, attention is dawn to such approaches that attempt to bridge this gap, such as Pragmatism, Action Research, Constructive Research and Interventionist Research. Each claims to have their own orientation, with associated advantages-disadvantages. However, these, questionably fail to resolve complex situations characterised by multiple views as to what the problem is. This invites attention to Problem Structuring Methodologies (PSMs), in particular, the Cybernetic Methodology, which offer an approach to …
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Social, Management
The Emergence of Makerspaces, Hackerspaces and Fab Labs: Dewey’s Democratic Communities of the Twenty-first Century?
Dewey and Education in the 21st Century- Emerald Publishing Limited
June 05, 2018
Whatever has transpired between the publication of Dewey’s D&E (1916) and the present, his vision of the empowered individual clearly manifests in the makerspace. It allows individuals to break free from the limitations of the formal educational system and, as part of a social learning community, discover their potential in new, natural, non-linear and often unexpected ways. Further, and perhaps only just beginning to be understood, is its wider potential to ignite alternative approaches on how to contribute to society and catalysing new directions for the future of work. With increasing research insights alongside broadened awareness of the possibilities, individuals can gain the capability to design and build for their future – that is only limited by their capacity to imagine it.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Management, Culture
Making it happen: The pivotal role of knowledge sharing for information technology deployment success during joint venture change
Strategic Change
May 29, 2018
Tacit and explicit knowledge sharing must be continually cultivated to enable information technology implementation success. Effective information technology deployment necessitates a holistic focus beyond technical and legacy factors to include social, organizational, political, and interpersonal dimensions. Attention to cultural integration is a critical component of managing joint venture change and building employee engagement, perception of legitimacy and knowledge sharing norms. Individual employees occupy a key role in determining intended strategic impacts by committing to and enacting change efforts, particularly though making discretionary decisions to share their knowledge or alternatively to hoard, hide or disengage from sharing; an outcome which may be influenced by perceptions on knowledge ownership and value.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Management, Business Strategy
Towards digital transformation: Lessons learned from traditional organizations
Strategic Change
March 26, 2018
Digitally enabled organizations are supported by new information and communication technologies, referred to as digital technologies, which increasingly promise enormous opportunities for growth. The study reviews 10 case studies from the literature and analysis the approaches these organizations have taken to successfully implement digital technologies. The findings reveal a conceptual framework that seeks to support management in understanding the actions required to implement digital transformation.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Innovation, Management
In search of an autoethnographic method
European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies
June 01, 2017
This paper examines two research situations using the method of autoethnography. This is a contentious yet valid approach to research which can reveal that which is hidden from conventional approaches. The aim is to examine how an autoethnographic account of two unrelated studies elucidates shared issues relating to research practice, and to argue for its legitimacy. This results in a collaborative autoethnography as the authors share their respective experiences to create a shared domain of experience. The first study relates to a two year collaborative research project which failed to create the conditions for one of the researchers to conduct the study expected. The second relates to the practices of learning and unlearning in organic community spaces such as found in makerspaces. Both accounts are contextually embedded personal critical reflections that provide more than the primarily descriptive accounts that characterise an autobiography. They reveal the tensions and frustrations of research as a personal and messy process, with expectations from stakeholders which can be contentious. The value of this paper is that it firstly supports arguments about the messiness of research. More critically, it presents an argument as to why an autoethnographic approach is a valid method to address this topic. It uses the empirical evidence of experience to examine the scholastic debate and present a contribution to the debate about the appropriateness of personal experience as a research method. It is concluded that an autoethnographic approach is valid within the qualitative toolkit of methods.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Social, Management
Employing a Mixed Methods Approach to Benefit Business‑IT Alignment and Levels of Maturity
Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods
November 01, 2015
This paper examines the design, implementation, benefits and challenges of employing a mixed methods research approach with the aim to provide an emergent, integrative and multi‑layered perspective on Business‑IT alignment influences and maturity measurement. The application of mixed methods is underutilised in this domain and it is opined that it can serve to elucidate this perennial, but often elusive, core objective of senior management. It also begins to redress the predominance of quantitative studies and the frequent application of tools and techniques in isolation, not combination. The case of a leading UK Communications Service Provider in a two year period of joint venture integration provides a transformational context for examination, with a methodological focus. It is argued that mixed methods can achieve a mutually supporting depth and breadth of coverage that is appropriate to complex and multifaceted phenomena such as Business‑IT alignment and facilitates consideration of both process and outcomes. A transparently presented two phased, sequential exploratory and emergent design is adopted, with embedded integration. This is underpinned by a reflexive and intelligent‑action orientated pragmatic lens. Innovative use of observation, photography, interviews, focus groups and survey data are synthesised to unfold the Business‑IT alignment relationship, whilst the Strategic Alignment Maturity Model supports incremental maturity evaluation. The approach facilitates a responsive, integrative, pluralistic and holistic evaluation of alignment and maturity measurement, moving beyond traditional snapshot techniques. It …
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Management, Business Strategy
From Art for Arts Sake to Art as Means of Knowing: A Rationale for Advancing Arts‑Based Methods in Research, Practice and Pedagogy
The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods
November 01, 2014
This paper advances a philosophically informed rationale for the broader, reflexive and practical application of arts‑based methods to benefit research, practice and pedagogy. It addresses the complexity and diversity of learning and knowing, foregrounding a cohabitative position and recognition of a plurality of research approaches, tailored and responsive to context. Appreciation of art and aesthetic experience is situated in the everyday, underpinned by multi‑layered exemplars of pragmatic visual‑arts narrative inquiry undertaken in the third, creative and communications sectors. Discussion considers semi‑guided use of arts‑based methods as a conduit for topic engagement, reflection and intersubjective agreement; alongside observation and interpretation of organically employed approaches used by participants within daily norms.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Innovation, Leadership
The art of knowing in research, practice and pedagogy: advancing arts-based and arts-informed methods
Proceedings of the European Conference on Search Methodology for Business and Management
June 01, 2014
This paper foregrounds an appreciation of aesthetic experience and a broadening, cross‐disciplinary application of Arts‐Based and Arts‐Informed methods to benefit the complexity of knowing. Emergent nomenclature and domain understanding is expounded with theory, perspectives, dilemmas, opportunities and practical implications drawn across the pedagogical, research and praxis continuum. Visual‐narrative inquiry employing Dewey’s intelligent‐action orientated pragmatism alongside reflexive and purposeful theoretical and methodological bricolage underpins the discussion. Primary exemplars transverse third sector, creative‐digital social enterprise and high‐technology settings, with phenomena including sensitive issues, empowerment, identity, transition and the human impact of transformational change. Approaches are employed from the perspective of providing visual arts media and technique support as a conduit for participant engagement and collaborative reflection, and further, by observing the organic methods used by participants within their daily norms. The emergent capability for the researcher to explore personal experience through an aesthetic lens is robustly examined. Techniques within scope span handcrafted (drawing), digital (photography), hybrid (cartooning) and performance dimensions (improvised artistic installations). Both the process of creation and the artefact or outcome ultimately produced attains significance as each affords a specific reflexivity benefit. Exploring issues of methodology and epistemology, both the “doing” and its interpretation are expansively considered to support replication, utility and …
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Social, Management
Foregrounding Mixed Methods to Elucidate, Measure and Optimise Business-IT Alignment
European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies
June 01, 2014
This paper foregrounds an emergent and panoptic perspective on Business‐IT alignment influences and maturity measurement achieved through an integrated mixed methods approach, elucidating a perennial, but often elusive core objective of senior management. It begins to redress the predominance of quantitative studies and the frequent application of tools and techniques in isolation, not combination. The transformational context of a UK Communications Service Provider during two years post joint venture benefits novel, multi‐layered and longitudinal examination. It is opined that mixed methods can achieve a mutually supporting depth and breadth of coverage that aligns with relationship complexity and facilitates consideration of both process and outcomes. A transparent two phased, sequential exploratory and emergent construction design is adopted, with embedded integration. This is underpinned by reflexive and intelligent‐-action orientated pragmatism. Innovative use of STRIKE observation, photography, interviews, focus groups and employee survey data are synthesised to unfold the Business‐IT alignment relationship, whilst the Strategic Alignment Maturity Model is selected to support emergent maturity evaluation. The approach facilitates a responsive, synthesised, pluralistic and holistic evaluation of alignment and maturity measurement, moving beyond traditional snapshots. It encourages reflexive, in situ surfacing of core themes and the impact of events, interventions and culture. The design benefits data richness, elaboration, validation, illustration and the identification of situated knowledge regarding enablers, inhibitors and …
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Management
Innovative approaches to knowledge transfer, experiential learning and SME application within business education
Novel Approaches in Business Education
February 12, 2014
The levels, breath and currency of graduate skills and competencies, continual curricula progression and provision for effective life-long learning are foregrounded as a core focus in business education, within a European context. This is essential to achieve the competitive growth and digital literacy aims of the Europe 2020 Strategy, alongside other flagship initiatives including Innovation Union, the Agenda for New Skills for New Jobs, the IPR Strategy'A Single Market for Intellectual Property Rights', a Digital Agenda for Europe and the Creative Europe programme (OECD 2010; European Commission 2014a, 2014b). Business education must also address specific market needs such as fulfilling the 900,000 ICT job vacancies forecast for Europe by 2015 (European Commission 2014b). This is impacted by uneven digital skill levels, a need for enhanced training support for educators and demands for an integrative ICT investment infrastructure (European Commission 2013a)
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Innovation, Management
Middle Management Knowledge by Possession and Position: A Panoptic Examination of Individual Knowledge Sharing Influences
The Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management
January 01, 2014
This paper elucidates the spectra of influences that impact the intra‑organisational tacit and explicit knowledge sharing behaviour of the middle line, a boundary spanning layer highly capable to influence, inform and transform. The approach addresses a deficiency in research that affords an eclectic perspective across both knowledge types simultaneously and at an individual level of analysis. Advancing Ipe’s (2003) conceptual work, the Multidimensional Model of Individual Knowledge Sharing Influences integrates robust and multi‑disciplinary theoretical exposition with empirical validation in four leading UK Communication Sector operators. The model encapsulates the direct influence factors of Motivation to Share, Nature of Knowledge, Opportunity to Share, Culture and the Nature of the Individual. Organisational Velocity provides an original conceptualisation of the continual, episodic and ambiguous change that reflects reality in many post‑industrial settings and is expressed as the tension between centrifugal and centripetal forces acting on the other factors. All six dimensions are shown to impact individual knowledge sharing practice, with underexplored constructs such as personality traits and aspects of demography emerging as significant. Organisational Velocity can operate in a moderating and primarily centrifugal capacity on Motivation to Share, Opportunities to Share and the Nature of the Individual. The study demonstrates that a panoptic, pluralistic and interdisciplinary perspective combining human, social, technological and contextual factors must be considered to understand sharing behaviour and optimise knowledge management interventions. A particular element may not be evaluated in isolation. Further, when factor dynamics are sub‑optimum, the middle line may pragmatically orientate towards personal knowledge management mechanisms. Evidence of hoarding, hiding or disengagement from sharing is identified with some managers electing to utilise their knowledge in possession and network positional opportunity to generate rent in alignment with individual and affiliated group interests, negating its aggregation for wider organisational benefit. Implications for research and practice are fully explored.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Management, Leadership
Advancing Polyphonic, Multi‑layered and Authentic Narrative Inquiry: Actor Sensemaking during Transformational Change
The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods
December 01, 2013
This paper foregrounds multi‑layered and polyphonic narrative inquiry to elucidate an authentic representation of the intersectional sensemaking processes of organisational actors. This can afford particular value during the complex and dynamic circumstances of transformational change, as exemplified within the narrative tension of the joint venture Communications Sector Provider case examined in this study. The approach is panoptic and deeply situated within the context of understanding meaning‑making. This is achieved by adopting a multiplicity of embedded, creative and integrative approaches to narrative elucidation, evaluation and articulation, supported by robust triangulation and process transparency. The original framework STRIKE ‑ STructured Interpretation of the Knowledge Environment is demonstrated to afford particular value as a diagnostic and prescriptive observational tool, based on Wittgenstein's (2001) picture theory of meaning. With notable attention to non‑somatic artefacts, STRIKE surfaces actor sensemaking and emergent narratives in situ. In addition, creative art and visualisation techniques optimise the conduits for direct participant expression, augmenting the traditional focus group method to enhance the capacity for all voices to be heard. The collocation of narrative data within context benefits authenticity and advances the production of coherent and cohesive findings. A holistic, multi‑dimensional, multi‑textured and representational understanding of the problem situation emerges. This brings the criticality of human interaction with the physical as well as the social environment in order to create meaning to sharp focus. It is through an intersection of human‑material, social‑technical dialogue, across physical, textual, linguistic and visual dimensions, that organisational actors maintain, recreate and reinterpret their individual and collective identity as a means to navigate and make sense of, the complex self and group challenges catalysed by transformational change.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Social, Management
An introduction to STRIKE : STRuctured Interpretation of the Knowledge Environment
Proceedings of the 14th European Conference on Knowledge Management
September 05, 2013
Knowledge forms a critical part of the income generation of the system and the complex environment in which actors participate in the creation of knowledge assets merits robust, eclectic consideration. STRIKE - STRuctured Interpretation of the Knowledge Environment affords an unobtrusive and systematic framework to observe, record, evaluate and articulate concrete and abstract elements of a setting, across internal and external dimensions. Inter-relationships between actor and environment are preserved. STRIKE is supported by underlying techniques to enrich data and enhance the authenticity of its representation. Adoption of photography and videography tools provides illustrative and interpretive benefits and facilitates researcher reflexivity. This structured approach to data analysis and evaluation mitigates criticisms of methodological rigour in observational research and affords standardisation potential, germane for application in a verification or longitudinal capacity. Advancing exploratory validation studies, the method is employed to evaluate the knowledge environments of two enterprises in the UK creative sector. These occupy a critical role in fostering entrepreneurial innovation alongside participant self-efficacy. Access Space in Sheffield and the Bristol Hackspace are committed to open software, open knowledge and open participation; sharing peer learning, creativity and socio-technical aims to address broadly similar community needs. Drawing on Wittgenstein’s Picture Theory of Meaning, the knowledge management perspective is abstracted from the STRIKE assessment. It is argued that the tiered analytical approach which considers a breadth of dimensions enhances representation and interpretation of the knowledge environment and presents a diagnostic and prescriptive capability to actualise change. The paper concludes by evaluating framework effectiveness, findings application and future direction.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Management
Mixed methods research: creating fusion from the QUAL and QUAN Data Mosaic
Proceedings of The 12th European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies. Reading, UK, Academic Conferences and Publish
July 04, 2013
There is no single recommended means of discourse for presenting and discussing mixed methods research, with lack of data synthesis and process transparency a frequently cited criticism. This paper addresses the deficiency and explores inventive means of data collection alongside innovative approaches to integrating, analysing and articulating qualitative and quantitative sources. A pragmatic philosophy, supported by theoretical and methodological bricolage is advocated and justified. A panoptic empirical study to elucidate the knowledge sharing influences of middle management in leading UK communication sector operators provides context. A sequential‐exploratory and equally weighted QUAL QUAN design was selected, incorporating emergent evaluation and integration. Innovative qualitative techniques were adopted, namely STRIKE‐STRuctured Interpretation of the Knowledge Environment, photographic analysis and word cloud visualisation, alongside cultural‐web focus groups. This facilitated rich, nuanced and multi‐textured data capture to aid the instrument fidelity of a quantitative cross‐operator survey. Triangulation was undertaken across all sources to assess areas of corroboration, elaboration or dissonance. It is demonstrated that this approach enables a multiplicity of perspectives to build successive deepening of understanding; supports transparency, traceability and synthesis; benefits credibility and validation and provides evidence of methodological robustness. This dynamic approach towards the design, conduct, fusion and presentation of mixed methods research therefore addresses a challenging lacuna: to …
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Innovation, Social
A multi-layered approach to surfacing and analysing organisational narratives: increasing representational authenticity
In Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies
July 04, 2013
This paper presents an integrated, multi‐layered approach to narrative inquiry, elucidating the evolving story of organisational culture through its members and their physical, textual, linguistic and visual dialogue. A dynamic joint venture scenario within the UK hi‐technology sector was explored to advance understanding of the impact of transformation level change, specifically its influence on shared belief systems, values and behavioural norms. STRIKE–STructured Interpretation of the Knowledge Environment is introduced as an innovative technique to support narrative inquiry, providing a structured, unobtrusive framework to observe, record, evaluate and articulate the organisational setting. A manifestation of narrative in physical dialogue is elucidated from which the underlying emotional narrative can be surfaced. Focus groups were conducted alongside STRIKE to acquire a first order retrospective and contemporaneous narrative of culture and enable cross‐method triangulation. Attention was given to non‐verbal signals such as Chronemic, Paralinguistic, Kinesic and Proxemic communication and participants were also afforded opportunities to develop creative output in order to optimise engagement. Photography was employed to enrich STRIKE observation and document focus group output, affording high evidential value whilst providing a frame of reference for reflection. These tools enable a multiplicity of perspectives on narrative as part of methological bricolage. Rich, nuanced and multi‐textured understanding is developed, as well as the identification of connections, timbre and subjugated knowledge. A highly emotional and …
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Social, Management
The Edge of Disruption
Education, Experience and Community: Dewey in 2018
Project Shivom
Sally Eaves Consultancy
