computerweekly com ugust -...

COMPUTERWEEKLY.COM 25-31 AUGUST 2015 1

Home

News

CIOs: Reboot your supplier relationships

IT suppliers “must get better” at selling cloud to local councils

Metropolis Studios runs music business expansion on FileMaker

Interview with Jaeger CIO Cathy McCabe: Pushing a design icon into the digital era

Editor’s comment

Buyer’s guide to big data appliances

How to write supplier contracts for agile software development

Dealing with disaster - how will you cope?

Downtime

COMPUTERWEEKLY.COM

XX-XX MONTH 201525-31 AUGUST 2015

SCA

NRA

IL/I

STO

CK

Coping with crisisIT leaders discuss their experiences of dealing with disaster

and the importance of planning to ensure business continuity

http://www.computerweekly.com




Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

Ashley Madison hackers carry out threat to publish user dataA hacking group has reportedly carried out its threat to publish user records if Toronto-based Avid Life Media (ALM) did not take down its cheating site Ashley Madison and dating site Established Men. The group, calling itself the Impact Team, issued the threat in July when it claimed to have com-promised ALM’s user databases, source code repositories, financial records and email system.

DWP to tender for mainframe platform services suppliers The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is on the hunt for mainframe services suppliers as part of its IT transformational programme. The department plans to procure a full range of virtual machine environment services in a contract worth between £250m and £300m, according to a prior infor-mation notice posted on the Official Journal of the European Union.

O2’s self-optimising network will learn from customersO2 has implemented new features on its UK mobile network designed to analyse the activity of custom-ers in real time and make changes to the network on the fly to opti-mise their experience. The mobile network operator has set up two partnerships with self-optimising network technology firm Cellwize and customer experience manage-ment specialist Empirix to add a number of features.

Microsoft issues emergency security patch for IE browser flawMicrosoft has issued an emergency security patch for a newly detected critical zero-day vulnerability in the Internet Explorer (IE) web browser.The remote code execution vul-nerability, which Microsoft said is already exploited in the wild, affects IE7 to 11 on client and server oper-ating systems. Microsoft Edge, the default Windows 10 web browser, is not influenced by the vulnerability.

Premiership Rugby scores security and efficiency with IntralinksPremiership Rugby has improved data security and business efficiency by adopting a web-based content collaboration system from Intralinks.

!Catch up with the latest IT news online

THE WEEK IN IT

MIC

ROSO

FTPA

LIRA

O/I

STO

CK


http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251966/Ashley-Madison-hackers-carry-out-threat-to-publish-user-data













http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251898/DWP-to-tender-for-mainframe-platform-suppliers-in-contract-worth-up-to-300m













http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251998/O2s-self-optimising-network-will-learn-from-customers














http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251968/Microsoft-issues-emergency-security-patch-for-IE-browser-flaw













http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251996/Premiership-Rugby-scores-security-and-efficiency-with-Intralinks



Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

THE WEEK IN IT

Government signs memorandum of understanding with OracleThe UK government has signed a three-year deal with Oracle with the aim of saving on licensing costs. The memorandum of understand-ing builds on the previous deal the government made with Oracle in 2012, which promised to save £75m across central government, the emergency services and the NHS.

More than half of all smartphones sold around the world 4G-capableMore than half of all smartphones sold globally in the second quarter of this year were 4G-enabled, with China leading the worldwide ramp-up, according to market statistics produced by GfK.

Netflix shuts down last datacentre to go all-in on public cloudNetflix is on the cusp of closing the last of its datacentres, as the online streaming giant prepares to move more of its IT infrastructure to the Amazon Web Services public cloud.

Wye Valley NHS Trust to get open-source EPR systemWye Valley NHS Trust has signed a five-year contract with IMS Maxims for its open-source elec-tronic patient record system (EPR). It is the second UK health trust to choose the openMaxims platform after Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust signed up for the system last year.

IBM pushes mainframe Linux with open-source giveawayIBM has announced two LinuxOne mainframes, support for Ubuntu, free cloud-based access to Linux mainframe systems and pay-per-use Linux mainframe pric-ing to drive mainframe adoption.

More than 300,000 US taxpayers affected by data breach, says IRSThe US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has revealed around 330,000 US taxpayers were affected by a data breach in May, three times more than originally estimated.

! China distorts smartphone market as sales slow.

! Cloud storage service Wuala to close in November.

! Hancock vows to support ‘next phase’ of GDS.

! First Darkode hacker suspect pleads guilty.

!Catch up with the latest IT news online

Fitness First consolidates onto NutanixWhen Fitness First began looking to replace its existing datacentre infrastructure, IT programme manager Jon Forster wanted something that offered simplicity and could grow with the business.

TEM

PURA

/IST

OC

K


http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251981/UK-government-signs-new-MoU-with-Oracle











http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251814/More-than-half-of-all-smartphones-4G-capable








http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251818/Netflix-shuts-down-final-datacentre-to-go-all-in-on-public-cloud







http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251916/Wye-Valley-NHS-Trust-to-get-open-source-EPR





http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251830/IBM-pushes-mainframe-Linux-initiative-with-open-source-giveaway




http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251893/More-than-300000-US-taxpayers-affected-by-data-breach





http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251917/Cloud-storage-service-Wuala-to-close-down-in-November

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251895/First-Darkode-hacker-suspect-pleads-guilty


http://www.computerweekly.com/video/Why-Fitness-First-consolidated-onto-Nutanix


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

CIOs: Reboot your supplier relationshipsIT leaders need to rebalance their spending between traditional suppliers and emerging innovators, says Cliff Saran

While large amounts of IT spending still goes to main-taining systems from the big four software providers – IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP – all the real innova-

tion seems to be coming from elsewhere.At the same time, experts are talking about “bimodal” or two-

speed IT, where back-office IT systems that support corporate “system of record” applications are separated from more agile, customer-facing IT functions, working directly with the business on social, cloud, big data and mobile initiatives – the so-called “systems of engagement”. This is changing what it means to be in IT: Games developers are in the entertainment business; app developers are in the phone business; and the internet of things is making traditional manufacturers act like software companies.

But in-house IT has resisted change. A recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) recommended IT, data security and compliance chiefs take a traditional approach to managing cloud services outside the control of the IT department. CIOs should find the applications running in cloud services; the data they contain; where they are running and how; who has con-nected to them; who has used them; and what sort of anomalous behaviour patterns might be associated with their use.

Once the cloud services are identified, the chief information security officer (CISO) should lead efforts to immediately shut down, eliminate or block cloud services that present high risks.

Does such an approach fit the latest thinking on how businesses should become more agile and operate bimodal IT? One could argue a cloud strategy that puts compliance and security front and foremost is exactly the kind of message that resonates with traditionalists – the more conservative IT and business leaders.

Meanwhile, the large IT providers fine-tune their sales and mar-keting efforts to closely match traditional enterprise requirements.

INNOVATION VS MAINTENANCE SPENDINGThere is a lot of innovation coming from startups and technol-ogy suppliers the IT department may not have used before, and CIOs should be assessing why large amounts of expenditure are still going on maintaining systems from the likes of IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP.

Martin Thompson, an analyst at research firm ITAM Review, said: “Modern IT needs to be wary of spending large sums of money on maintenance renewals that do not make an impact on the efficient delivery of IT services or generating revenue.”

ANALYSIS


http://www.techtarget.com/contributor/Cliff-Saran

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500249947/PricewaterhouseCoopers-outlines-steps-to-tackle-the-sprawl-of-shadow-cloud


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

By starting from scratch with an IT strategy that considers the role of the IT department, the CIO has the opportunity to consider alternative approaches to making IT fit the needs of the business more closely.

One of the problems for some CIOs is that the IT department has expanded to the point where it attempts to take ownership of almost anything computer-related. Overzealous adherence to regulatory compliance has meant that, rather than facilitating the business, IT has behaved as a barrier under the guise of protect-ing corporate data.

But for Mulesoft founder and CEO Ross Mason, who spent many years in the banking sector, this is not the approach a CIO should be taking. “Challenge your assumptions,” he said. “IT can decentralise capabilities, and start by opening up data internally.”

Mulesoft provides API management, which offers CIOs a way to open up IT-centric application programming interfaces (APIs) to the rest of the business and external partners in a controlled and secure manner. In so doing, IT is no longer the bottleneck. The CIO can effectively pass access to data and application develop-ment back to the business.

CULTURE CLASHAccording to Gartner managing vice-president Alexa Bona, IT staff often feel locked into deals with the big four suppliers.

Rather than look at alternative products, ITAM Review’s Thompson said: “It’s all too common for fast-moving and busy IT departments to renew maintenance, because they have budget for it and they paid for it last year – so it must be providing value.”

ANALYSIS

BERN

D W

ITTE

LSBA

CH

/IST

OC

K

PricewaterhouseCoopers recommends heads of IT, data security and

compliance take a traditional approach to managing

cloud services


http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Why-the-CIO-should-loosen-the-grip-on-enterprise-IT

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500247793/Addison-Lee-supports-business-demands-with-Mulesoft-API-management

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240234478/How-to-deal-with-the-next-software-sales-renewal-call-from-the-big-four-suppliers


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

IT staff build their careers specialising in running and manag-ing systems from companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP. “Change comes from the top. But there is no impetus for change in middle management,” Mulesoft’s Mason said.

Mark Ridley, director of technology at recruitment agency Reed.co.uk, recommended CIOs look at modernising the skills in their IT team. He said: “An IT team has lots of skills which you may feel you need to protect and maintain. But you need to embrace change. You cannot be effective in business if you try to keep the status quo. You need to look to what you can achieve.”

Ridley previously worked in traditional IT at Reed before heading up a cloud and software-as-a-service IT strategy at the firm. He said IT certifications are often hard to attain. But beyond demon-strating technical aptitude, he said certifications demonstrate the capability of someone to learn and understand complex issues: “These are foundations that can be applied in other products. The more widely read you are and wider your experiences, the better prepared you are to cope with the new.”

But clearly, some people will be unwilling to adapt; some may not want to change, and changing the culture of an IT team can lead to job losses. In a recent interview with Computer Weekly, VMware’s cloud chief Bill Fathers urged CIOs to look at the make-up of their IT teams and be prepared to make dramatic cuts. “Invest forward,” he said.

“Chances are, 95% of your team understands your existing infrastructure technology platforms extremely well. You’ll be get-ting rid of a third of them to invest in people who understand what the next version of your business is going to look like.”

ANALYSIS

!CIOs need to decentralise IT systems and give the business access with APIs

VMware’s Bill Fathers suggests CIOs rebalance

their staff: “Invest in people who understand what the

next version of your business is going to look like”


http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240188007/CIO-interview-Mark-Ridley-Reedcouk

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240232267/Reedcouk-and-Bitcoin-using-agile-to-drive-innovation

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500249499/Cut-IT-team-by-a-third-says-VMware-cloud-chief

http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Why-the-CIO-should-loosen-the-grip-on-enterprise-IT


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

IT suppliers “must get better” at selling cloud to local councils Public sector IT suppliers must swot up on selling services to local councils, as Whitehall proposes devolving more power to them. Caroline Donnelly reports

Public sector IT suppliers must get better at selling cloud to local government, as responsibility for a wider range of IT spending decisions looks set to pass from Whitehall to local

councils from next year.As set out in the launch of chancellor George Osborne’s 2015

spending review, Whitehall departments have been told to find ways to cut their resource budgets by up to 40% by 2019/2020.

To achieve this, the review puts forward the idea of passing on responsibility for delivering more services to local government, as Osborne and co push on with their efforts to claw back a further £20bn in public spending and eradicate the deficit for good.

If this devolution of powers to local government becomes man-dated in the finished version of Osborne’s review, due for publica-tion in November, council CIOs may find themselves having to stretch their IT budgets further to deliver the new services falling under their remit.

Whatever the outcome of the review, Jessica Figueras, research director at IT market watcher Kable, said the mooted spending

cuts look set to shake up the entire public sector and its attitude to IT.

“The feeling is that radical transformation will be needed, and all parts of the public sector are going to need to do things differ-ently, which does create technology opportunities,” she said.

“Many of the different parts of business done by the government now may not be in the future and this could lead to an accelera-tion in the pace at which government services become digitised.”

ANALYSIS

“THE FEELING IS THAT ALL PARTS OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR ARE GOING TO NEED TO DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY”

JESSICA FIGUERAS, KABLE


http://www.techtarget.com/contributor/Caroline-Donnelly

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/spending-review-launched-by-chancellor

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/spending-review-launched-by-chancellor

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251688/GDS-saves-the-government-17bn-through-digital-and-technology-transformation


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

This could pave the way for more local councils to adopt cloud, as they look for ways to free up budget by cutting back on large capital expenditures, according to Chris Farthing, founder of pub-lic sector procurement advisory firm Advice Cloud.

“Having worked quite extensively in local government for some time now, we’ve already seen how the government aus-terity measures have taken hold in this part of the public sector, but some fairly major transformational stuff needs to happen now as they prepare for the prospect of further cuts,” he told Computer Weekly.

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR IT SUPPLIERS This presents public sector IT suppliers with an opportunity to win more business at a local government level, particularly those with services listed on the government’s G-Cloud procurement framework, said Farthing.

ANALYSIS

DYN

ASO

AR/

ISTO

CK

“SOME FAIRLY MAJOR TRANSFORMATIONAL STUFF

NEEDS TO HAPPEN NOW AS LOCAL GOVERNMENTS PREPARE FOR THE

PROSPECT OF FURTHER CUTS”CHRIS FARTHING, ADVICE CLOUD

If Whitehall departments devolve more powers to local

government, council CIOs may turn to cloud to free up their

IT budget


http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Barriers-to-adoption-Why-are-local-councils-holding-back-on-G-Cloud

http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/IT-suppliers-call-on-new-look-GDS-for-commitment-to-G-Clouds-future

http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/IT-suppliers-call-on-new-look-GDS-for-commitment-to-G-Clouds-future


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

However, they will need to develop an appreciation of the nuances involved when doing business with local government, which – if they’ve mainly sold their services to central government in the past – may prove a stumbling block, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), he added.

Smaller companies sometimes lack the time, resources and experience to build out their knowledge of what specific pressures different departments in local government are under, for example.

But they could stand to lose out in the long-run by not getting to grips with this if, as is expected, responsibility for more central government IT spending decisions are passed downstream.

“SMEs don’t always appreciate some of the challenges local governments face, which sometimes means they end up trying to sell them services they already have or offering generic services that make it difficult for buyers to see how they stand to benefit from using them,” said Farthing.

“When a supplier has done some market research, attended some local government events and has a firm grasp of what their technology can actually do to benefit a specific department in a council it really makes a difference,” he added.

“Someone who does that marks themselves out as someone who understands the market and the pressures local government is under, and how they can change that.”

In anticipation of this potential shift in IT-buying responsibil-ity, Advice Cloud has partnered with former Hampshire County Council CIO and BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT president Jos Creese to help its SME clients develop an understanding of the pressures local government IT buyers are under.

“The local market is growing in importance and value, but it is also complex and diverse, and can be hard to deal with without an understanding of its mechanics, drivers and decision-making processes,” said Creese.

“Cloud offers huge benefits, not just in terms of reduced cost, but in terms of integrated and shareable platforms accessible across multiple local public services. That can be essential for joint working and information sharing in areas such as health and social care.”

Farthing said partnering with Creese should also provide clients with a clear idea of what the demands of a CIO working within local government are.

“You can get that from attending events, but people have to be quite circumspect with what they say, whereas Jos is freed from the politics and can use his experience to guide our clients, which includes suppliers and end users,” he added.

“CLOUD OFFERS HUGE BENEFITS IN TERMS OF INTEGRATED AND SHAREABLE

PLATFORMS ACCESSIBLE ACROSS MULTIPLE LOCAL PUBLIC SERVICES”

JOS CREESE, FORMER HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL CIO

ANALYSIS

!Why are local councils holding back on G-Cloud?


http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251034/SME-G-Cloud-deal-volumes-are-being-under-reported-claim-suppliers

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500251034/SME-G-Cloud-deal-volumes-are-being-under-reported-claim-suppliers

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500245226/CIO-interview-Jos-Creese-CIO-Hampshire-County-Council

http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Barriers-to-adoption-Why-are-local-councils-holding-back-on-G-Cloud


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

FileMaker strikes a chord with Metropolis Studios to run music business expansionMusic studio company turns to Apple-centric FileMaker 14 software to run the functional and creative sides of its business, replacing its SAP Business One enterprise resource planning system. Brian McKenna reports

Music studio company Metropolis has turned to a soft-ware system it believes requires only a light touch to run its business and back up its expansion plans.

Half of the UK’s top 40 are recorded, mixed and mastered at Metropolis’s Grade II “Power House” complex in Chiswick, but the studio’s future depends on diversifying its business into video, events, publishing and music management, as well as geographi-cal expansion – including a facility in Doha in the Middle East.

Oli Sussat, director of marketing communications and tech-nology at Metropolis Studios, relates how the studio replaced its SAP Business One enterprise resource planning system with Apple-centric FileMaker 14 software.

“My role is to help the business become more than a record-ing studio. Metropolis is 25 years old, and the recording studio model does not work as it used to, with big rooms full of expen-sive gear,” says Sussat. “It’s now more of a creative complex. The facility in Doha, for example, is the world’s most advanced centre for orchestral composition and recording – it even comes

with its own resident philharmonic orchestra.”Metropolis was acquired in May 2013 by Kainne Clements and

two other investors. Clements also acquired the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford in September 2013 and runs the two in parallel.

SWITCHING SYSTEMSOn acquisition, Clements’ management team found Metropolis to be run on SAP Business One.

“The whole business was geared towards putting information into what was effectively a closed box,” says Sussat. “We were getting nothing out of it. The organisation was working for a soft-ware package – it was like that. We couldn’t get basic information such as ‘what are the occupancy rates of our studios?’ and ‘who are our biggest paying customers?’.”

The company switched to FileMaker 14, which it uses for finan-cial accounting, booking and reservation operations, and as data capture for information about audio and video created at the

CASE STUDY


http://www.techtarget.com/contributor/Brian-McKenna

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240185285/Warner-Brothers-tracks-films-to-screens-with-FileMaker

http://searchsap.techtarget.com/feature/SAP-Business-One-and-Beer-An-entrepreneurs-journey


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

studio. FileMaker 14 works across mobile browsers, which is useful for when Metropolis’s musician clients bring in their own devices to work in the studio.

“We’re a better connected business thanks to FileMaker,” says Sussat. “We’re expanding our international credentials and we get to spend more time with our clients, rather than worrying about lengthy administration.

“I had previous experience of FileMaker, and we already had skills in-house to build the system ourselves. Filemaker allows us to extend our systems to Doha and make changes to deal with local peculiarities. It comes down to the speed of integration.

“We were done in a matter of weeks with the switch from SAP to FileMaker, including purchase orders and sales invoices, as well as the custom changes we do with our creative processes.”

IMPROVING SERVICESSussat says the switch to FileMaker meant the studio could pro-vide more hospitality for artists, as previously it was difficult to know who had what, making it hard to bill them correctly.

FileMaker also allows the studio to make full use of its 24/7 facilities, he says. “When artists decide to arrive at 3 o’clock in the morning, we can deal with that. Before, the bookers did not have the information at their fingertips. Now, even if at home, they have their iPads and can book studio time,” he says.

The cost of implementation was around one-quarter of the SAP licensing fee and the annual licensing cost for FileMaker is about 5% that of the previous system, says Sussat. Metropolis is now profitable, whereas it was losing £1m a year before acquisition.

CASE STUDY

FRIZ

ZA/F

OTO

LIA


http://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Seven-ways-to-reduce-SAP-licensing-fees

http://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Seven-ways-to-reduce-SAP-licensing-fees


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

Pushing a design icon into the digital eraJaeger CIO Cathy McCabe will ‘surprise and delight’ customers of the swinging sixties brand, writes Mark Samuels

Luxury designer Jaeger has long been associated with London’s swinging sixties, so it seems appropriate to meet CIO Cathy McCabe at the firm’s Soho office, just a short

stroll from the world-famous Carnaby Street.The 1960s established Jaeger as an iconic brand. Today, it is look-

ing to build on that reputation and engage customers in the fast-moving digital age. With experience of leading IT-enabled change at Burberry, McCabe is eager to help transform the business.

McCabe was promoted to the board six months after taking the CIO role. But she recognises digital awareness is not her only capability. “I’m not your typical IT professional,” she says. “Like everyone else around the boardroom table, I’m a business per-son. We all work closely together to make the most of IT, because technology touches every part of a modern retail organisation.”

ESTABLISHING THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGYMcCabe has broad retailing experience. After starting her career as a graduate trainee with high street bookseller WHSmith, she worked in various management positions for the Arcadia Group. McCabe eventually began a consulting business, working with a variety of clients including New Look and Harvey Nichols.

INTERVIEW

McCabe: “Technology must have a seat at the top table if it is going to

drive transformation across an organisation”


http://www.techtarget.com/contributor/Mark-Samuels

http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Digital-customer-experience-Beyond-the-website


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

“I worked as a consultant for more than 15 years,” she says. “I never worked through agencies, or went out looking for work. All my contracts came through word of mouth and connections in my network. I tended to work on contract for a retailer and then receive my next recommendation.”

McCabe started working with Burberry while she was consult-ing. The firm’s chief technology officer, John Douglas, approached her about a permanent position at the retailer. “I was looking for a challenge,” says McCabe of her decision to accept the offer.

After joining as an IT business relationship director in 2010, McCabe was promoted to vice-president of IT customer and pay-ments in October 2011, and stayed with the company for another three years. “Burberry was fascinating and provided some great experiences,” she says.

“It was exactly the right time to go into a permanent IT lead-ership role because technology was key – and for Burberry, it became the DNA of the brand. The main thing I learnt from my time at Burberry is that technology must have a seat at the top table if it is going to drive transformation across an organisation.”

McCabe’s key IT projects at Burberry included the refresh of the company’s electronic point of sale (Epos) equipment and cus-tomer relationship management (CRM), as well as repositioning the role of data analytics in the business.

By the time she left, Burberry was at the cutting edge of big data and employed a specialist team of data scientists. The aim was to use data-inspired developments and put customer experience – including purchase patterns and retention strategies – at the heart of business decision-making.

BUILDING A PLATFORM FOR CHANGEMcCabe says her key priority at Jaeger is to transform the IT landscape. “When I took the role on, it was clear that the board wanted me to transform technology from a business perspec-tive,” she says.

“We’ve got a lot of legacy systems. Some elements of the plat-form are very strong, but some of those systems are bespoke and extremely old. Our platform needs a bit of care and understanding.”

After dealing with legacy concerns, McCabe will focus on digital initiatives. “We need to think about our vision around IT to create a competitive advantage over other retailers in the market. We need to create a roadmap from concept to consumer,” she says.

McCabe spent the first three months at Jaeger ensuring the external managed services team were capable of maintaining day-to-day IT operations. “I needed to make sure they were keep-ing the lights on,” she says, before adding that a good relationship with suppliers allows her in-house team to focus on IT-enabled innovation for the business.

“At the moment, I don’t see the need for a massive internal IT team,” she says. “I felt we needed more assistance in terms of on-site support, so we have people in London and at our distribution centre in Kings Lynn, who provide a higher level of service to our business users.”

The support team also provides more options for in-store sup-port, such as performing checks and ensuring that all the systems are working as they should. Outside establishing strong support, McCabe says she wants to make as much use of trusted provid-ers as possible.

INTERVIEW


http://www.computerweekly.com/news/1280093252/Burberry-announces-digital-growth-strategy

http://www.computerweekly.com/resources/Customer-relationship-management-CRM

http://www.computerweekly.com/resources/Business-intelligence-and-analytics

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240233079/Data-scientist-demand-evident-in-applications-to-new-course

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500248467/Legacy-systems-holding-back-90-per-cent-of-businesses


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

“I see our partners as an extension of our internal IT team. It’s not about ‘them’ and ‘us’ – we don’t want to just pass problems to the first-line support team.

“We want to work together to understand the business issues, to work out the pinch points and to think about the resources we already have that could be used in a more effective way,” she says.

“I really want to make as much use of our partners as possible. I want three or four key partners and a select group of startups who will work on our business priorities. I want them to work together and think about how they will help us achieve our aims.”

McCabe is using the established bedrock of service provision to help tweak the existing IT strategy. In 2016, she will start to think about how to improve key systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP). McCabe recognises her experiences at another high-quality retailer will prove invaluable.

“For me, there’s a huge affinity between Burberry and Jaeger,” she says. “Jaeger is an iconic, global brand with an incredible amount of heritage. There are some wonderful assets at Jaeger we can draw on to help create an exciting vision for the business.

INTERVIEW

!Retailer John Lewis is putting £100m into tech initiatives, says IT director Paul Coby

“I ENJOY LOOKING AT INNOVATION, KEEPING A TRACK ON STARTUPS

AND WORKING WITH A NETWORK OF PARTNERS”

Jaeger’s store in Regent Street. McCabe is eager to transform how

the retailer delivers customer experiences

and rewards

GEO

RGE

CLE

RK/I

STO

CK


http://www.computerweekly.com/resources/Enterprise-resource-planning-ERP-software

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240240684/CIO-interview-Paul-Coby-IT-director-John-Lewis-Partnership


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

“That vision is not just about technology, but IT can help to ena-ble the business and the way it is perceived by our customers.”

According to McCabe, Jaeger benefits from having access to a loyal customer base. The aim, she says, will be to tap into that relationship – but also to think about how the retailer can “sur-prise and delight” its clients.

Rather than simply using a traditional loyalty card programme, McCabe is eager to think about how a high-end retailer might deliver experiences and rewards to its customers.

MAKING THE MOST OF INNOVATIVE IDEASThe key challenge, she says, lies in bandwidth: “There is so much to do. I must develop a really clear idea of which projects will create the most value for the rest of the business.”

McCabe is eager to start with customer-facing systems and develop a high level of integration. “If you really are keen to change your loyalty programme, then you also need to think about digital enablement and your broader mobile strategy,” she says.

McCabe says a broader focus on mobility might, for example, include strengthening the wireless infrastructure or deploying Apple iPads to sales assistants in stores. Working closely with the rest of the business will help establish the right priorities. But, regardless of technology aims, McCabe recognises that funding will be another significant challenge.

Jaeger is backed by private equity and must make sure technol-ogy investments deliver a return – both in short-term costs and long-term scalability. McCabe says debates around funding cre-ate an opportunity and is keen to explore every possible avenue.

“I want to create high-quality technology platforms without a huge sunk investment,” she says. “I enjoy looking at innovation, keeping a track on startups and working with a network of part-ners to think about how we can use technology to help the busi-ness meet its objectives though technology.”

CREATING STRONG LINKS WITH STARTUPSAccording to McCabe, having a “finger on the pulse” of digi-tal developments is a crucial success factor for modern CIOs. She works alongside entrepreneurs and mentors retail startups. McCabe is also helping to create a virtual lab internally to help draw on a wider pool of entrepreneurial ideas. “Keeping abreast of wider changes is so important for CIOs,” she says.

While believing retail technology has been staid for a while, McCabe says the industry now faces a glut of innovation – such as iBeacons, mobile payments, smartphones and tablets. She says retail firms must think about how technology can help make sales assistants more productive.

“It’s the most radical change in retailing since the barcode was introduced 30 years ago,” she says, reflecting on how innova-tions at that time allowed retailers to start developing automated replenishment, rather than having to order goods manually.

“There is such a broad range of developments taking place now. You can’t be an expert in every area of technology and I’d never pretend to be, either,” she says.

“But when CIOs are looking to create a competitive differen-tiation, they must scan the market, look at what’s happening and think carefully about change.”


http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240209367/MS-uses-instore-IT-to-train-staff-in-multi-channel-retail

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240223130/Why-are-retailers-turning-to-startups-for-innovation

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240221336/John-Lewis-eyes-IoT-and-iBeacon-technology


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

Computer Weekly, 2nd Floor, 3-4a Little Portland Street, London W1W 7JB

General enquiries 020 7186 1400

Editor in chief: Bryan Glick 020 7186 1424 | [email protected]

Managing editor (technology): Cliff Saran 020 7186 1421 | [email protected]

Head of premium content: Bill Goodwin 020 7186 1418 | [email protected]

Services editor: Karl Flinders 020 7186 1423 | [email protected]

Security editor: Warwick Ashford 020 7186 1419 | [email protected]

Networking editor: Alex Scroxton 020 7186 1413 | [email protected]

Special projects editor: Kayleigh Bateman 020 7186 1415 | [email protected]

Datacentre editor: Caroline Donnelly 020 7186 1411 | [email protected]

Storage editor: Antony Adshead 07779 038528 | [email protected]

Business applications editor: Brian McKenna 020 7186 1414 | [email protected]

Business editor: Clare McDonald 020 7186 1426 | [email protected]

Production editor: Claire Cormack 020 7186 1417 | [email protected]

Senior sub-editor: Jason Foster 020 7186 1420 | [email protected]

Sub-editor: Ben Whisson 020 7186 1478 | [email protected]

Sub-editor: Jaime Lee Daniels 020 7186 1417 | [email protected]

Sales director: Brent Boswell 07584 311889 | [email protected]

Group events manager: Tom Walker 0207 186 1430 | [email protected]

Government must face up to digital challenge

Digital government in the UK is at a crossroads after the departure of its chief, Mike Bracken, but the real challenge it faces is not unique to government, and applies to any organisation that is adapting to the digital revolution.

There is only so much transformation that any organisation can undertake, until it reaches the point where fundamental reform is needed. For companies, that means business model reform; for government, it means reform of the institutions by which public services and government policy is delivered. As Bracken said: “For most of this period, digital has not been an institutional challenge. Now it is.”

You can read plenty of articles online about the companies that failed because they missed this critical juncture in the digital transfor-mation of their business.

At Kodak, it was when one of their employees invented the first digital camera and was told not tell anyone about it so as not to affect sales of film. At Blockbuster, it was the statement to the US stock market saying the effect of the internet on its business had been greatly overstated. At HMV, it was the board meeting when executives told an external advisor that they believed music lovers would always want to browse through music in a store before buying.

Government, of course, cannot go bust. But it can continue to lose engagement with citizens, to foster cynicism and distrust, and to see the quality of public services deteriorate through continual “salami slicing” of operations without changing the way those services are delivered.

The UK government is at that point now.What will it take for this UK government to understand and implement the radical reforms it needs, if it is to become truly digital?

What’s needed is political and civil service leadership from the very top for widespread institutional reform of the way government works, thinks and goes about its business.

Eventually, it will happen. Digital transformation is inevitable and unstoppable in every industry and every part of public life. The civil service will change – either through enlightened leadership in the next five years, or kicking and screaming at some point in future when it has no choice. The next few months will tell us which.

Bryan Glick, editor in chief

!Read the latest Computer Weekly blogs

EDITOR’S COMMENTHOME


mailto:bglick%40techtarget.com?subject=

mailto:csaran%40techtarget.com?subject=

mailto:wgoodwin%40techtarget.com?subject=

mailto:wgoodwin%40techtarget.com?subject=

mailto:washford%40techtarget.com?subject=

[email protected]

mailto:kbateman%40techtarget.com?subject=

mailto:cdonnelly%40techtarget.com?subject=

mailto:aadshead%40techtarget.com?subject=

mailto:bmckenna%40techtarget.com?subject=

mailto:cmcdonald%40techtarget.com?subject=

mailto:ccormack%40techtarget.com?subject=

mailto:jfoster%40techtarget.com?subject=

mailto:bwhisson%40techtarget.com?subject=

mailto:jdaniels%40techtarget.com?subject=

mailto:bboswell%40techtarget.com?subject=

mailto:twalker%40techtarget.com?subject=

http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs



It appears to make sense to take a single, well-architected approach to dealing with big data. A specifically built mix of hardware and software should be better than a hand-built collection of bits cobbled together, surely?

This is the logic that has been used by many of the incumbents in the data management space. For example, Oracle has taken its acquisition of Exadata and created a system it has called the Oracle Big Data Appliance, which combines its Sun hardware with various different software approaches to deal with different types of data in one appliance. IBM has taken a similar approach after its acquisition of Netezza, creating a set of appliances it calls PureData.

Elsewhere, Dell also has a range of big data appliances, as does HP; Teradata acquired Aster and then launched its Integrated Big Data Platform; Hitachi Data Systems has its Hyper Scale-Out Platform; EMC has its Data Computing Appliance; and Data Direct Networks has its nattily named SFA12K Big Data Appliances.

There are many different ways to carry out big data analysis – build it yourself and big data as a service are just a couple – but these are full of issues suppliers are trying to help you avoid. It seems that an appliance approach to big data is all the rage, but is it as simple a choice as it seems?

FIND THE RIGHT BIG DATA APPLIANCE FOR YOUR BUSINESS

With the world of big data analysis still at a relatively immature level, a big data appliance should be chosen carefully to ensure its value to

the business warrants the expenditure, writes Clive Longbottom

BUYER’S GUIDE TO BIG DATA APPLIANCES | PART 2 OF 3

HOME

SORB

ETTO

/IST

OC

K


http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240216360/Oracle-pushes-Exadata-servers-aggressively-against-IBM-PureSystems

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240104483/IBM-buys-Netezza-for-11bn-to-expand-business-analytics

http://www.computerweekly.com/guides/Big-data-storage-What-it-is-and-how-to-build-it

http://www.techtarget.com/contributor/Clive-Longbottom


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

THE FIVE ‘V’S OF BIG DATATo dig deeper, it is first necessary to understand what big data is really about. Too often it is still seen as about volume only. However, this is more an issue of a lot of data, rather than big data; volume is just one of the five “v”s of big data. To understand the issues that big data brings to the fore, it is nec-essary to look at the other “v”s that create problems and offer opportunity in the big data world.

As mentioned, there is the volume of data being dealt with. However, if all of this is formal, structured data, then a standard database with an adequate scale-out compute, storage and net-work platform should be sufficient.

The problems really start when you look at data variety – the mix of structured and less structured data types that need to be dealt with. Most data has some level of structure, whether it is the formatting of the container for a Microsoft Word file, the comma delimiting of machine-to-machine data, or the headers for image, video or audio data.

Then there is velocity, and this has two aspects. The first is the speed of data being presented to the analysis environment. For example, real-time data analytics dealing with internet of things data will often need to deal with small packages of data coming through in large numbers, with no human latency to slow things down. Second is the speed in which the results of the analysis are required.

For example, in financial trading, the person acting on the results downstream is looking to shave milliseconds off the time that they get the results compared with other traders. Production lines

need to be able to identify a problem before it becomes an issue, enabling action to be taken so the line can continue operating, rather than being taken offline.

Veracity is also key. Analysis of poor quality data will result in poor quality output. Therefore, any big data system must be able to either check the quality of the data it is analysing, or be able to trust the upstream data sources.

The last “v” is value. Actually, as this is the business driver behind any big data activity, it should really be the first “v”. The decision to carry out big data analysis has to be built on the value the business will get out of the results. Is it really worth carrying out this analysis? What real impact will this have on the activity and success of the business? In some cases, Quocirca has seen big data analysis being carried out because it “seemed like a good

idea” – but there needs to be solid business rea-sons behind why IT resources are being used.

Therefore, any supplier touting a big data sys-tem to your organisation should have messaging against each of these “v”s. Taking all data and push-ing it all into a relational database, with less struc-tured data being forced in as binary large objects is not the way to deal with big data.

BUYER’S GUIDE

!Accenture’s Mike Sutcliff and Narendra Mulani argue that

the fuel energising the digital transformation of business

is big data.

THERE NEEDS TO BE SOLID BUSINESS REASONS BEHIND WHY IT RESOURCES

ARE BEING USED FOR BIG DATA ANALYSIS


http://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Big-data-to-unlock-value-from-the-Industrial-Internet-of-Things

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/1280095934/Has-the-stock-trades-race-to-speed-reached-the-chequered-flag

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/1280095934/Has-the-stock-trades-race-to-speed-reached-the-chequered-flag

http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Aster-Data-founders-explain-unified-approach-to-data-big-and-small

http://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Big-data-put-to-work-in-digital-transformation-strategies






Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

Similarly, those in their ivory towers that say the days of relational databases are over and that everything can now go into either a persistent Hadoop store or a NoSQL database are also – at this point – wrong.

However, taking a disconnected approach of specialised disparate data systems will also not work. For example, hav-ing a non-persistent Hadoop system for data reduction using MapReduce with separate relational and non-relational persis-tent stores will result in an inability to deal with the requirements of big data velocity.

A SINGLE APPROACH TO ANALYTICSFor true big data analytics to be possible, the “v”s need to be dealt with and data brought together in a manner where a single approach to the actual business analytics can take place.

This is where the appliance approach comes into its own. By taking a Hadoop environment and mixing it with relational and non-relational data stores in the same appliance, intelligence can be built into the overall system to ensure the right data resides in the right store at the right time. The required layers of analyt-ics can be optimised to ensure that performance is fit for pur-pose. This is the battleground all of the aforementioned suppliers are fighting in.

However, there are still areas that anyone considering purchas-ing a big data appliance needs to be aware of.

For most organisations, big data will involve high volumes of data. To provide the desired velocity of analysis, the majority of big data appliances will have large amounts of memory in them,

BUYER’S GUIDE

For big data analytics to be possible, data needs to be brought together in

a manner where a single approach to the actual business analytics

can take place

JAM

ESM

ARA

BLE/

ISTO

CK


http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Big-data-storage-Hadoop-storage-basics

http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Hotelscom-turns-to-cloud-and-big-data-to-drive-up-online-holiday-bookings


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

BUYER’S GUIDE

to enable in-memory analytics to take place.

Therefore, ensuring there is enough memory in the appliance is a key purchasing consideration. The appliance will need to be expand-able, having too little memory in place on delivery will result in a slower than expected system, as data then has to be swapped in and out from lower-speed storage systems.

Watch out for appliances that are purely spinning, magnetic disk-based. With the advent of solid-state storage, the speed of retrieving data from disk has increased massively – but is still well below that of an in-memory system. Systems using solid-state storage will be much faster than those using magnetic disk.

Also, beware of hybrid systems where there is a mix of a top tier of solid state and a lower tier of magnetic disk storage. Unless there is intelligent software managing where the data resides at any one time, there could be major performance issues when the analytics system tries to get data from memory, sees it isn’t there, drops down to solid state, finds it isn’t there either and has to drop down to magnetic disk and pull the data from there into memory.

LOOK TO THE FUTURELook for systems that bring together Hadoop, NoSQL and a relational approach. However, also look to the future. For a long time, Quocirca advised against using Hadoop as a persistent store, instead depending on its MapReduce capabilities to act as a data filter to reduce the amount of data being analysed in

any environment. MapR is lead-ing the Apache Drill initiative and Hortonworks has its Hive Stinger programme, both of which show promise in enabling SQL queries to be run against a Hadoop store.

Suppliers such as IBM and Actian – with Vortex – have commer-cial Hadoop-SQL products that deal with some of the speed issues that are currently a problem with Hadoop as a persistent store.

At the NoSQL end of the data stores, Basho is taking a different approach to many others. By enabling a mesh of its Riak NoSQL database nodes, each dealing with different aspects of big data, it is hoping to create the “one ring to rule them all”: a database that can deal with data reduction against the variety of different data types at speed.

Finally, look for systems that do not tie you into a specific way of working. Skills already built up in the use of existing business intelligence (BI) systems should not have to be thrown out and new skills learned – the big data system chosen should enable existing BI tools to be layered over it.

The world of big data analysis is still at a relatively immature level. A build-it-yourself approach is unlikely to provide the return on investment required, while a specialised appliance may only solve the problem for a short while. Choose an appliance carefully – ensure that the value to the business is sufficient to warrant the expenditure.

Clive Longbottom is founder of analyst company Quocirca.

THE BIG DATA SYSTEM CHOSEN SHOULD ENABLE EXISTING BI TOOLS

TO BE LAYERED OVER IT


http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240234587/Flash-storage-101-How-solid-state-storage-works

http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Apache-Spark-speeds-up-big-data-decision-making

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240209201/Angry-Birds-firm-handles-massive-growth-with-Riak-NoSQL-database

http://www.techtarget.com/contributor/Clive-Longbottom


Agile software development has grown in popular-ity in recent years as businesses demand more flex-ibility and responsiveness to change from their IT systems. High-profile initiatives such as the Gov.uk

government website are deployed using agile methods – but the technique can go wrong too, as the early days of the Universal Credit IT development proved. Surrey Police’s failed agile project, Siren, was scrapped in 2013, having cost £14.8m and produced little useable software. But many web-facing businesses use agile with great success.

One of the challenges for organisations looking to use agile comes when they bring in suppliers to work on such a project. Software development contracts have historically been based on the principles of waterfall projects, which are chronologically scoped in design and execution, with an agreed statement of requirements up-front, governed by change control.

In comparison, agile is iterative and rarely starts from a fully defined specification. Agile projects involve developer and cus-tomer being on a long journey together, where the overall goal is broken down into small parts that are individually developed in short periods of time – called sprints – typically less than two weeks, before the next stage is started. This can lead to friction when it comes to defining the services needed from a supplier when negotiating a contract.

HOW TO WRITE SUPPLIER CONTRACTS FOR AGILE

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENTTypical supplier contracts are not suited to agile software projects where there is no requirements specification – so what should IT

leaders do? Adam Bernstein reports

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

HOME

AKI

ND

O/I

STO

CK


http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240232863/Public-services-website-Govuk-hits-one-billion-visits

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240232863/Public-services-website-Govuk-hits-one-billion-visits

http://www.computerweekly.com/ehandbook/CIO-briefing-on-agile-development

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240187478/Why-agile-development-failed-for-Universal-Credit

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240187478/Why-agile-development-failed-for-Universal-Credit


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

AGILE RISKSCallum Sinclair, a partner at law firm DLA Piper, says the vast majority of contracts are still waterfall-based, but agile devel-opment is growing in use. This poses a number of risks to both sides, however.

“Heavily regulated organisations such as banks are getting into agile in a big way, pushed by their business and IT teams hungry for a flexible and agile way of working to deliver products much faster to market,” he says.

Internal legal and risk functions recognise they must embrace agile contracting, but problems arise over the sharing of responsibilities; they must find ways of managing and miti-gating risk rather than resisting it or trying to push it where it doesn’t belong.

Nicholas Mitchell, an associate at technology law firm White & Black, takes the developer’s point of view. He says developers believe that agile delivers a higher quality solution in a more effi-cient way: “For many, it is simply the way in which they are now used to working.”

CONSIDERATIONS FOR AGILE CONTRACTSIt should go without saying that IT leaders consid-ering any project need to be clear about its aims and objectives. But with agile the need is greater and a view has to be taken on whether it is suit-able or desirable for the project to be managed in an agile way. “Where a project is suitable or where agile may be a possibility, it is necessary to ensure

there is sufficient flexibility in the procurement processes to support suppliers to get the best out of what agile has to offer,” says DLA Piper’s Sinclair.

White & Black’s Mitchell says parties drafting agile contracts need to be flexible enough to realise the benefits while accepting the reality that many software contracts end in failure, whether agile or otherwise. “While advocates of agile are optimistic about its ability to deliver based on mutual trust, lawyers tend to look

at contracts as mechanisms for apportioning risk,” he says.

So by dint of the differences between agile and waterfall, project managers need differing briefs and forms of interaction with suppliers. The brief needs to reassure management and IT functions about agile, including the fact they will not see many of the traditional contractual protections


! It is now more surprising to hear that businesses are

developing using a methodology other than agile, such is its

widespread use.

“ADVOCATES OF AGILE ARE OPTIMISTIC ABOUT ITS ABILITY TO DELIVER BASED ON MUTUAL TRUST, BUT LAWYERS TEND TO LOOK AT CONTRACTS AS MECHANISMS

FOR APPORTIONING RISK”NICHOLAS MITCHELL, WHITE & BLACK


http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240242704/Credit-Suisse-gets-agile-for-iPad-based-private-banking-app

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240242704/Credit-Suisse-gets-agile-for-iPad-based-private-banking-app

http://www.computerweekly.com/ehandbook/The-psychology-of-IT-projects-Why-they-fail

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240209932/The-state-of-agile-software-development-in-the-UK






Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

they are accustomed to, and that these will be replaced by other forms of risk mitigation.

According to Sinclair, the projects that work well are gener-ally those where customer and supplier both have experience of working in an agile way – and ideally with each other.

“There will be more work to do where the relationship is new. In particular, education of the customer-side resource will be required through the development lifecycle because of the degree of day-to-day collaboration, which would not traditionally be the case with a waterfall development project,” he says.

SUBTLE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AGILE AND WATERFALLWhile a contract is the heart of any project, and there are simi-lar points to be covered off in both agile and waterfall arrange-ments, there are subtle differences in approach required with agile development.

As Mitchell puts it, it is not simply a case of describing what you want as a customer and leaving the supplier to it, only interact-ing when problems arise. Consider, for example, the Scrum meth-odology where the product owner is key, says Mitchell: “Product owners must be continuously and intimately involved with every-thing the development team should be delivering, as well as com-municating with stakeholders on the customer side.”

Equally, with extreme programming projects or other situa-tions where customer and supplier resources are developing in close proximity, there will be a blurring of lines which might need addressing in intellectual property rights and liability provisions. Sinclair also points to the issue of termination provisions as these


SZEP

Y/IS

TOC

K

According to Sinclair, the projects that work well are those where customer and supplier both have experience of working in an agile way


http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/definition/waterfall-model

http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/definition/Scrum

http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Hot-skills-extreme-programming


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

may need to allow customer a “no fault” termination right at the end of each iteration/sprint.

THE FINANCIAL TERMS OF AGILE CONTRACTSThe financial terms of an agile contract can be a source of tension. Both Sinclair and Mitchell agree there is an argument that “pure agile” can only be done on a “time and materials” basis – paying for third-party resources based on the number of hours or days they work, rather than for a price fixed up-front.

Sinclair says that, generally, customers will ask for some degree of additional protection through a hybrid process, whether through a priced “minimum viable product” or an agreed process

to arrive at a fixed price per sprint once the sprint plan has been put together. Mitchell notes that some Scandinavian models of agile contracts allow for a fixed price, or at least an estimated cost, while others have tied greater rewards to speedy delivery or more valuable functionality.

Fixed or capped prices are difficult to achieve in agile projects without impinging on some of the advantages of flexibility that

proper agile projects allow. One approach is to share the risk and rewards so that projects blend time and materials with success-based delivery fees, but again, this requires good project governance to keep both sides happy.

In reality, though, there are a number of different pricing models that can be adopted, and it will come down to negotiating power.

DEFINING SCOPE, TIME AND COMPLETIONBearing in mind that agile projects involve, to an extent, a moving target, then time-limited delivery dates can be problematic and may constrain matters. “Agile purists would argue that working software matters more than comprehensive documentation, and some projects may never be finished, yet each stage may be com-pleted,” says Sinclair.

Many agile project management tools, for example Rally, have the ability to attach success criteria to individual user stories as part of the product backlog, and these can move with those sto-ries between sprints if necessary. Sinclair says achievement of these criteria may provide the best definition of “done”, though there are other ways to define this.

Of course, the wonder of agile contracts is the ability to dump functionality that the customer wanted, to get to a lean system that fits actual business needs. This is something that Mitchell says must be permitted: “Customers often have their own busi-ness needs about time for delivery and suppliers have to be able to meet those – they too must be documented.”

This is an edited excerpt. Click here to read the full article online.


“AGILE PURISTS WOULD ARGUE THAT WORKING SOFTWARE MATTERS MORE

THAN COMPREHENSIVE DOCUMENTATION”CALLUM SINCLAIR, DLA PIPER


http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240216339/The-digital-CIO-How-digital-technology-will-change-the-way-organisations-work

http://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/From-service-to-strategy-the-IT-project-management-journey

http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/How-to-write-supplier-contracts-for-agile-software-development


No matter how comprehensively a business prepares for unexpected events, no disaster recovery plan can cater for every eventuality. As analyst organisation Gartner notes: “It is not possible to completely protect

against every threat.”But CIOs can avoid downtime – or minimise the impact – if they

have a clear action plan. At a Computer Weekly CW500 Club meeting, IT leaders discussed the real–life experiences of their peers in dealing with disaster.

“We connect hungry people to their food and it would be a dis-aster for us if people cannot place an order,” says Amarpal Attwal, technology manager at online takeaway service Just Eat.

“The first disaster I was involved in was when the website for all our countries went down, due to overloaded servers in a data–centre in Denmark,” he says. The problem stemmed from inad-equate capacity planning and Attwal admits the company had not been as agile as it could have been in its datacentre operations.

DEALING WITH DISASTER – HOW WILL YOU COPE?

At some point every CIO will need to invoke a disaster recovery plan, but does it cover everything the modern digital company needs?

Cliff Saran looks at strategies to manage systems – and expectations – when things go wrong

BUSINESS CONTINUITY

ZAK0

0/IS

TOC

K

HOME

“WE HAVE THIS CONCEPT OF WAR GAMES, WHERE WE LOCK OURSELVES IN A ROOM AND PICK SOMETHING OUT OF A HAT – SUCH AS, NOBODY IN THE

ORGANISATION CAN LOG ON”AMARPAL ATTWAL, JUST EAT


http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/disaster-recovery

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240223666/Just-Eat-opens-Bristol-centre-to-boost-native-app-development

http://www.techtarget.com/contributor/Cliff-Saran


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

A second disaster for Just Eat involved a power failure in the company’s UK head office, which made a much wider impact on the organisation. “The UK office was the hub for all other country offices,” he says. At the time the company did not have a plan to deal with disaster.

Attwal says the company considered its infra-structure and the business, and created a frame-work outlining how it would respond to a disaster scenario and the cost impact: “We needed to understand what was important for us from a disaster-recovery point of view – and we ended up architecting our entire ecosystem.”

The result is that, while the company still has its Danish data-centre, Just Eat is now cloud-native. Atwall says: “We have moved everything over to Amazon Web Services – not just our commerce platform but the corporate infrastructure as well.”

In moving to cloud infrastructure, Just Eat removed physi-cal servers from company offices. The result is a central core to which offices connect. “We are also a great believer in software as a service – we want to secure our data and build to mitigate against failure,” Attwal adds.

Just Eat has a policy of expecting failure and builds its cloud sys-tems accordingly. The IT team uses an open–source tool called Chaos Monkey – first developed by Netflix – that deliberately cre-ates failures in AWS system components to test responses and learn how to prevent them bringing down the whole operation.

Attwal says: “Practice is everything. We have this concept of war games, where we lock ourselves in a room and pick something out

of a hat – such as, nobody in the organisation can log on. What do we do? We go over handling the scenario theoretically and then run it practically.”

TAKING PEOPLE INTO ACCOUNTAttwal says people are often overlooked in disas-ter recovery (DR) planning: “We haven’t paid a lot of attention to succession planning, such as if 20

people leave the company.” To tackle this, Just Eat runs sessions where groups sit around a table and share their expertise.

To avoid having all the know–how locked up in just one person’s brain, the company organises teams around project components. Attwal says: “We are more focused on objectives and have organ-ised teams around component ownership groups – which splits the risks.”

Kirk Langley, head of business continuity at investment man-agement firm Brewin Dolphin, agrees that the “people” element of disaster management is often overlooked.

“It’s an uphill task to get collaboration across departments. I have worked in many organisations, and you do get silos of busi-ness continuity people and IT people,” he says.

Langley argues that business continuity professionals need to understand a reasonable amount about IT: “In any type of organi-sation you will find someone will pinch your team. If you lose a key team of financial planners and investment managers in finan-cial services, it’s a business problem – but it is also an IT problem, because you have to use IT to assign another investment man-ager to all the clients.”

DISASTER RECOVERY

!Click here to learn how to develop disaster recovery

strategies – as well as how to write a disaster recovery plan

– with step-by-step instructions.


http://searchdisasterrecovery.techtarget.com/feature/Using-a-business-impact-analysis-BIA-template-A-free-BIA-template-and-guide

http://searchdisasterrecovery.techtarget.com/ehandbook/The-rise-of-disaster-recovery-in-the-cloud

http://searchaws.techtarget.com/news/2240216546/Developers-use-AWS-spot-instances-as-Chaos-Monkey-to-test-apps

http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/news/2240161491/Cloud-failure-testing-tool-protects-against-outages

http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/How-to-make-applications-resilient-on-AWS

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500249892/UK-disaster-recovery-maturing-but-testing-remains-a-concern-says-report

http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/How-to-write-a-disaster-recovery-plan-and-define-disaster-recovery-strategies


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

Flexible work teams can enable a business to carry on if the head office is unavailable. But as Just Eat’s Attwal points out: “Nothing beats face–to–face interaction.” Not having everyone in the same room can also hinder planning, particularly in the early stages of a disaster, when key people need to co-ordinate the step–by–step process they need to invoke in the company’s DR strategy.

As more companies use purpose–built datacentres and cloud, having key people in the right place at the right time is essential. Adrian Moir, senior manager, systems consulting at Dell Software, says: “It is hard to get 20 people in a datacentre around four racks trying to do everything together. Your disaster recovery centre is your office, where your talent and secondary hardware is.”

Moir believes datacentre DR plans often fail to take account of key IT staff: “A lot of people forget about providing the service to the business and making sure people are active and productive.”

While firms often operate active–active resilient datacentres, he says IT often forgets about who needs to access the datacen-tre: “Think about how much access to the equipment and applica-tions the teams that need to execute the DR plan will need.”

CAREFUL PLANNINGNo-one worries when systems are up and running – they only notice when they fail. Then the business will ask: “How soon will we be up and running again?” This is the critical question, says James Lodge, head of IT disaster recovery at Nationwide Building Society: “But many organisations struggle to say how long a critical system will take to recover at any given moment in time,” he says.

DISASTER RECOVERY

TEEK

ID/I

STO

CK

“CUSTOMERS MAY BECOME AWARE OF AN OUTAGE AND START CONTACTING MEDIA IN AS LITTLE AS EIGHT MINUTES”JAMES LODGE, NATIONWIDE BUILDING SOCIETY


http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240218265/Disaster-recovery-is-vital-in-software-defined-datacentre-era

http://searchdisasterrecovery.techtarget.com/tip/Improve-your-disaster-recovery-project-management


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

A typical bank will run three types of systems, says Lodge: Those that interact with the customer; the business systems, such as sales processing; and datacentre systems. Clearly some systems have greater visibility at different times.

“If a system in sales falls over when all other systems are green, it has a higher priority than if that happened in the middle of a wider datacentre failure,” Lodge says. Business con-tinuity experts need to account for the criticality of a system changing through the day – for example, email is often much more important dur-ing office hours than overnight.

In the model he uses for disaster management, Lodge sets out a timeframe specifying the time it would take for a business system to return to normal operations if it falls over.

From a DR perspective, core datacentre components such as networks or Active Directory software are just as critical, since they affect the ability of the business to operate properly. Unfortunately, it has often been difficult to accurately estimate how long a whole datacentre will take to get back online.

Traditionally it was only possible to give a 24- to 48-hour esti-mate before everything returned to normal operations after a datacentre outage. But by breaking down the datacentre into its constituent components, Lodge says it is possible to give the busi-ness a more accurate assessment of recovery time. “This is a way of building up a more granular recovery for a datacentre,” he says.

TOP–DOWN STRATEGYAccording to Gartner, problems with a DR strategy often arise because the planning is not built top–down from an overall strat-egy, with appropriate priorities and objectives.

The strategy must stipulate where key people need to be – particu-larly if they are required for reboot-ing datacentre systems. They need access to the business continuity site and access rights for the sys-tems they are required to restart. This involves business continuity managers understanding which key IT people will be needed.

And while system dashboards will alert IT teams about a prob-lem, other parts of the organisation may need to be alerted quickly – especially now that customers instantly take to social media if they have problems with websites or mobile apps, for example.

“It is often the case that customers may become aware of an outage and start contacting media in as little as eight minutes,” Lodge says.

He recommends actively and positively managing Twitter and social media feeds. Depending on the type of organisation, social network monitoring and a team to manage media is a must–have.

No-one can fully protect against a major systems outage. But as Lodge notes: “Reputational damage can be far greater than finan-cial loss.” Modern disaster recovery strategies need to include more than just getting IT systems back online.

DISASTER RECOVERY

“REPUTATIONAL DAMAGE CAN BE FAR GREATER THAN FINANCIAL LOSS”

KIRK LANGLEY, BREWIN DOLPHIN


http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.in/news/1516505/Corporation-Banks-disaster-recovery-setup-goes-beyond-standard-DR

http://searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com/tip/Disaster-recovery-planning-for-Active-Directory

http://searchdisasterrecovery.techtarget.com/answer/Is-social-media-a-blessing-or-curse-for-DR-communication


Home

News





Editor’s comment




Downtime

Ofcom learns secret of time travel, uses it for really boring consultationOfcom CEO Sharon White has discovered the secret of time travel, or so it would appear from a consultation document released on 13 August by the telecoms regulator.

The revelation that Ofcom has access to technology that baffles modern-day science was tucked away in a dense and lengthy pre-amble to new guidance on the minimum margin BT must maintain between its wholesale and retail broadband charges:

“On 19 March 2015, we published a statement setting out detailed requirements on the minimum margin and guidance on how we

would assess compliance with those obligations. That guidance anticipates there might be material changes in circumstances which would warrant a departure from that guidance,” said the statement. So far, so Ofcom.

“In June 2016, BT announced changes to its BT Sport retail propo-sition. These changes are linked to BT beginning to broadcast Uefa football from August 2015.”

Downtime reached out to BT’s press office for comment on the implications of the regulator having access to a time machine, and was told that surely any time traveller worth their salt would go back to last month and put a lot of money on the Ashes.

DOWNTIME

!Read more on the Downtime blog


http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/it-downtime-blog/

computerweekly com ugust -...

Documents