Professional Interests
Enterprise Application Development
Enterprise Applications are a large component of many people's day-to-day work activies. These applications must meet business needs, but they should also empower and appeal to users.
I believe Microsoft Excel is the best business tool ever created. It is powerful, reliable, honest, and fits into a wide array of business use cases. It is approachable, and extensible. Users may choose their level of expertise, and those who become experts are able to create some truly impressive results.
Enterprise Applications should incorporate the merits of Excel as frequently as possible. Do the users feel empowered when they use the system, or is it one more place they must enter information? Is the system available when the users need it or is it difficult to reach and use? And most importantly, does the system deliver real value to businesses in terms of efficiency and results?
Data
Data is the language of business. Some languages are clear and concise, others are choppy yet efficient, others are verbose and overly expressive. With the volume of structured, unstructured, and poorly-structured data used in business communications, it is critical for the effective organization to prioritize the implementation of strategies and infrastructure to collect, transform and store it.
While processes for effectively managing data can be complex and requiring of initial investment, the benefits are nearly instantaneous. Queries across divisions, visibility into performance, support of business decisions, the benefits are virtually endless and organizations making data-driven decisions position themselves greatly ahead of those running solely on instinct.
Secure Cloud Services
The cloud allows enterprises of all shapes and sizes to gain technical buying power. What was once hosted onsite or in a dedicated server-farm could be moved to a cloud environment for a fraction of the price. These benefits are great, and savings are immediate, but they come with a larger number of access points to secure.
It is important for transitions to the cloud to be driven first by security requirements and second by savings, the higher-security implementations are always affordable compared to the costs of a breach.
Workplace Culture
People spend a lot of time working, and with the blurring of work and personal time brought forth by technology, it is important for organizations to have a positive culture that is both effective in retaining existing talent and attracting prospective talent.
Culture doesn't have to include sandals and pets at work to be great, and employees will often find more value in appreciation, recognition, and respect of time than from ping-pong tables (coffee machines are important).
The first step to great culture is acknowledging that culture requires active discussion and planning to implement. By developing and communicating expectations for remote-work, evening e-mails, and engagement in work-sponsored activities, organizations can make large gains in employee satisfaction.
Machine Learning & Smart Contracts
There are many exciting opportunities for organizations in these areas. Organizations should begin dialogues regarding strategies for implementation of these technologies, understanding that neither are a silver bullet and implementation should be incremental.
Machine Learning can help organiziations automate or improve processes previously viewed as 'human only.' Machine learning is still in early stages regardining abilities to replace entire jobs or job functions, but there are opportunities to implement machine learning in ways that support and improve abilities of existing people and processes. Smart Contracts are exciting because they offer opportunities to increase speed and reliability of multi-party transactions. They can even enforce themselves.
Widespread use of these technologies is growing, but at a measured pace. Organizations can position themselves properly by starting discussions, and ensuring data is being effectively collected and stored.