What advice would you give to someone starting their career in IT/tech? “Frequently ask the question ‘what is the user trying to accomplish, and why?’ - bad requirements won’t make sense, and good requirements will be far easier to...
What advice would you give to aspiring IT leaders? “My best advice would be to find the part of IT that you love and focus on that with an undying vigour. Become an expert on that one vertical.”
Cybersecurity is constantly changing – how do you keep learning? “You need to have a passion for what you do. Tech is constantly changing - you must be invigorated, because otherwise it would be extremely difficult to keep up…”
How do you align your technology use to meet business goals? “For me, it’s always the business need that comes first, and my job as a CTO is to find a technology-based solution.”
What are some common misconceptions about working in IT/tech? “That you have to be particularly technical. Business skills are often just as important in the tech sector.”
Do you have a succession plan? “I always look at how people can grow into my shoes... I see succession as mentoring people on a daily basis to ensure that they will one day be ready for the role.”
What metrics or KPIs do you use to measure security effectiveness? “There is not a one size fits all strategy and every CISO needs to generate a set of standardised metrics and business outcomes specific to their organisation’s risk...
Are there any technologies which you think are overhyped?” There are several, such as service mesh, blockchain, and the metaverse, that receive considerable hype without directly addressing human challenges.”
What advice would you give to aspiring IT leaders? “For me to be an IT leader you need to know your content… if you don’t know what you are talking about, then no one will believe what you are saying, so being firmly in the content is...
Is the security skills shortage affecting your organisation? “As an industry, we talk about this a lot. I don’t believe there’s a shortage per se, but rather a disconnect in expectations and understanding of what is needed and...
What's the best career advice you ever received? “One of my old CEOs said that whilst you aren’t going to be successful with everything you do, if you succeed seven out of ten times, that’s real progress.”