In this week's news roundup for IT pros, we bring you articles on the rise of new tech trends and cyber threats, and the fall of the chief digital officer.
The end of the CDO?
While digital transformation remains a key priority for businesses, it seems there is diminishing emphasis on the role of the chief digital officer (CDO) to make it happen. In an article in ZDNet this week, Mark Samuels cites research showing much slower growth in the appointment of CDOs, and he asks experts to weigh in on why. Among the reasons, those quoted point to a lag in digital maturity, understanding, C-suite buy-in, all of which created a gap that was filled by the appointment of a CDO. However, although there is now a greater understanding of digital transformation's importance, Samuels writes, “Businesses must continue to view digital transformation as a moving target, and boards need to draw on talented executives who, regardless of job title, understand the potential impact of transformation.”
Emerging technology trends
This “moving target” advice is underscored by Gartner's latest “Hype Cycle” report on emerging technologies. Nicole Laskowski writes in TechTarget this week, “Talking SMAC, an acronym for social, mobile, analytics and cloud, is so yesterday. Instead, if CIOs want to be fashion forward — technologically speaking — they should start talking artificial intelligence, machine learning and software-defined security.” Laskowski's article identifies three macro trends to help CIOs put emerging tech trends into business perspective.
Staying ahead of cyber threats
With emerging technology always comes new challenges and risks. For example, an article in TechCrunch points out the vulnerabilities of connected, autonomous vehicles, saying they will face major cybersecurity threats. “Cars today have up to 100 ECUs and more than 100 million lines of code — a massive attack surface. Further complicating matters, auto manufacturers source ECUs from many different suppliers, meaning that no one player is in control of, or even familiar with, all of a vehicle’s source code,” writes TechCrunch contributor Rob Toews.
SAS CIO Keith Collins makes the case that CIOs need to move past the approach of building higher mountains and wider rivers to keep cybercriminals out and points out that recent high-profile breaches prove this strategy to be inefficient. In an article in CIO Magazine this week, Collins writes, “It’s relatively easy for professional attackers to find weaknesses in an organization. Meeting them head on with a well-educated and diligent staff is every organization’s best defense.” He provides four steps for CIOs to gain a better understanding of the issue.
More news for CIOs
10 Steps To Implementing A Successful Enterprise IoT Strategy [Forbes]
Talent remains the biggest issue for deploying open source in the enterprise [ComputerWorld]
