GET TO KNOW...
On the lighter side of things, we ask the
industry experts what makes them tick. . . .
Steve Mallaby, Chief Operating
Officer, The Argility Technology Group
What would you describe as your
most memorable achievement? What do you think is the current
hit technology talking point?
A very significant achievement in my life
was in 2013/14, when I completed my MBA
journey through GIBS and while it was not so
much about the achievement itself, it was an
extraordinary journey over a two-year period.
It absolutely opened my eyes to a diversity
of people, opinions and subjects, and was an
incredibly good learning experience. I would be completely out of touch with the
world if I didn’t mention some of the latest
trends in the industry, particularly those
which relate to Industry 4.0, also commonly
referred to as the fourth industrial revolution.
It includes cyber-physical systems, the
Internet of Things, cloud computing and
cognitive computing.
What first made you think of a
career in technology? I guess the biggest hype in technology right
now would be around cryptocurrencies and
while they might be going through a massive
evolution and a lot of hype, we are not sure
which of them might be around to stay.
What is really of interest is the underlying
technology, blockchain. I certainly see it as
an enabler of many different technologies.
Furthermore, one can’t ignore the concepts
around Artificial Intelligence (AI), analytics,
machine learning and IoT.
I was very fortunate that one of my first jobs
was with one of the banks in their IT division.
The banks invest heavily in providing very
good quality training and exposure to
multiple systems. While I am not particularly
technical myself, I love what technology can
do to solve business problems and I think
it has always been in my nature to look for
and solve business problems and challenges
using technology as an enabler.
What style of management
philosophy do you employ with your
current position?
I am passionate about leadership and seeing
others develop and grow into future leaders.
In that respect, I firmly believe in empowering
others, involving them in decision making and
empowering them to use their own initiative.
My management approach is very much
a participative one, which involves getting
people involved in decisions, growing them
and promoting them to take responsibility for
good and bad decisions.
www.intelligentcio.com
However, as with many of these trends,
one can get caught up in a trap of just
talking about the technology for the sake of
technology itself and particularly in IT, where
we love to throw around acronyms. Where I
see the real excitement is how to take those
technologies and take them back into our
customer worlds.
Again, while the technology talking points
are very topical, one must remember that
it’s not the technology itself that is of value,
rather seeing the technology simply as an
enabler to what we can do, how we can
solve problems and how we can transform
businesses, is the crux of the issue.
INTELLIGENTCIO
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