The Industry Requires Stand-out Security Solutions

by Uday Devalla, CIO, Stearns Lending
The wearable computing is the latest trend in terms of consumer technology, which is likely to remain so in the imminent years as well. There would be numerous technological trends in terms of how the cell phone is going to be blended with wearable computers. On the technology side, the latest trend is cloud computing. The trend is expected to prevail for many years along with big data analytics. In 2014, you would see cloud computing becoming more prevalent and more mature, similar is the case with data analytics on big data. Mobility is another imperative trend, with lots of innovation happening, especially in the incorporation of mobile devices to organizational structure. The industry has matured to a point where mobility has become a reality with almost 50 percent of the people in the organization carrying around devices, laptops and similar devices. Therefore, going forward, the cloud computing, data analysis and mobility would be the areas of focus from an organizational point of view.

Security Solutions should Evolve

In view of the current circumstances, improvement is needed in security solutions, as there is a lack of good and proper solutions. In other words, the solutions have not matured yet. With huge quantities of data being generated, organizations especially those in the financial sector are focusing on this aspect. Also, considering cyber security, currently, the market is devoid of standing-out solutions and service providers that can make our information and network secure.

The Challenges Posed by the Industry

It is a constant challenge to keep pace with the rate at which technology is changing. You would know that business is changing much faster today as compared to earlier days. There are a lot of changes happening in the finance sector. Therefore, on the technology side, as a CIO, I find it a challenge to make sure that technology keeps pace with the changes in business, regardless of whether the business is run by our company or consumers. As an example, let’s consider the demand for mobile apps. A few years ago, everyone was thinking about mobile apps, but, nowadays, the concept is that, everyone has to have an app. In our case, when we were prepared to meet the apps demand, we were expected to give more mobile apps. So, the technology is fast-phased regarding change.

Another challenge is hiring and retaining talented people who can balance the change in business with the change in technology. With respect to the developments in the industry, I have the task to determine which trends are to be incorporated to the organization and which ones should be left behind.

Steps towards Innovation

We ensure that we invest in and focus on creativity, and pay attention to what we have in hand.  There exists a separate group, within the organization, focused on analyzing the upcoming technologies and applying those technologies to innovate our business process. In addition, there is collaboration with the rest of the technology organizations like Cisco that carry out extensive innovative techniques. Being a financial company, most of the innovation takes place on the business side, and it is a different process from the competitors. Majority of innovative activities are oriented towards big data.

 

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