Information technology

6 posts

I attended a cybersecurity conference and there were sessions about zero trust, securing generative AI, and emerging threats. And then there was a very atypical keynote session called âUnderstanding and Managing Neurodivergent Staffâ (presented by @Rick Doten). It was one of those âyou donât know what you donât knowâ presentations.

I learned that there is a wide spectrum of neurodiversity, and ADHD, autism, and dyslexia are a few of the conditions. Generally speaking, neurodivergent individuals interpret, experience, and socialize with the world differently. They typically approach problem-solving and critical thinking in innovative ways producing creative insights and solutions. You may know neurodivergent individuals and not realize that they are neurodiverse. Or individuals may be undiagnosed and not realize that they are neurodiverse.

Neurodivergent Skill Sets

If everyone thinks differently anyway, how do you know if someone may be neurodivergent? Some examples of the skill set neurodivergent individuals may have are:

High level of attention to detail â noticing errors and inconsistencies that others might overlook;
Strong analytical and problem solving â being able to problem solve quickly with creative solutions without any previous knowledge or experience (aka fluid reasoning);
Strong pattern recognition â tasks involving pattern analysis and drawing inferences;
Determination and persistence in overcoming challenges;
Hyperfocus on specific tasks â completing tasks with resolute attention;
Creative thinking and innovation â coming up with fresh perspectives and out-of-the-box solutions; and
Honesty and ethical behavior.

Neurodivergent individuals arenât limited to these skill sets. Their abilities will vary based on their interests and strengths. As part of their personal development, find out whatâs important to them. You should be encouraging and having open conversations with each team member anyway.

Individuals with these skill sets are a great fit for jobs that require meticulous work or breaking down complex problems and systematically analyzing them. Depending on their interests and strengths, some roles and careers that could be a great fit are accountants, administrative assistants, graphic designers, librarians, or pharmacists.

Neurodivergent individuals have a deep passion for specialized knowledge and have a natural aptitude for technical skills such as math, programming, and scientific research. This means they may naturally gravitate towards the IT and security fields. Some roles and careers that could be a great fit are statisticians, data analysts, IT support specialists, quality assurance testers, and ethical hackers (Red Team).

Leveraging Neurodiversity Superpowers

Pause the next time you look at a job description (JD) either as a job seeker or as a hiring manager. A person may not be an obvious choice superficially but may be an excellent fit and a superstar! Some common job description skill sets that may align with the strengths of neurodivergent individuals are:

JD Skill Set & Strength Descriptors

Attention to Detail â Meticulous, precision, accuracy, thoroughness
Analytical Thinking â Analytical skills, problem-solving, data analysis
Pattern Recognition â Identify trends, discern details detecting subtle patterns
Persistence â Persistence, resilience, dedication
Creativity â Creative problem solvers, innovators
Honesty and Integrity â Confidentiality, customer service

Compare the job description with the specific skills and interests of the individuals. Hopefully, your application process allows individuals to highlight their relevant skills and experiences during the application and interview processes.

If you have the right role for the right person, neurodiversity could be an advantage. Offer reasonable accommodations to enable neurodivergent individuals to thrive. This could include flexibility in work hours/environment, a quiet/sensory-friendly workplace, communication preferences for expectations, as well as structured feedback.

For example, neurodivergent individuals may range from non-communicative to overly communicative. There are several tools and technologies (such as noise-canceling headphones, fidget toys, and task/time management apps) to facilitate communication, organization, and well-being for both personal and work life. If you demonstrate an inclusive work environment, research shows that neurodivergent employees may have lower turnover rates, which can reduce recruitment and training costs for the organization.

Having a diverse team with diverse perspectives makes the team stronger. Each person, whether neurodiverse or not, is unique and brings something different to the table. Appreciate those different perspectives and encourage and be supportive of each person.

For more information on understanding that neurodiversity is a superpower, follow me on LinkedIn!

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship

Quest For Top Talent And The Neurodiversity …

Maximizing IT Investment For Long-Term Success

Many organizations are continuing to tighten their financial belts. The IT budget is normally pretty substantial so itâs becoming more critical than ever to maximize those technology investments and return on investment (ROI) to position yourself for long-term success even in challenging economic conditions.

Technology Environment Resources

Business technology investment/profit/roi (return on investment) concept

Technology needs to align with the business, so make sure you understand the business goals and needs. Talk with your business partners to understand their pain points, challenges, and opportunities. What are their strategies and priorities, and how can technology make an impact on achieving those goals? Itâs more effective when the organization doesnât operate in silos so if some groups do take those individual inputs, they should engage with business partners collectively (such as with finance, operations, and marketing) to incorporate their insights and perspectives so that you have a comprehensive understanding.

External sources can also provide valuable information. You can attend conferences and read trade magazines to stay informed about emerging technologies and industry trends. Leverage industry trends and benchmark studies such as Gartnerâs Magic Quadrant reports providing a comparison of different vendors to help align the vendorsâ strengths and challenges with your organizationâs needs.

There are many different strategies you can use to maximize your technology investments, drive operational efficiency, and specifically achieve cost savings.

Starting With A Technology Audit

Business/financial/technology audit concept

One strategy is to start off by conducting a technology audit. (Note: It may be beneficial to consult with Internal Audit who can be a business partner with invaluable insights.) Create an inventory of the key areas including software (both on premises and in the cloud), hardware, network infrastructure, and security. Once you complete the inventory, review and assess these areas to gain an understanding of the environment. Then develop an action plan that identifies specific changes, timelines, and resources needed. Some considerations are:

1. Rationalize and consolidate systems. Identify areas that have redundant, underutilized, or outdated technologies. Eliminating underutilized software licenses or retiring unnecessary components can result in cost savings by reducing licensing and maintenance costs. For example, ensure that youâre not paying for Adobe cloud-based subscription licenses for terminated employees.

2. Evaluate new technology initiatives based on their potential impact on revenue generation, cost savings, operational efficiency, or risk mitigation. Workflow automation and robotic process automation (RPA) solutions can streamline processes or automate repetitive tasks, which will improve operational efficiency. Plus, when you automate these types of tasks, you minimize errors and reduce manual effort, which allows those resources to do more value-added tasks.

3. When reviewing different solutions, consider the cost expenditures (capital vs. operating), risks (including data security and privacy), as well as scalability. You want to ensure the technology can accommodate evolving business requirements, emerging technologies, and future growth.

Moving your infrastructure from on premises to the cloud can reduce maintenance costs as well as allow organizations to only pay for the resources that they use. For example, if there is a surge in demand during the holiday season, you can spin servers up/down to match and accommodate that demand.

You can prioritize any changes or new technology initiatives based on urgency and the potential impact on business goals and needs. When implementing those new initiatives, donât forget to capture the âlessons learned.â Evaluate the technology initiativesâ ROI and key performance indicators (KPIs). And, last but not least, continuously monitor and improve to ensure the technology aligns with and meets the ever-changing business needs.

For more information on maximizing your IT investment for long-term success, follow me on LinkedIn!

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship

Maximizing IT Investment For Long-Term Success

Your organization bought an expensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, and it came with a comprehensive set of documentation including user manuals, training materials, and technical guides. You utilized the documentation and successfully implemented the system, but how much have you used the documentation since then?

Technology is an investment. You want to maximize the use of the system, including that the systemâs operations are consistent and reliable. You regularly update the system for upgrades and patches. Itâs crucial to make sure your corresponding documentation is up to date because it enables employees to be knowledgeable about the updated system.

Documentation captures critical information preserving that knowledge and making it available to all appropriate individuals. If only a few specific individuals know how the system works, what happens when they get sick, go on vacation, or resign? The solution is to make sure the information is written down and to document that knowledge.

User-Related Documentation

User documentation supports onboarding and training to ensure employees know how to properly use the system. This allows employees to get familiar with the system so that they can leverage it effectively. User manuals provide end users with guidelines including step-by-step instructions on how to use the system. Security roles identify what the staff can/canât do versus what requires a supervisor to override. If youâve added a module, make sure you add the new feature/functionality details so that the documents arenât incomplete or missing information.

Training materials (e.g., instructor/student manuals, cheat sheets) are used to train both new and existing employees poised for promotions and transfers. Training materials can be used for scheduled training classes or for train-the-trainer scenarios wherein designated trainers (department super users or subject matter experts) train the rest of the organization.

If the documentation isnât up to date, it can confuse or make it difficult for end users to properly use the system. Allow users to submit feedback (e.g., via a service ticket) regarding documentation such as unclear steps, incorrect screen print, or missing information.

IT-Related Documentation

For the IT staff, documentation serves as a reference for how the system is intended to be used. This includes system setup/configuration, system maintenance, as well as troubleshooting.

Many organizations operate 24/7 so itâs crucial that the IT staff be able to minimize any downtime. Some key documents are:

1. System architecture documents â provide an overview of the system components and interfaces that are interconnected. If you need to migrate your environment from on premises to the cloud, having current architecture documents can minimize the uncertainty of what components you have and how theyâre connected.

2. Data-related documents (e.g., data dictionaries and data flow diagrams) â document the data structures. If a table is dropped, do you know which processes including reports will be affected?

3. System maintenance documents â did the upgrade affect the patching process? Does the nightly processing schedule need to be updated? Or any of the backup schedules (daily, monthly, quarterly, etc.)?

4. Troubleshooting documents â guidance on diagnosing and resolving common technical issues. When you upgraded the database version, did you become familiar with the new system messages and codes in advance?

When the system has been changed, make sure the documentation has been updated to reflect those changes. You can use a date stamp in the footer and turn on versioning to identify when the documentation was last updated.

Also, donât forget to update the disaster recovery and business continuity documents. In the event of a disaster, you want to ensure the organization can minimize any business disruption. It can be chaotic when a disaster occurs, and up-to-date documentation can reduce stress, especially for employees filling in for absent employees.

For more information on the importance of keeping system documentation up to date, follow me on LinkedIn!

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship

How Important Is Up-To-Date System Documentation?

Organizations must manage their IT operations or they could risk catastrophic outages and failures. What are the signs a company's IT operations are not working properly?

We recently asked our leading executives for their expert advice on the signs a company's IT operations are failing.

Here are their responses...

Michael Willis, Sports Business Operations Executive

The IT department is the backbone of off-the-field and on-field operations at the NFL. With failing IT operations, it would prove nearly impossible to maintain the necessary communications and infrastructure needed to operate in a professional sports arena.

Signs of IT failures would include:

1. Off-the-Field Operations

Home network and connectivity problems
Youâve suffered an IT security breach more than once
In-person meetings are taking longer due to Wi-Fi issues
Backup and recovery plans are a mystery
Employee productivity is down
IT issues between league office and teams during game day

2. On-Field Operations

Coach to quarterback communications problems
Sideline tablets are not working for game day
Instant replay will not be available for game officials
Media operations â cutting-edge graphics and stories
Security smart navigation to monitor dangerous weapons
Referee contact with league office for critical calls

Failing IT operations would damage the NFLâs main product â the GAME!

Michael Willis has 18+ years of experience working with accounting & sports organizations and has managed P&Ls of $10M - $125M+ with budgets of $3M-$50M+. He worked for the NFL for 22 1/2 years, mainly with the game officials working on the financial/accounting side of the business.

Lynn Holland, VP Sales & Business Development

IT operations, information technology concept

In my work of evangelizing various SaaS technology solutions on behalf of emerging startup and growth founders, largely with enterprise companies, I have the privilege of helping ops leaders to recognize and solve operational challenges that are:

Exposing them to risk
Generating excess operating costs
Diminishing the profitability of their operations

From an objective, outside-in vantage point I help escort them through the practical considerations for identifying where their operations are underperforming because of technology or the lack thereof and justify addressing it by:

Mapping the end-to-end transaction or process as it flows through siloed workgroups, their existing systems, and data requirements
Recognize when tolerated low-value activities can be automated into new processes with a measurable near-term return, taking out the risk of errors, giving time back to the staff for income-producing activities, and creating greater capacity to increase output without adding more infrastructure
Informed by auditing end-to-end operation, preventing shelfware, and building a tech-buying solution spec for needs vs. nice-to-haves to source, evaluate, and select objectively best-suited tech solutions and partners
Building a whole-organization business case for selecting and adopting the new solution to the benefit of key stakeholders and those in their charge

Like the proverbial frog in the pot, however, it can be difficult for enterprise leaders to detect when itâs time to look under the hood because their operational technology is no longer serving them well. Here are five signs itâs time for a checkup:

Lacking an owner of the end-to-end organization-wide technology and operations flow to know the process journey with associated data that flows through the organization, through departments, in and out of every system, then into a platform of record
Lacking a periodic end-to-end audit of the organization-wide technology and operations process flow
Existing operations require a manual process or data entry to transfer, share, or archive data between departments
Excel spreadsheets are still a central tool in the operational process
In the absence of an end-to-end technology and process audit, redundancies in apps, shelfware, and tolerated manual processes haven't been identified

Lynn Holland is a business development executive with 18+ years of experience taking operational, IoT & retail technologies, products, & consumer engagement to market with a focus in petroleum & convenience retail.

Carla Biasi, Personal Stylist

IT expert, information technology concept

There are a few signs I would look for if you think your company's IT operations are failing.

First, do you consistently have the same issues? We understand there are hiccups with technology, but they should be resolved or in the process of it. If your IT problems do not get fixed, there could be bigger issues at hand.

Secondly, is your company outsourcing its IT operations? If there is no in-house department to work on IT issues, it makes sense a company would outsource this function. If there's an in-house IT department, they should be handling many of the issues.

And lastly, is there a lot of turnover or employee unrest in the IT department? If so, that could be a sign of interdepartmental issues that are resulting in poor performance from the team.

Carla Biasi is a personal stylist living on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. She currently has her own business and works part-time at an upscale women's boutique and as a virtual and kit stylist for a womenâs specialty brand.

Ana Smith, Talent Architect & Global Learning Strategist

IT operations, system error, information technology concept

IT operations is a lot like your car: if something's not right, you'll know!

If your car isn't making the right noises when you start it, or if it's taking longer than usual to get going, that's a sign that something is wrong. There are other signals too: check the oil; look for leaks; check the tires and make sure they're properly inflated.

The same is true for IT systems. If your network isn't performing up to par or you're experiencing performance issues with applications and services, there could be something wrong with your infrastructure.

IT operations failure is often caused by poorly managed assets, so it's important to regularly monitor utilization levels and ensure that assets are appropriately sized for their workloads. Failure to do so can lead to increased costs due to underutilization or overprovisioning, which in turn leads to poor user experiences that negatively impact productivity and customer satisfaction levels within an organization.

My bottom-line comment would be to get a get-go alignment of metrics and expectations across different stakeholders and then measure and adjust as needed!

Ana Smith helps people & organizations achieve their full talent potential by developing and co-creating people strategies and customized solutions, and turning them into impactful outcomes and collaborative relationships, using coaching as the "red thread."

What are some other signs your company's IT operations are failing? Join the conversation inside Work It Daily's Executive Program.

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship

Executive Spotlight: Signs Your Companyâs IT Operations …

Internal Controls To Safeguard Your Assets

When you hear the words âinternal controlsâ does the early 2000s, Enron scandal, and SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) come to mind? It probably does especially if you work in finance or accounting. Internal control as defined by COSO is âa process for assuring of an organization's objectives in operational effectiveness and efficiency, reliable financial reporting, and compliance with laws, regulations and policies. A broad concept, internal control involves everything that controls risks to an organization.â

Many people will focus on the financial aspects when they think about internal controls, but as the COSO definition states, internal controls are for the entire organization. This includes operations and information technology (IT) and may not have realized that some things being done are internal control related. For example, if you work at a manufacturing plant, the equipment is critical, and you want to make sure that itâs working properly. So, youâll have inspections and routine maintenance, which are considered internal controls.

Technology is at the center of most organizations, so you definitely want to make sure your IT assets are working and protected. If there is security breach or ransomware, the CEO will want to know how it happened. You might not think of internal controls, but it certainly could be related to an internal control weakness.

Types Of Internal Controls

internal controls /safeguard assets concept

Internal controls are typically divided into three categories:

Preventative controls â policies and practices designed to âpreventâ problems from occurring.
Detective controls â procedures designed to âdetectâ if a problem occurs. It identifies that something has happened.
Corrective controls â these are implemented after the fact to âcorrectâ so that it doesnât happen again. It could be offering training, applying a software patch, or rebooting a system.

There are two types of IT-related internal controls â general controls and application controls:

General controls â are for the overall environment and include physical hardware, software, security, etc. For example, make sure you schedule (and test) routine backups. In the event of a disaster, you want to be confident that you can restore the system. Other general controls are antivirus, firewalls, and change management processes.
Application controls â are specific for input, processing, and output for each application. Examples are required fields, correct date format, and data completeness checks.

How To Identify And Mitigate Internal Control Weaknesses

Some elements to help identify and mitigate control weaknesses are:

1. Defining and inventorying risks. While some risks may be common across an industry, some will be specific to an organization. Itâs important to identify which risks are mission critical to your organization. There are some individuals who specialize in identifying ongoing risks.

One of the top risks is cybersecurity! Many organizations have a dedicated CISO (chief information security officer). Also, individuals can obtain the CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) certification.
Some organizations have a specific GRC (governance, risk, and compliance) group.

2. Frameworks and conducting risk assessments. There are numerous tools, processes, and templates available. Youâll want to determine and document the risks, the likelihood of the event happening, the impact including potential cost, if/how to mitigate the risk, etc. Some frameworks and considerations are:

If you work in healthcare, how do you ensure you are HIPAA compliant?
How often do you perform penetration tests?
If you have an ERP partner, have you reviewed their annual SOC2 (System and Organization Controls Type 2) report to review their internal controls, and any client considerations you may be responsible for?

3. Involvement by Internal Audit (internal controls is practically their middle name). They can be a valuable business partner and provide an independent perspective to make sure the internal controls are effective (including cost effective) and working properly.

4. Continuous monitoring. Both your organization and the threat landscape are constantly changing. You want to regularly conduct assessments and reviews to ensure the controls are effective. Donât make controls so rigid that itâs impossible for the business to function.

There are tools that can systematically monitor, identify, and remediate issues such as Norton identifying viruses and malware.
Conduct phishing training and testing for all employees to increase security awareness.

You canât make the organization 100% secure without shutting the business down, but you can create and maintain a framework of internal controls to safeguard the organizationâs important assets.

There are great resources regarding internal controls provided by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), and Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).

For more information on internal controls, follow me on LinkedIn!

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship

Internal Controls To Safeguard Your Assets

Who Should Own the ERP System? Hint: It’s Not IT.

Besides payroll, one of your organizationâs largest spends is probably on technology. You spent thousands of dollars to implement your new ERP system. Years later youâre still using the same version with manual compliance-related workarounds. The ERP system needs to be kept current. What do you do?

As the business continued to grow, you struggled to make the ERP system work for you. There was no written documentation for the end-users, and you created manual workarounds. Training was done verbally so end-users werenât trained consistently, and they ended up having a lot of dirty data. In the end, the business was expending extraordinary time and effort muscling to use the ERP system, and only getting a small fraction of value.

How did this situation happen? Individuals thought the small IT group should be responsible for all technology including the ERP system. So, the business wasnât involved as much as it should have been.

ERP stands for enterprise resource planningâthe entire enterprise should be involved including finance, information security, internal audit, regulatory compliance, and legal.

ERP System Responsibilities For Each Department

Although the ERP is a system (with a significant investment), the sole responsibility cannot be put on IT. Instead, the business needs to take the lead and own the system. The ERP consists of multiple modules and those âownerâ departments have a vested interest to keep the system current and to maximize using the features and functionality.

IT is responsible for understanding how the system is intended to be used.

The business is responsible for deciding what to use.

One way to break out the responsibilities is as follows:

Dept	Sample Responsibilities
IT	Obtains release notes for bug fixes, patches, and upgrades; explains features/functionality to the business Configures settings and security based on business decisions Recreates any issues reported and works with vendor on issues, bugs, custom code Creates and maintains testing documents (test plans and scripts) and performs unit, integration, and system testing Loads tested code into production environment â change management
Business	Departments âownâ their respective modules (e.g. finance, human resources, operations), which includes the internal control system Decides which features/functionality to use Creates and maintains master data records Creates end-user documentation (workflows and procedures), and updates documentation when code is updated If youâre using the system out-of-the-box and following the vendorâs best practices, the vendor should be able to give you standard end-user documentation for the basic workflows, procedures, and training materials. Then the business just needs to customize the standard documentation, and then create any outstanding end-user documentation. Creates and maintains user acceptance testing (UAT) documents, and performs user acceptance testing Reports issues to IT
Training	Maintains training documents, videos, and cheat sheets per business, and updates documentation when code is updated Offers ongoing training classes (for new employees, refreshers) If there isnât a separate training department, then this responsibility reverts to the business.

Summary

In the end, the business has the most to gain (or lose) by utilizing the ERP to align with the business needs and growth. Similar to the idiom it takes a village, the entire enterprise should be involved to keep the ERP and other major systems current and maximize their use.

For more information on system ownership, follow me on LinkedIn!

Acquiring Job Advance Your Career Career Changing Careers and Employment Education Internship