“Too often technology, these days, constrains organizations. They’ve got these systems and how the systems work sort of start to influence how they work. That’s backwards. Technology should be enabling you, but in so many cases, it’s not.” 

 

Can noticing repetitive aspects in systems help you to solve problems?John Gray, the CTO of InterVision Systems, suggests seeing “problem patterns” in business and technology can help to deliver solutions. He also explains that serving clients often involves synthesizing different tools rather than building totally tailor-made solutions. John also talks about his hobby flying remote control airplanes.   

 

Key Insights

 

Are Companies Better Served by Tool Aggregation or Customization? (27:25)

 

John suggests blending together a number of tools for clients is preferable to a focus on customization. This makes sense. With so much complexity, using a variety of already established tools that can work together is necessary. Furthermore, each tool is likely to be updated with the latest technology much more quickly than any particular customly built product.

Why is Testing Recovery Procedures So Important? (13:32)

 

According to John, frequently testing recovery systems is essential. 

“That’s what catches out a lot of organizations. They may put things in place [and] test it once. Then they make a whole bunch of changes to their technology. And when a disaster, ransomware is one example, hits, they haven’t dealt with all the changes that occurred to their infrastructure [and] their ecosystem since they last set things up for DR. So it’s an ongoing kind of investment that you have to make as an organization now to really be ready and not be taken out as you become completely digital.” 

What Should Companies Do With the Money They Save From More Remote Work? (15:29) 

“When you think about it, organizations are going to save money because they’re not going to have to have physical offices as much anymore. Because they’re increasingly just remote and using technology, but now they’re increasingly vulnerable to being entirely kind of taken out.”

John’s recommendation is for businesses to put the money they save from increased remote work into security. As John explains it, remote work can be considered a double-edged sword — though it can save money with a reduction of physical resources, it also opens the door to more cyberattacks. From his perspective, companies must take care of their customers by striving to close that door by providing more allocation of money for security resources.

About the Guest:

BiO: “As Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chief Product Officer (CPO), John leads InterVision’s Product Development team and provides thought leadership for InterVision’s growth. Joining InterVision in 2018 via the acquisition and merger of Infiniti Consulting Group, John has continuously guided the technology-focused integration of InterVision’s acquisitions and is deeply involved in the growth of InterVision’s geographic reach, managed services and cloud-based offerings.

John co-founded Infiniti Consulting in 2006 and under his leadership, Infiniti built a successful IT consultancy and became an early adopter and leader in AWS Cloud Services. Prior to Infiniti, John was CTO and in senior software engineering positions at large system integrators and product start ups. 

John thrives on understanding complex business and market needs to architect and deliver the right technology solutions that enable businesses and their customers to achieve their objectives. 

John earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at the University of East Anglia in England and started out as a software engineer in London before moving to California where he has resided the last 30 years. John is a board member of multiple, highly successfully, technology companies.”

IT Visionaries is brought to you by Salesforce Platform. If you love the thought leadership on this podcast, Salesforce has even more meaty IT thoughts to chew on. Take your company to the next level with in-depth research and trends right in your inbox. Subscribe to a newsletter tailored to your role at Salesforce.com/newsletter.

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.