The 10 Most Innovative CIOs to Follow in 2022

ISSN 2582-127X

February 2022

The Key Focus Areas for CISOs to Watch Out for 2022

MOST INNOVATIVE

CIOs

New Roles and

TO FOLLOW IN 2022

Opportunities for CISOs

CIO of Bottero S.p.A.

Reinventing the Glass Processing Industry with Continuous Innovation and E ective Strategies

EDITORIAL

The Growing Importance of CIO in Emergence of Digital Era

A

CIO is the person of any organization behind today's digital transformation initiatives and as well as their approach will decide the future innovations. But they face continuous challenges to use the latest technologies and keep on inventing new IT innovations to make the entire business process agile. CIOs are carrying the major responsibility of driving technological change. Those who are not willing to take the challenge to transform their business processes always carry a risk of becoming an ordinary player in their industry.

Large enterprises with digital agility can quickly respond to emerging business models, embrace new digital technologies, and ensure excellent customer experience through innovative products and services. While digital transformation is an enterprise-wide business strategy, the CIO (chief information officer) is uniquely poised to combine strategy and technology to lead the process and deliver transformation quickly.

Looking at how fast consumer behavior is changing and how customer expectations are climbing new ladders, organizations need to ask themselves, how long they can sustain in the market in the impression of someone who is giving just “good” customer experiences. Here all eyes come to the CIO. The role is vital, as companies are focusing more on using digital channel efforts on making customer interaction more savvy, engaging & transparent. In short, CIOs are running the global digital show.

While CIOs used to make their careers on their tech credentials, today's most successful CIOs stand out for other skills, including communication, building bridges between groups, and empathy – all-important at times of big cultural change.

Historically, chief technology officers managed to implement internal technology and keep it current.

Oftentimes, CIOs and information technology managers were removed from overall business strategy and decision-making.

But in this increasingly technological and data-driven world, the CIO has gradually taken on more responsibility in the strategic decisions of organizations. Because technology is vital to most companies' bottom lines, no matter the product or service sold, CIOs can no longer simply be technical experts. They must take on a tactical role in the growth and maintenance of companies of all sizes.

The role of a Chief Information Officer (CIO) was once understood to be that of an executive focused mainly on IT. Now that technology is an essential component for companies both great and small, the role has been evolving. All organizations rely on IT, whether they are multinational conglomerates, small family businesses, or municipal holdings such as schools or libraries. Technology is integral to maintaining daily operations; it is no longer a niche contained within tech start-ups or software companies.

In the current climate, CIOs are not only tasked with leading technological initiatives but are integral, valuable participants at the top of the organizational ladder. In addition to being knowledgeable and strategic in the tech space, a CIO needs to be a proficient businessperson. Successful CIOs must balance the goals and objectives of an organization while also making sure their teams remain supported, motivated, happy, and successful. CIOs are called upon to be decision-makers, leaders, and anticipators.

February 2022 177 Park Avenue Suite 200, San Jose, CA 95131, USA Tel : +1-408-380-2566 540/6, 3rd Floor, Geetanjali Towers KPHB, Phase-6, Hyderabad 500072 Telangana, India Tel: +91 40 23055215

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08 COVER STORY

Corrado Ghinamo CIO of Bottero S.p.A.

ARTICLES

20

38

Key Focus Areas for CISOs

New Roles and Opportunities

to Watch Out for 2022

for CISOs

16 Toumas Kaulio Finnvera

24 Belinda Finch Three UK

30 Van Richardson iManage

40 Fal Ghancha DSP Mutual Investments

44 Jason Halls The Institute of Cancer Research(ICR)

52 Martynas Sarapinas Girteka Logistics

CONTENTS

Cover Story

CORRADO

GHINAMO CIO of Bottero S.p.A.

B

ottero S.p.A. is a global leader in glass processing technologies. The company's

headquarters is in Cuneo, Italy. A number of subsidiaries, located both in Italy and

around the world, complete the group. Founded almost 65 years ago, Bottero has

constantly grown over the years. The company designs, produces, sells, and installs high technology, fully automatic machines for the glass industry with the aim to provide the customers with the highest standards in innovation, efficiency, and environmental care. It is the only company on the planet that operates both in the flat glass and in the hollow glass markets.

Its flat glass machines and systems can handle, cut, and process different types of glass sheets, from ultra-thin photovoltaic applications to very thick, coated, multi-layer sheets of glass for the most demanding applications in conducting construction operations. The hollow glass division's machines are designed to produce glass containers such as bottles of several forms and dimensions from very hot, melted glass. Its machines typically run 24/7. The customers of the company are all around the world and vary from small artisan enterprises that buy all-duty single machines or small lines up to large multinational companies in the field of glass that need hollow glass lines or flat glass processing lines composed of several machines. The high technology needs demanded by the customers are met with great efforts by the technical offices in which many software developers work together with electrical and mechanical designers and engineers.

08

09

“ To master and apply Artificial Intelligence, as well as every new technology that will come in the future, is paramount not only to let your own company flourish but much more nobly, to give your contribution in improving the living standards of whole mankind.

“ - Corrado Ghinamo CIO Bottero S.p.A.

www.bottero.com 10

An Ardent Leader Armed with Great Experience Corrado Ghinamo is the CIO of Bottero

admits that it was a very teaching and

from a mechanical, electrical, electronic,

S.p.A. After receiving his diploma at the

challenging experience for him. Since

and software point of view to effectively

Scientific High School, Corrado

the German company was small in

solve a customer's technical problem or

attended the Polytechnic University of

respect to the market dimension and

to create a better-suited product for a

Turin, Italy's oldest technical university.

everyone had to offer his/her

particular market. He was frank about

There he received a master's degree in

contributions to the different activities

how he literally got his hands dirty with

Electronic Engineering with

that in a bigger company are usually

real, sticky lubricating grease while

specialization in robotics and physics.

done by several specialized people, he

helping a colleague on a mechanical

He was awarded the 'Club Optime' prize

faced many adversaries. Corrado

problem for a very impatient customer.

for having finished his university studies

further confesses that at the beginning,

Corrado further reminisces that back in

in due time and with the maximum

he did not understand a single word of

Italy in Bottero's headquarter, he

score. Even though Corrado is the CIO

the local language and after the working

became responsible for the Electronics

of Bottero, his duties extend to the

hours, he felt quite alone. However, in

and Software of the R&D Department,

overall organization as he shoulders the

the later period, he learned German,

within the hollow glass division. Years

responsibilities of the overall

made friends, and now he remembers it

later, he was appointed as the leader for

development of the company's

as one of the best years of his life. While

the whole flat glass electronics and

operating processes. He also mentions

talking about his career, Corrado states

software development domain.

that he oversees the technical

that he learned a lesson, “Never to give

According to him, in both of those

developments in the automation and

up or to despair”. He adds that he

experiences, Corrado and his colleagues

supervision software of Bottero's two

learned to be always positive minded

could develop better customer-oriented

main divisions such as hollow glass and

and work hard. He is confident that

solutions, thanks to the direct

flat glass with the aim to create team

better moments will come, both in life

experience in the field which offered

synergy between them.

and at work.

him life lessons. Afterward, he was

Corrado recounts that he began working

While talking about his work

nominated as the CIO with additional

in a foreign subsidiary of Bottero after

experience, Corrado admits that it was a

responsibilities.

completing his degree, which was

perfect way to understand how it is

located near Düsseldorf, Germany. He

important to grasp the overall situation

Breaking the Shackles with Diverse Knowledge Corrado stresses that his initial times in

responsibilities. Having to acquire

had to always restart quite from scratch

Germany were a real challenge for him.

experiences or at least some knowledge

as every time I found myself in a team

He says that it was hard to change

in almost all aspects of the company

with highly educated, specialized

duties in Bottero's headquarter every

made him feel under pressure. He

people.”

time with new and higher

states, “In changing my responsibilities, I

11

Entwining Technical and eoretical Skills: A Must for Successful CIOs According to Corrado, both technical

responsibility. For the hiring process,

colleagues and the needs of the

skills and theoretical preparations are

Corrado advises the leaders to look for

customers. He also feels that a scientific

important for a successful CIO. He

high-level curricula with great ability to

attitude is also of great importance in

thinks that a CIO is supposed to

work in a team. They must avoid

every aspect of life and every job.

continue learning and being up to date

mediocre and apparently more easily

Corrado explained that at school people

with new technologies. He stresses the

manageable people. He says that when

study about the “scientific method”, but

fact that humility is paramount. He

problems get hard, the leaders should

then most people just forget it and do

believes that it does not matter how

rely on well-prepared colleagues.

not apply it. According to him, the

prepared the CIO is, there will always be

Corrado further asserts, “Don't you

scientific method is the only way that

more skillful people in some technical or

become indispensable in your position, if

can enable people to discern the truth in

management landscape. The CIO does

you aim towards something higher

the natural world and should guide them

not need to compete with them or

indispensable, or almost indispensable,

in every decision and in every process of

impose his/her decisions on them only

people cannot be substituted easily, and

understanding. It makes it less easy to

because he is the chief. Instead, a good

you will not have a chance to grow in the

fall in love with an irrational idea and to

leader should listen to them and learn

company.” He thinks that another useful

realize too late that it is wrong.

from them. However, the final decision

quality of a good CIO is the ability to

must be taken on his own as it is his

listen and understand the needs of the

Customer-Centric Approach at the Helm of Innovation Corrado believes that for every

great attention to the fact that mentality

evolution of an existing product as well

and needs may vary a lot between

as the development of a new solution,

different countries and cultures. So,

one should understand the real and

Corrado remarks that in dealing with

practical needs of the utilizer. It may be a

the internal colleagues around the world

simple product or a very complex one.

who demand the best possible ERP or

He highlights that in the case of Bottero,

PLM systems, and in serving the final

he demonstrated that from a simple

customers with the most advanced and

upgrade of an existing subsystem to the

easy to use machines, the companies

complete rethinking of one of the most

should bear in mind that a technical

sophisticated autonomous electro-

solution that might be perfect for one

mechanical machines, the goal is the

country may not be well appreciated in

same, that is to serve its customers. He

another country.

further confirms that as the company serves across the globe, it aims to pay

12

Empowering Employees and Organization with High-End Technologies Corrado utters that disruptive

others, perhaps unconsciously, would

well, the attention to the psychological

technology is very impactful. He feels

like to continue doing what they feel

aspects is also paramount. He explains

that if a business is based on high

they are good at. He has guessed that

that sometimes, experienced technical

technologies and it does not evolve

usually, the first attitude comes from the

people have poor communication skills,

accordingly, the company might resist

younger people. He also presses over

and their ideas which are perhaps of

for some time, but it will be doomed if no

the fact that change management

great ingenuity might be suffocated by

action is taken. According to Corrado,

practices are essential.

others, less-prepared but more able in

there is always a risk of being surpassed

Corrado confesses that in his area of job,

speaking. Corrado reveals that as a chief,

by a competitor or even by an

it is not always possible to be a specialist

it is his responsibility to help a shy but

unexpected newcomer. Meanwhile, he

in every new technology. But he aims to

clever person be heard. In face, good

also assures that it is not easy to make a

be prepared at least to a certain degree

ideas should be supported by a scientific

team of employees evolve and be able to

and be able to support the colleagues

and rational attitude, by demonstration

effectively manage AI, IoT, big data, and

who are specialists in some area.

of validity and not by a loud voice.

cybersecurity. Some people may find it

Because he believes that good results

very interesting to move to AI, but

come when a team is working together

13

Spearheading Hollow and Flat Glass Markets Simultaneously Corrado reports that Bottero is the only

performing well because one or the

inspection and quality control solutions

company in the world that acts both in

other sector will reap growth. He also

for the glass industry. Finally, he added

the hollow and in the flat glass markets.

reports that just a few months ago, the

that the company is also improving its

All of the competitors are in one of the

company decided to make a big jump in

internal processes, with the aim to

two sectors. So, the company is the only

the technology of its controlling

sustain its expansion on the market,

one who can rely on technical solutions

software, with solutions highly based on

which is of course a must. He says that

developed in one field and apply them to

AI and data analysis as well as improving

he is impressed that such improvement

the other field, of course with some

its IoT. In fact, a brand-new company

is being sustained in its turn by new ERP,

adjustments. He further claims that in

was born for this purpose called

PLM, and other systems, thanks to the

the past, Bottero was able to avoid big

“Glassform.ai”. Its founders are Bottero

capable team in the ICT department.

losses when the market was not

itself and Tiama, a world leader in

Setting Up Future Goals For the newcomer CIOs, Corrado

problems are accumulating and

advises that having a scientific or

becoming hard.” He further suggests

technical degree is important, even

new leaders to think scientifically. He

though one might find oneself applying

believes that science and its method are

only a handful of the many things he

paramount in life and at work.

learned at school. But high school and

As a concluding note, Corrado says,

university-based scientific topics are

“Listen to your colleagues, then make

quite important also from a less obvious

your decision. With humility, you will

point of view. He further explained that

notice that people around you might be

no matter what and how much one has

smarter and better-prepared than you in

learned, he or she has to learn it in a

some fields. Then make a team with

proper way. He states, “A hard school

them, and avoid your position and ego to

can sculpt your personality and make

make your final decision go towards a

you less prone to surrender when

worse solution.”

14

Corrado Ghinamo

Gary Lovell

CIO

CIO

Bo ero S.p.A.

33 Degrees South Consul ng

Corrado Ghinamo is the CIO of Bo ero S.p.A. Even though he is the CIO of the company, his du es extend to the overall organiza on as he shoulders the responsibili es of the overall development of Bo ero’s opera ng processes. He also oversees the technical developments in the automa on and supervision so ware of the company’s two main divisions such as hollow glass and flat glass.

Security Officer (CISO) at The Ins tute of Cancer Research is a qualified so ware engineer and holds several security cer fica ons. He is a fellow of the Chartered Management Ins tute and the Ins tute of Analysts and Programmers. Jason has been entrenched in secure environments since the mid-90s where he worked on so ware to detect submarines.

www.bo ero.com

www.icr.ac.uk

Belinda Finch

Tuomas Kaulio

Martynas Sarapinas

Van Richardson

CIO

CIO

CIO

CIO

Three UK

Finnvera

Girteka Logis cs

iManage

Belinda Finch is currently the Chief Informa on Officer of Three UK. She is responsible for all IT-related things, whether be it delivering new technology required for its new products or proposi ons across all channels, managing changes to its Call Centre technology, the digital estate and retail systems, Billing, and CRM. Basically, all things in IT that make a connec vity company like Three operate come under Belinda’s control.

Tuomas Kaulio is the Chief Informa on Officer (CIO) of Finnvera. He is a pragma c and development-driven IT leader. He has worked as the CIO for over ten years now, first in telecommunica ons and then in the financial services domain at Finnvera. His work builds on a deep understanding of technology and experience in developing agile and lean opera ons in a DevOps manner.

Van Richardson is the CIO of iManage. He has been working in the IT sector for more than 20 years and has led the department of Enterprise Informa on Technology and Workplace Solu ons. Everything that involves internally suppor ng the company’s global business is within his responsibili es. He also provides technological support to the engineering organiza on to enable efficiency in their work.

www.three.co.uk

www.finnvera.fi

Martynas Sarapinas is the CIO of Girteka Logis cs. A er joining in the posi on and as an Execu ve Board Member just two years ago, the main challenge for Martynas was ‘Delivering perfec on’ while facing heavily scru nized industry against the worst of the COVID-19 fallout.

Fortunately, he successfully overcame it. Martynas brings a broad technology and transforma on leadership experience from principal posi ons in financial & technology companies.

The

MOST INNOVATIVE

CIOs

TO FOLLOW IN 2022

www.girteka.eu

Fal Ghancha

Jason Halls

CISO

CISO

DSP Mutual Fund

The Ins tute of Cancer Research

Fal Ghancha is an Informa on Security professional with rich experience in the informa on technology and cyber security field, focusing mainly on informa on and cyber security policies, IT/IS projects, compliance, risk and audit management, corporate inves ga ons, and forensics. Fal currently works with DSP Investments as the Vice President and Chief Informa on Security Officer. He is an integral part of the InfoSec team.

Jason Halls, the Chief Informa on Security Officer (CISO) at The Ins tute of Cancer Research is a qualified so ware engineer and holds several security cer fica ons.

He is a fellow of the Chartered Management Ins tute and the Ins tute of Analysts and Programmers. Jason has been entrenched in secure environments since the mid-90s where he worked on so ware to detect submarines.

www.dspim.com

www.icr.ac.uk

www.adobe.com

www.imanage.com

Cynthia Stoddard

Arthur Hu

Senior Vice President & CIO

CIO

Adobe

Lenovo Group

As Senior Vice President and CIO of Adobe, Cynthia Stoddard oversees Adobe’s global Informa on Technology and Cloud Opera ons teams. In her leadership role, Cynthia spearheads a global strategy for delivering services and opera ons that form the missioncri cal backbone for the company.

She has 25-plus years of business experience and IT exper se leading large global organiza ons.

Arthur Hu is the Chief Informa on Officer for Lenovo Group. He is responsible for the overall delivery of informa on services, digital technology, and business transforma on. Arthur works with the business units to drive business model transforma on for more compe ve capabili es and oversees a por olio of strategic ini a ves to further strengthen internet technology (IT) management and business collabora on. www.lenovo.com

Energizing the 'Giant Leap' in the Financial Sphere with Technology and Innovation

F

innvera is a specialized financing institution that

was staggering; the development throughput increased

provides financing for the start, growth, and

by 100% in a short time period even though the

internationalization of enterprises and

resources did not change. Similarly, the business

guarantees against risks arising from exports. Finnvera

satisfaction towards IT skyrocketed. Tuomas exclaims

strengthens the operating potential and

that this was a dream come true for a young CIO. The

competitiveness of Finnish enterprises.

Norwegian team was very competent and that made the change possible. Tuomas mentions that he is still thankful

A Tech-Savvy Leader

for them. Since then, he has learned a great deal more

Tuomas Kaulio is the CIO of Finnvera. He is a pragmatic

about how important change management can be at all

and development-driven IT leader. He has worked as a

levels of an organization.

Chief Information Officer (CIO) for over ten years now, first in telecommunications and then in the financial

Creating an Inclusive Environment

services domain at Finnvera. His work builds on a deep

Tuomas presumes that it was important for him to learn

understanding of technology and experience in

how to energize and motivate people, and at the same

developing agile and lean operations in a DevOps

time, to maintain the pragmatic and solution-oriented

manner.

approach. He claims that it is the people in companies who produce the outcomes and not only the CIO himself.

Real-Life Experiences: Making the Impossible Possible Tuomas says that at the beginning of his CIO journey, his

Promoting Customer-Centric Services to Meet Targets

team succeeded to turn around the development

Typically, the role of the CIO is to make the change

process of a medium-sized Norwegian company by going

possible. Tuomas reveals that when he gets a possibility

into agile development. From the scattered agile island,

to influence, he promotes using service design methods

the team combined a unified agile way of working

in development. This is because the service design

throughout the organization. The outcome of the change

methods have an in-built customer feedback loop for the

16

Tuomas Kaulio CIO of Finnvera

17

“ Focus on the outcomes; the technology is just a means to achieve a target. Let the best technology win in the hands of the most skillful tenderer.

Keep on optimizing the operations.

“ - Tuomas Kaulio CIO Finnvera

www.finnvera.fi 18

development artifacts. He recalls that some years ago,

may be avoided. The company has the opportunity to

the team had a chance to introduce the 'Google design

direct the manual work effort more to value-adding

sprint' service design method to one of the online service

activities. In the case of Finnvera, a more value-adding

projects. Like many others, the company found out it was

activity was the actual improvement of customer

the customers and potential customers who had to tell

experience.

the team developers obvious matters regarding the

As the development cycles are shortening over the years,

usability of the online service.

Tuomas thinks that the role of a leader should nowadays focus more on innovation methods rather than on

Espousing Business Goals with Technology

matters being innovated.

According to Tuomas, what matters is the outcome, not the technology itself. If the company is able to achieve the

'Customer Orientation' as a Trigger to Success

target more optimally by utilizing new technology, only

Tuomas sees customer orientation as the key. To be more

then the use of new technology become relevant.

precise, he thinks it is all about how the customer (or

Sometimes in the RFP process, a tenderer is able to gain a

internal customer) feels about IT. According to him, it is

competitive edge compared to others with new

vital for a CIO to clearly communicate with non-techies.

technology. Thus, as long as the technology meets

He adds that the CIOs should also have the ability to

certain minimum criteria, he cares less about the

listen and talk with technical subject matter experts. He

technology itself and rather puts more emphasis on how

has tried to create an environment where all techies

the technology performs in the hands of the tenderer and

interact effectively and understand each other. All this

what outcomes it produces. He phrases it as “Let the best

may sound trivial and self-evident, but it actually is not as

technology win in the hands of the most skillful tenderer”.

easy as it sounds. Tuomas reveals that he has

He adds that, for example, the team recently completed

experienced many critical situations where the subject

procurement of low-code technology and the

matter experts have misunderstood each other without

technology-related development partner. It was

the experts themselves even realizing it, regardless of

interesting to see how differently the low-code

the location and the company.

technologies performed. Moreover, they also identified significant differences among the vendors who were

Creating a Fascinating Ecosystem with Futuristic Tech

competing with the same technology. As generally

Tuomas considers the future is fascinating. He says that

known, also procurement showed that it is not only the

with a brilliant team, Finnvera needs to adapt to

technology but also the people and their competencies

continuous change. New technologies will enable

around the technology that make the difference.

financial institutions to process and analyze significantly

Sometimes technology really makes the difference.

larger data sets in a short time frame. Tuomas predicts

Tuomas mentions that the team had a chance to

that it will bring completely new ways of achieving the

experiment with AI-based solutions for the analysis of

targets.

customer feedback. Using a commercial purpose-built AI tool, the insight of the customer experience was

Words of Wisdom for Emerging CIOs

analyzed in seconds. AI managed to grasp the relevant

Tuomas advises aspiring CIOs to put focus on the

message from the feedback data and presented findings

outcomes. He concludes that technology is just a means

in the order of relevance. Thus, with the help of AI, the

to achieve the targets.

manual work effort required to analyze and gather data

19

CISOs KEY FOCUS AREAS FOR

TO WATCH OUT FOR 2022

I

n today's world, every company has a CISO. The role

As every company is undergoing a digital transformation,

of CISO has become important for carrying out the

security has become the main concern for all. The role of

organization's operations. The world has witnessed

a CISO has remarkably expanded from being focused on

the greatest pandemic that has necessitated all types of

technology alone to considering business risks as well.

businesses to allow remote workforces without

They should interact with their colleagues across

preparation. This requires CISOs to ensure digital

business units, describing the importance of having a

security with new evolving threats.

strong cybersecurity agenda. The management level

The year 2020 and ongoing 2021 is witnessing an

councils and forums shall serve as a critical medium to

increased number of cyberattacks catering to the

interact with stakeholders to operate strategic

demand for CISOs.

initiatives.

What are the aspects that every CISOs should focus on

Invest in Cloud Security

for 2021?

Today every business is moving towards the cloud, thus

Make Cybersecurity a Boardroom Agenda

CISOs must prepare against more threats and attacks,

20

data breaches, account hacking, etc. more the amount of

to-day duties according to the organization's

information in the cloud, the more will be the number of

cybersecurity policies. Business leaders need to raise an

cybercrimes. Though most cloud service suppliers

organizational-wide mindset that designates

include in-build security services for data protection,

cybersecurity as the most important thing by giving

regulatory compliance, and privacy, ensure access

employees sufficient training to recognize and report

control capabilities for effective security risk

threats, develop communities and conduct

management and protection in the public cloud, still, it is

cybersecurity awareness sessions in creative, fun ways,

difficult for organizations to develop a strong strategy

and reward and recognize employees who contribute to

for risk management framework, protect cloud design,

a secure organization.

security governance and skills expertise in the cloud as most attacks arise due to lack of a robust security

Modernize Enterprise Security Architecture

strategy in the company.

The existing circumstances in most organizations are steered by the following themes:

Execute Basic IT Hygiene

Ÿ

The expectation of having access to company

Cybersecurity is no longer the sole responsibility of IT

resources from anywhere, any device, and ensuring

teams and security teams. Security is as strong as the

remote infrastructure security and IP security.

weakest link. Therefore, it is important to confirm that

Ÿ

every individual is acquainted with the security strategies and agrees to be an integral part of the

password-less authorization Ÿ

ecosystem, thereby understanding and practicing IT hygiene, which will serve a healthy security structure. IT hygiene is the first line of protection that an organization

The capability to support cloud solutions and The demand for automated and continuous compliance and zero trust-based network models

Ÿ

There is a move to security as a code and adherence to data privacy directives.

can embrace by discovering what they want to protect, where these entities are located, and who controls them.

These themes are highlighting the changes that are needed to be made to ensure the enterprise security

Develop Borderless Security

architecture.

The remote and distributed workforce functions by retrieving resources on the cloud, from using

Leverage Innovations

collaborative platforms to critical work-related

There is a rising tendency in the number of cyberattacks

applications. The workflows are mostly occurring on the

using advanced technology in the areas of malware,

public network or from untrusted devices, thereby

phishing, crypto-jacking, SQL injection, zero-day

extending the enterprise circumference beyond the

vulnerability exploits, watering hole attacks, social

traditional boundaries of an organization. Therefore,

media disinformation, and spoof accounts. Hackers with

borderless security is highly needed to confirm the

minor technical skills turn to easily available and ready-

safety of the businesses.

to-use hacking equipment. As the hacker uses innovative technologies, organizations need to invest more in the

Create a Culture of Cybersecurity

latest technology solutions like AI, ML, and deep

A security culture is an important part of the

learning, blockchain, next-generation breach detection,

comprehensive corporate culture that motivates

and zero-trust networking solutions to fight back

employees to make decisions and accomplish their day-

attacks.

21

e Digital Backbone Connecting Business Perspectives with Technologies for Better Outcome

T

hree was launched in 2003 as the UK's first 3G-

companies, which has mobile operations in 11 countries.

only network, laying its foundations as the

The company employs more than 4,800 people across its

network that was born to be different. Today

offices in Reading and Glasgow and its 311 retail stores.

Three is a connectivity company that connects people to people, people to things, and things to things. It has over

A Versatile Leader with IT and Business Expertise

9.6 million customers.

Belinda Finch is currently the Chief Information Officer

The company's network today covers 99% of the UK's

of Three UK. She is responsible for all IT-related things,

population and it carries 28% of the UK's mobile data

whether be it delivering new technology required for its

traffic. Three launched 5G in August 2019 and it is the

new products or propositions across all channels,

largest holder of spectrum in the country. The company

managing changes to its Call Centre technology, the

has been recognized by Ookla for 'having the fastest 5G

digital estate and retail systems, Billing, and CRM.

network in UK'. It is the only operator able to meet the

Basically, all things in IT that make a connectivity

International Telecoms Union (ITU) 2020 standard of

company like Three operate come under Belinda's

100MHz of contiguous spectrum for full 5G services.

control. Belinda works very closely with the commercial

Three is the official partner and shirt sponsor of Chelsea

and customer experience teams to ensure that she can

FC men's and women's teams. It is also a proud partner of

react very quickly when there is an issue that could

Samaritans, which uses the strength of its network and

impact customer experience or new technology that

technology to connect 1 million people to emotional

could help the company advance in certain areas. As well

support. Three was also voted the Best Network for Data

as this Business-as-usual role, Belinda is responsible for

at the Mobile Choice Consumer Awards, as well as Best

transforming not only Three's IT stack to enable it to give

Network for Roaming by uSwitch, and the Best High

a better customer and agent experience, but also

Street Retailer at the Mobile Industry Awards. Three UK

transforming its ways of working to enable the team to

is part of the CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd group of

work hand in hand with the rest of the organization.

24

Belinda Finch CIO of

ree UK

25

“ To be a successful CIO today, you need to have just as much business knowledge and passion as you do with technology.

“ - Belinda Finch CIO Three UK

www.three.co.uk 26

Belinda is a firm believer in Business Led IT to change and

find her voice in the big male-dominated IT world and get

this is what she is advocating at Three. Her background is

the confidence to come out of her shell. She admits that

in IT and transformation and she was previously the CIO

having a different point of view about how IT should

at Centrica Group PLC and Transformation and Digital

interact and be set up within an organization was hard to

Director at Vodafone. She was also an Accenture

get across as a young 20 something. However, Belinda

management consultant for 8 years, and that is where

started small and began leading the business integration

she learned most about ensuring business and IT are

practice at Accenture, where she worked with like-

absolutely aligned in their goals and priorities.

minded individuals and her team started to get the message out there that working hand in hand with the

Exploring Diverse Ecosystems by Accepting the

business as an IT department gets you better wins than

Adversaries

trying to be a siloed tower of power. Belinda believes that

Belinda admits that the biggest lesson she learned was

now, everything is changing and IT is actually becoming

when she started her career. Belinda started as a COBOL

part of the business more and more. She has learned that

programmer for the Bank of England in the late 90s,

multiple voices are better than one, and gaining

fixing the millennium bug. In those days, programmers

confidence is a natural part of growing up!

sat in the basement and kept themselves to themselves.

She reveals that she was frustrated with this and wanted

Authenticity and Ability to Collaborate Makes a

to know more about the reasons behind the program

Successful CIO

changes she was having to make. Belinda confesses, "This

For Belinda, a CIO must have authenticity and the ability

is when I moved into consulting and realized that IT and

to collaborate well by tapping into emotional

technology cannot be separate from the rest of an

intelligence. She mentions, “The best CIOs I know are the

organization and the business itself, we need to be joined

same people inside work as they are outside of work,

at the hip… I've been a huge advocate of business-led IT

they show their weaknesses as well as strengths, they

ever since.”

can read a room and understand the emotion in it.” Being open, honest, and bringing one's team along the journey

Crushing the 'Male-Dominated IT World' with Strong

is vital. In addition to this, it is also important to be razor-

Opinions

sharp of finances, especially in a transformation state.

Belinda states that initially, the biggest challenge was to

Belinda strongly believes that the CIO is nothing without 27

his or her team. She feels that the team must have a sense

of predictive analytics and a huge range of use cases that

of purpose and the same goals. If they are all working

increase almost daily. She thinks that the opportunity is

together, they will have the flexibility to get stuff done.

huge but one should be using it in an unintrusive way as

According to Belinda, CIOs need to sit at the top table

well as with empathy. “When interacting with customers

and be part of the future. Gone are the days where IT was

is a work in progress but, when we get it right, it will

an ivory tower, staying away from the rest of the

deliver a step-change in efficiency and user experience,”

organization. She also advised, “To be a successful CIO

remarks Belinda. She also feels that the role of the CIO

today you need to have just as much business knowledge

has expanded significantly as the breadth of opportunity,

and passion as you do technology.”

and threats, continue to grow. To her, this means that the team of the CIO needs to be even closer to the rest of the

Customer-Centric Solutions through 'Test and Learn'

organization, working hand in hand with the team

Strategy

building solutions with new technologies, and keeping

Belinda presumes that Three is currently delivering its

the customers safe.

digital transformation, focusing on delivering a highly interactive, low friction experience for its users. She is

Wider Intelligence at the Heart of Future

confident that the easier it is for the customers to

Developments

interact with the company, the better will be their

From an industry standpoint, Belinda aims to see IT and

experience, and the more they'll choose to meet future

the rest of the organization coming together as one. She

needs and wants. As per her beliefs, this requires

wishes that in the not-so-distant future, Three will have

focusing on knowing the customers, making use of a

multi-disciplined teams of technical and business savvy

range of technologies to understand their needs and

individuals all working together towards the same goals

wants without imposing on them to deliver better

and priorities. There will no longer be IT vs the rest of the

connectivity, every day, for every customer. Belinda

business. IT is the business and she thinks that people will

claims that Three is increasingly operating using rapid,

see this organizationally more and more over the next

agile 'test and learn' development cycles in some key

coming years. Specifically for Three, as well as taking

areas, hand-in-hand with its business. It really does keep

advantage of its exciting digital transformation, Belinda

the customer at the heart of everything the company

has envisioned the company to leverage wider datasets,

does. Belinda thinks that if Three can get its customers

operating in more rapid delivery cycles with its business

involved in its test and learn development cycles then the

and technology teams' hand-in-hand. Harnessing more

company will continue to innovate successfully.

events through its customer interactions and through wider intelligence of how its networks are being used will

Leaders to Go Hand-in-Hand with Technologies As stated by Belinda, AI offers a lot of potential in terms

28

drive better and more diverse offerings in the future.

Enabling Automated Information Technology with Advanced Artificial Intelligence

T

he emergence of remote working amid the

knowledge that exists inside their business content and

COVID-19 pandemic has created dramatic shifts

communications. Advanced AI and powerful document

in how organizations communicate, collaborate,

and email management can create connections across

and operate. With the massive volumes of data and

data, systems, and people. Crucially, iManage solutions

knowledge within organizations today, finding, sharing,

can build connections based on the context of the

and mining critical knowledge for reuse – especially

content, which fuels deep insights, informed business

when working remotely– is time-consuming and can

decisions, and collaboration. Underpinned by best-of-

drain productivity. Modern organizations understand

breed security, the company innovates to solve complex

that the benefits of effective knowledge activation

professional challenges and enable better business

extend beyond empowering their workers for greater

outcomes for its global customers.

efficiency – also translating into delivery of higher

In a nutshell, iManage helps legal and professional

quality services for clients. iManage is an innovative

organizations work more productively, smarter, and

company that helps legal and professional services

securely, focusing on 'making knowledge work,'

organizations and their knowledge work professionals

recognizing that knowledge is the engine that drives

work more productively. Van Richardson leads the

performance, outcomes, and value to the customers.

Enterprise Information Technology and Workplace Solutions for the company.

A Multi-Talented Leader Van has been working in the IT sector for more than 20

A Successful Provision of Cloud-Enabled, Advanced AI

years and has led the department of Enterprise

Solutions

Information Technology and Workplace Solutions.

CIO of iManage, Van Richardson explains that iManage's

Everything that involves internally supporting the

cloud-enabled, secure, platform for knowledge work

company's global business is within his responsibilities.

enables organizations to uncover and activate the

He also provides technological support to the

30

Van Richardson CIO of iManage

31

“ I learned years ago that having the business on your side to accomplish shared goals will go a long way.

Removing barriers and bureaucracy in technology processes is very critical to the success of the technology leader.

“ - Van Richardson CIO iManage

www.imanage.com 32

engineering organization to enable efficiency in their

collaboration tools and 4 instant messaging platforms.

work.

This complexity added major confusion to the workforce,

Va n' s m a n d a t e i s w i d e - ra n g i n g . H i s a r e a s o f

and there was a growing need to reduce the friction. Van

responsibility within the organization include

met with business leaders across the organization and

infrastructure (network, datacenter, cloud, servers, and

took pulse surveys on use cases and user sentiment.

systems), global service delivery (service desk and end

Within 3 months, the company consolidated to 1 tool in

user support), corporate IT security (firewalls,

each area, reducing the number of video tools by 80%,

encryption, system hardening, policies and procedures),

and the number of messaging tools by 75%, which helped

collaboration (Office 365, Zoom, VoIP), business

to deliver greater efficiency, collaboration, and user

applications, data, and business intelligence. Within

satisfaction.

these domains, his biggest priorities are the security of

The likelihood for teams wanting to use tools that they

the company's endpoints, protecting data in flight, and

are familiar with – which are oftentimes cloud or SaaS

end-user training.

products – is increasing. Team members want to use the

Van received both a bachelor of science, with a

same tools that they use at home and in their personal

specialization in business, and an MBA, with a

life. So, Van implemented a SaaS management tool that

specialization in information technology, from Capella

allows him to integrate with SaaS providers and look for

University. Currently, Van is pursuing a Doctorate in

utilization. It gives Van a view into duplication, as well as a

business administration, with a specialization in

view of spending that is being expensed. This allowed him

information technology, from the University of Phoenix

to standardize on common tools, eliminate costs to credit

and expects completion by 2022. Overall, Van's

cards that aren't in line with the standard, and implement

education has been a blend of business and IT, which has

processes to manage the onboarding of new tools within

served him well in his current role.

the enterprise.

The Journey Towards Becoming a Successful CIO

Using Smart Communication to Combat Covid-19

Van describes the technology initiative he led to make

Challenges

the organization entirely remote in response to the

On the IT front, one of the first things Van did when the

COVID-19 pandemic as a purposefully orchestrated and

initial stirrings of COVID-19 were being reported was to

collaborative effort. In preparation for successfully

conduct some initial assessments of the company's

addressing the new work paradigm, he met with business

systems – including video conferencing, IM, VPN, remote

stakeholders and teams to understand the

access, and other key technologies – to make sure that

requirements. He also implemented systems, processes,

they operated as expected and would be fully

and tools to handle the new way of working. The

performant. According to Van, these third-party tools

company coordinated with its vendors within various

have been invaluable, but the company is also well-

geographic regions to ensure it had the appropriate

positioned to support remote working and collaboration,

technical resources to handle the organization's needs.

simply by the nature of its core product offering –

Van led virtual 'IT Café' sessions to aid the workforce in

iManage Work 10.

getting used to working remotely throughout the

With iManage Work 10 emails and documents from

pandemic. Based on the work, the team was voted Team

disparate sources can be organized, managed, and stored

of the Year by the company's global organization.

in one repository as a single source of truth that is

As described by Van, the company had 5 video

available from any device, any location at any time. The

33

SaaS platform provides access to critical document and

initiatives if they understand the reason for the

emails with best-in-class security and governance,

direction. Better yet, they want to be a part of setting the

allowing organizations to be more agile, collaborative,

course. If done successfully, they will be the company's

and responsive to business demands. These capabilities

champions while the leader focuses on meeting the goal.

aren't only game-changing for customers, who increasingly want greater flexibility in endpoints and

Innovation as a Tool to Bring Positive Changes

mobility, but for iManage users as well.

Van stated, “Whether it was leading the IT team at ITT,

As the company has transitioned to making remote

Grubhub, or my current home at iManage, innovative

working 'business as usual' during these unusual times,

technology enablement has been and continues to be a

communication has been key: educating the workforce

passion of mine.” He shared that he focuses on bringing

about the tools that are available to them and how they

his diverse expertise to support fast-paced and energetic

should use them. Everyone needs a little education when

environments. Van has a passion to develop and lead

the normal routine is upended. Van's role as CIO is

successful teams, and most importantly, he has a passion

understanding what the people need and then working

to learn. He looks forward to continuing to be an agent of

collaboratively to deliver on that. Like People Ops or

change, a force for innovation, and a positive example for

Finance, IT impacts everyone in an organization.

everyone he interacts with.

Van emphasized that the IT team provides the foundation for everyone to get their jobs done. When the

Automation at the Top of Future Prospects

company has done its job properly, its ability to react to

In Van's words, “I have no shortage of priorities for the

situations like COVID-19 or to turn on a dime from

coming year! Automation is at the top of the list.”

office-based work to working from home can take place

According to him, anything that can be automated should

much faster because the company has done its

be automated. This includes routine tasks, like the

homework and has prepared in advance. That's how the

systems' deployment, as well as an intelligent response

company, as an organization, can ensure that everyone

to threats, and service request management. Van's other

stays safe in the face of the current COVID-19

priorities include continuing to rationalize corporate

challenges, even while it maintains a focus on what drives

applications by removing duplication and finalizing

it as a company.

standard offerings, ensuring a secure and safe return to the office once the pandemic has receded, and finalizing a

'Right Decision at Right Time' Makes a Successful

corporate move-to-Cloud strategy. Van believes that

Leader

being a technology leader requires a unique perspective

According to Van, a leader must make informed

that focuses on transparency and partnerships with the

decisions. He also notes that he learned early on that

business.

leaders can spend too much time looking for the right answer and miss the opportunity to course-correct immediately. Over the years, he has learned to use his experience and business expertise to quickly make decisions and delegate as needed. Van asks, “Who wants to be the leader of the ship and immediately hit resistance?” He described that he has learned that business stakeholders are more willing to support IT

34

new Roles and Opportunities for CISOs 38

T

he pandemic has emphasized the need for cloud readiness and digital modernization among the

business leaders of today. This new normal post-

pandemic is driving organizations to make decisions faster while maintaining business continuity and ensuring data security. The growing remote work and cloud adoption now bring the Chief Information Security Officer's (CISOs) to ensure protection against the drastic change supporting the digital transformation (DX) and c l o u d c o m p u t i n g i n i t i a t i v e s . Te c h n o l o g i c a l advancements are providing new opportunities for collaboration between IT and business. As businesses start to grow after the pandemic it is up to the CISO's to make sure that a strong business foundation is built for the markets and companies to sail across these shifts.

Cloud Adoption to Meet Demands Most of the businesses are shifting towards

computing, explaining and identifying the shadow IT

digitalization and this, in turn, created a demand for

applications. And because of the high demand most of

cloud adoption thereby raising the cloud spending by

the companies have hired and are planning to hire a CISO

37% to $29 billion in the first half of 2020. And these

with greater cloud computing skills and another 53%

technological shifts are going to stay in the market

have employed or are planning to hire a business

expanding new opportunities. But as work becomes

information security officer (BISO) to work with LoB

more decentralized there also increases the diligence to

managers ensuring the safe business processes.

maintain cyber hygiene by monitoring the threats since organizations are reporting a 47% increase in

The CISO's are responsible for selecting, deploying, and

cyberattacks.

operating the necessary security controls that can enable the business while noting the cyber risks. The

The increase in cloud services demands a cybersecurity-

main challenge here is to enable an integrated and

filled culture that can be beneficial in terms of taking care

cohesive security strategy across the technology

of the risks. This is why most of the CISO's are moving

portfolio. These executives need to rationalize and

towards a business focus to ensure the execution of new

transform the cloud ecosystems into an integrated and

digital initiatives. The new normal has paved a way for a

scalable security stack at the same time meeting

digital transformation CISO who will be responsible for

divergent business requirements. And this requires a

driving cybersecurity by integrating into DX initiatives in

high-performance data pipeline for stream and batch

all aspects of IT technology especially when coming to

data processing, API integration between tools, and to

public cloud computing.

process automation for immediate incident response

CISO's Role in Combating Cyber Risks

and risk mitigation. Businesses need to inculcate a culture of security first to find the right balance between

There is a need for CISO's to work continuously along

enabling the use of cloud services and safeguarding

with the LoB leaders to align business processes to cloud

sensitive transactions and data.

39

Mitigating Cybersecurity Issues with Disruptive Technologies and Continuous E ort

D

SP Investments is helping investors make

Fal's journey started with the manufacturing sector,

responsible money-related decisions on the

where he initially worked in IT infrastructure, networks,

bedrock of two simple values- honesty and

and further evolved in IT security. He has conceptualized

integrity. This has helped the company gain the trust of

and headed many projects in the field of IT vis-a-vis

lakhs of investors and thousands of MF distributors and

information security like dashboards, identity, and

investment advisors from across India.

access management solutions, single sign-on, passwordless authentication, DLP, VPN solutions,

The Leader of the Foundation

firewalls, antivirus, VA-PT, enterprise security

Fal Ghancha is an Information Security professional with

management, policy gap analysis, large scale multimedia

rich experience in the information technology and cyber

projects, etc. Ghancha received appreciation and awards

security field, focusing mainly on information and cyber

from multiple reputed organizations globally. After

security policies, IT/IS projects, compliance, risk and

working in the manufacturing sector for a decade, Fal

audit management, corporate investigations, and

moved to the BFSI sphere where cyber security is very

forensics.

important.

Fal currently works with DSP Investments as the Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer. He is

Conquering the Hurdles on the Way to Success

an integral part of the InfoSec team and is solely

The organization's goal has always been to delight

responsible for Information and cyber security

customers by providing the experiences they need using

governance, policies and processes, information security

the interaction channel that they prefer. Digitalization is

audits, business continuity planning, and disaster

booming and the demand is increasing day by day. The

recovery drills, management reporting, and many more.

aim was to create a more flexible and agile business can respond to the evolving expectations of customers and

The Making of a Successful CISO

40

cope up with the pace at which the company could

Fal Ghancha CISO of DSP Mutual Fund

41

“ "If we look at our status today from a bird's eye view, we have achieved a lot, however Information Security is a journey and not the destination, our battle towards fighting with the latest cyber security challenges will continue to be top priority.

“ - Fal Ghancha CISO DSP Mutual Fund

www.dspim.com 42

change, adapt, and meet those expectations. So, we

security. With the help of AI and ML, identification of new

decided to embark upon a journey to strengthen the

types of malware, simplifying complex algorithms,

information and cyber security framework. Unlike

running pattern recognitions, and even detecting

earlier days, where the company used to work in silos, it

minutest behaviors of ransomware attacks before it

had decided to take an overall approach for the

enters the organization is all made easier.

information and cyber security framework.

Anticipating a Higher Demand for Cybersecurity in Overcoming Challenges with Proper Plan and

Future

Framework

Fal claims that cyber security is in demand currently,

Fal opines that connecting the dots was made possible by

thanks to the emerging need for digitalization. He

taking the most important security decisions to

highlights that Covid and the entire WFH scenario, has

streamline information and cyber security framework

resulted in a huge scarcity of cybersecurity

and align priorities through it.

professionals. Data breaches, ransomware, and phishing

The SIEM solution was integrated with an entire

attacks have added fuel to fire. Fal believes that the

ecosystem including firewalls, IDS/IPs, infrastructure,

demand will further increase when the company would

and applications. The framework included initiatives like

see data and privacy as primary concerns, especially, at

the adoption of identity and access management

an individual level.

solutions with automated provisioning and

“Infosec professionals, IT people, and even layman are

deprovisioning features, streamlining governance

who do not understand privacy or cyber security

framework. Reporting on the other hand included key

concepts have shown their rebuke against the new

performance and key risk indicators. The end objective

WhatsApp's privacy policy. This shows that people are

was achieved by providing complete visibility through

becoming more vigilant and hence new policies, cyber

the cyber security dashboard to the senior management.

security controls, data privacy act will definitely add

This created visibility around information security

more demand in the field of cyber security,” Fal asserts.

initiatives.

Fal stated, “If we look at our status today from a bird's eye

A Piece of Advice to the Emerging CISO

view, we have achieved a lot, however, information

Fal states, “My advice to emerging CISOs would be to

security is a journey and not the destination, our battle

focus on the ground realities.” He adds that only talking

towards fighting with the latest cyber security

big for any CISOs will not give a place to the senior-most

challenges will continue to be our top priority.”

committee. Focusing more on small issues, reading meaning between words, and finding ways to take

Extraordinary Use of Disruptive Technology

direct/indirect feedback will help to succeed in the long

Fal remarks that in today's world, the attack surface has

run.

i n c r e a s e d ex p o n e n t i a l l y. T h e o r g a n i z a t i o n' s

Fal concludes by saying that focusing on articulating is an

infrastructure is virtually open, specifically, post covid,

easy way. Understanding and accepting the problem is

which resulted in the WFH scenario, and the perimeter is

the first step to solve it. If the CISOs can elaborate

a blur now. Hence disruptive technologies here have a

complex cyber security challenges in layman language,

key role to play.

they can get support from senior management to solve

He adds that artificial intelligence endeavors to simulate

them.

human intelligence. It has immense potential in cyber

43

Empowering Security Ecosystem to Safeguard Critical Data

T

he Institute of Cancer Research(ICR) is a public

requirements. Almost 2 decades later he left to broaden

research institute and a member institution of

his experience outside of the rigid confines of the

the University of London, specializing in

intelligence community. Moving to the private sector

oncology. The ICR is a leading academic institution in the

made him appreciate that security is a negotiation, not an

UK and has been carrying out world-leading research

edict.

into the causes of cancer, and how it might be treated or

Joining the ICR gave Jason an opportunity to contribute

prevented, for more than 100 years. The ICR was the

to a great cause and to own information security at a

first to provide evidence that DNA damage causes

world-class organisation that is a charity, a research

cancer and have discovered more new cancer drugs than

institute and a university with PhD and MSC students.

any other academic centre in the world. In partnership

This provides unique challenges where information

with The Royal Marsden hospital, the ICR provides a

security must be appropriate to the company, its staff,

unique bench-to-bedside approach to making the

and the data it handles. It must secure medical data and

discoveries that defeat cancer.

intellectual property whilst giving staff the flexibility and freedom to carry out their research with the minimum of

Leadership with Unparalleled Expertise

distraction. Getting this balance right whilst providing a

Jason Halls, the Chief Information Security Officer

strong foundation of security is at the heart of his work.

(CISO) at The Institute of Cancer Research is a qualified software engineer and holds several security

Commitment from the Executive Board and the Board

certifications. He is a fellow of the Chartered

of Trustees

Management Institute and the Institute of Analysts and

Jason has seen how poor leadership and slavish

Programmers. He has been entrenched in secure

adherence to security can paralyze a company – where it

environments since the mid-90s where he worked on

cannot perform its main function due to the restrictions

software to detect submarines. After completing his

security puts in place. He was determined that this

Master's in Artificial Intelligence he joined one of the UK

would not happen at the ICR and that security would be

Intelligence Services to develop messaging systems that

seen as an enabler, not a hindrance. On the day he joined

were critical to the UK's national security. Here his

the ICR he attended a forum for IT and researchers to

endeavours not only opened up new ways of working but

discuss new initiatives. One of these was a set of

also accelerated the dissemination of crucial information

screensavers commissioned by IT that would display

from days to minutes. This was achieved whilst meeting

basic infosec awareness messages (such as “don't share

and surpassing some of the World's strictest security

your passwords) when the screen locked. One

44

Jason Halls Chief Information Security O cer e Institute of Cancer Research

45

“ We are entering a new epoch where information is at the heart of modern life. Good cyber hygiene should be expected in every digital interaction.

“ - Jason Halls Chief Information Security Officer The Institute of Cancer Research.

www.icr.ac.uk 46

researcher objected to its introduction as it could

Key Hallmarks for Every Technology Leader

distract their train of thought and potentially lose

According to Jason some of the key attributes of the

something that could defeat cancer. This exchange gave

technology leader includes:

Jason valuable insight into the company.

Ÿ

Ÿ

The institute exists to defeat cancer and its researchers are key to this.

Ÿ

Ÿ

Breadth and depth of knowledge, experience in several areas allow one to see a problem from several

researchers was broken. There had been no attempt

viewpoints. This is especially important in security

to explain why the screen savers were necessary,

which has such a wide remit. Ÿ

Making decisions based on the information given at

obtain the opinion of other researchers.

the time but be prepared to pivot when new

There was a distrust of IT and a perception that they

information comes to light.

were hindering research rather than supporting it. Ÿ

right questions and listen to the answers.

The relationship between the IT department and the

what workarounds could be implemented, or to Ÿ

Willingness to listen more than they talk. To ask the

Ÿ

A heavy-handed approach to security would not work, therefore Jason needed to win hearts and

Having all the answers is not necessary but one must know where to find them.

Ÿ

Trust your team and their experience.

minds to improve the security posture. Ÿ

His goal would be to promote security as something

Embedding Good Cyber Hygiene

to enable collaboration and promote good data

Jason believes we are entering a new epoch where

governance.

information is at the heart of modern life. Good cyber

In 2019, Adrian Cottrell joined the ICR as Chief

hygiene should be expected in every digital interaction.

Information Officer (CIO) and tackled the IT issues head-

This is especially true at the ICR where information is

on. Jason designed a million-dollar improvement

crucial in everything the company does. Embedding

programme involving the onboarding of an MSSP

good cyber hygiene, not just at work but throughout

(SmartTech247), implementation of new security

their digital life, is Jason's current goal. The challenge

controls (VMS, EDR & PAM), and a commitment from the

here isn't so much technological as human nature. Citing

Executive Board and the Board of Trustees to adopt a

cyber security as the “health and safety of data” and

more security-aware culture.

minimal security controls as “cyber-hygiene” gives people a human frame of reference. They are less likely

Keeping Organization Safe and Staying Focused

to develop workarounds and more willing to accept

Jason believes that the biggest challenge a CISO faces is

necessary controls. Terms such as confidentiality,

framing security in terms that everyone in the company

integrity and availability are still useful but need to be

understands. Researchers by their very nature are

backed up with clear examples. A hacker stealing data is

inquisitive; they want to use data in novel and

easy for researchers to understand but they may not see

challenging ways. Information security needs to be agile

the danger if they are intending to share the data anyway.

enough to step in when required and to sink into the

Explaining that a hacker could corrupt their data without

shadows when not. As the only dedicated InfoSec

them knowing, and subsequently publishing their

resource, one of the biggest challenges Jason faced on

research based on this data, is much more impactful.

joining the ICR was keeping the organization safe; deciding which battles to fight and which to avoid, and

Cloud-based Malware Protection with AI and

staying focused on what was important strategically and

Behaviour Analytics

operationally.

47

With security breaches hitting the headlines so often and

This means baking security into everyday life so it

cybersecurity being discussed at the board level, leaders

becomes second nature.

are finally grasping just how crucial it is to get security

The level of protection or security will be raised across

right. AI, automation, cloud computing, and big data are

the board with the number of systems that are

coming together to tackle information security.

connected and sensitivity of data stored, no other choice

Solutions such as CrowdStrike Falcon provide cloud-

but to give it the strongest protections that it can.

based malware protection with AI and behaviour

Advances in quantum computing raise some interesting

analytics. Basically, it is like stopping malware based on

challenges for security in the not-too-distant future.

its bad behaviour rather than what it looks like.

The board finds it harder to assess risk due to the variety

Word of Wisdom to Emerging Security Leaders

of ways its staff may interact with data. Using

It is advisable for everyone to always own mistakes, learn

measurements such as impact and likelihood becomes

from them and move on, and encourage others to do the

almost meaningless. It's accepted that any company will

same.

be subject to a data breach at some point in time. This

Ÿ

take over life.

could damage the company's reputation to the degree that it cannot recover or it may just be nothing. So what is

Be prepared to eat, sleep, and work security. It will

Ÿ

Get a range of security-related experiences such as

the level of cyber risk if a breach is definitely going to

governance, training, risk management, audit,

happen and it could conceivably critically disrupt the

networking, and operations. A position on a service

organization's ability to function? This is the challenge

desk could be a good foot-in-the-door.

the CISO faces; to articulate the risk and present

Ÿ

Fill in knowledge gaps with training, the BCS

actionable ways to reduce it to acceptable levels.

Foundation Certificate in Information Security

People don't appreciate how IoT opens them up to

Management Principles is a good start. There are also

additional risk. It's very easy, perhaps too easy, to add a

good free resources available online.

new web-aware appliance to your home network. As a

Ÿ

Study for the CISSP exam and work towards full

CISO one should think about the consequences. It is not

membership of the ISC2. It gives a good indication of

that one shouldn't use a shiny internet webcam to

the width and depth of knowledge required.

monitor their house when they are away. Just that people

Ÿ

Contribute to one of the many infosec forums.

should consider whether others could access the feed

Ÿ

Volunteer to be a security champion at your company.

when they are at home.

Ÿ

Propose new security initiatives and show how they can reduce cyber risk and ultimately save money.

Framing Security into Every-Day Life Jason opines that AI and behaviour analytics together

Covid-19 Crisis

with the MITRE ATT&CK framework is capable of

The ICR, like many research organizations, has been hit

blocking a large number of threats. However, hackers

by cuts to its fundraising income and grants from other

have a knack for getting around security controls thanks

charities. The ICR had to pause much of its work during

to the human factor and their inherent laziness. Humans

the initial lockdown and is now running a major

will always gravitate to the path of least resistance

fundraising appeal to help kick-start its research and

whether it's writing their password on a post-it or using a

make up for the estimated 17 months lost time.

4-digit PIN on their phone. Security in the future needs to be simple to the degree that it's more effort to bypass.

48

A Visionary Tacking Digital Challenges and Driving Technology towards New Fronts

G

irteka Logistics is Europe’s largest full

empowering business growth using technology and

truckload company with 20,000 employees

leadership through execution of strategy and

and dedicated truck drivers working

organizational portfolio; sponsoring and catalyzing the

relentlessly, transporting around 1m loads annually for

group-wide digitalization program; leading operational

major business brands across Europe, Nordics. When

excellence capabilities to build a culture of customer-

COVID-19 hit Europe, one company stood out

centricity; leadership of Global Business Services setup

‘delivering perfection’ and that is Girteka Logistics.

for the Group.

With a wide-reaching network, Girteka Logistics delivers

Martynas brings a broad technology and transformation

high-quality services to various sectors including FMCG,

leadership experience from principal positions in

Fo o d & S e a f o o d , E l e c t r o n i c s , E xc i s e d g o o d s ,

financial & technology companies. He previously held

Pharmaceutical, Retail, Automotive, and Industrial

positions like the First Vice President at Danske Bank,

Goods.

MobilePay (MobilePay is considered No. 1 app in Denmark and No. 2 strongest brand in Denmark within

A Transformational Leader Breaking the Odds

customer experience), and strategic transformational

Having joined as CIO and Executive Board Member just

roles at Barclays Bank PLC.

two years ago, the main challenge for Martynas

He holds an MBA in Finance & Business Management,

Sarapinas was 'Delivering perfection' while facing

along with several executive education programs at

heavily scrutinized industry against the worst of the

Oxford Saïd Business School and Kellogg School of

COVID-19 fallout and the turbulence caused. The

Management.

company needed a rapid strategic pivot to a more innovative and sustainable business model that is a

The Success Story of a Business Genius

stepping stone towards mastering the digital edge.

Martynas was born into an entrepreneurial business

Martynas believes that with strategic objectives of

family. He shares that ever since he was a child, he

52

Martynas Sarapinas CIO, Girteka Logistics

53

“ Future of supply chain will tie resiliency and sustainability into the new core of the industry where customers will continue to dictate expectation and pace of change.

“ - Martynas Sarapinas CIO Girteka Logistics

www.girteka.eu 54

watched his parents invest a lot of time in doing various

uncertainty at a whole other level.”

kinds of business activities. When he was 13 years old, he

In the words of Martynas, there's no surprise, when the

started his own business as he had a dream of buying a

opportunity materialized to take a transformation

bicycle. It was a very successful commercial business that

challenge of a lifetime, he was completely and utterly

continued late into his teens. It has built up his love for

ready for the journey with Girteka.

dynamics, business, power of the network and he explored that further while studying for his bachelor's

Devising Effective Strategies to Overcome Adversaries

Business Management studies and MBA.

Martynas classifies his primal challenges into three main

Martynas has mastered STEM and economical sciences

categories.

early on. As he was doing exceptionally well at school as

Mentioning a famous saying “All strategies are worth

well as university, he was encouraged by lots of

nothing without execution”, Martynas relates, “We truly

professors to explore various areas and topics. A book

had weak capabilities to execute the strategy and we

called “The Goal” by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, given by a very

needed to really 'sharpen the saw' and rebuild it

well-regarded professor, built a deep obsession and a

practically from scratch while also doing it faster than

new passion for studying change management, project

ever before to get the low hanging fruits fast.”

management, and organizational transformations for

Adding to this, he states that when it is a utility-type

Martynas.

business (logistics and transportation), there is a fight to

His professional career started in Barclays Bank Plc as a

have a decent ROI to keep everybody happy. This internal

Project Management Assistant. It did not take long for

fight can be dangerous if there is a lack of determination

him to develop further and at the age of 27, he had

and resolve to manage finance strategically. As a result,

already amassed an extensive amount of experience and

the whole technical infrastructure from the starting

gained all possible certifications to lead transformation

point was below his expectations and one can't

within the industry. He shared that some of the projects

accelerate digital transformation when they do not

he was involved in were truly game-changing and he is

manage IT, SLA's area, which needs to be fixed with a

grateful to leaders, mentors, and coaches that stood by

future in mind. This led him to venture for a “fix IT”

him at this exponential period of growth.

journey in haste.

According to Martynas, life always has a way of providing

Lastly, he talks about the third category, which is 'culture'.

us with amazing challenges and he has ventured into a

Culture is the king of changes and can consume leaders,

very promising Danish startup – Mobile. He expresses,

strategies, and any initiatives, if not managed well. With

“Those 5 years were another important chapter for

Girteka, there is room for improvement in this area

growth in regards to business but also for me as a leader.

where all the clients and partners of the company are put

It felt like MobilePay came out of nowhere and became

in the center of everything.

the No. 1 app in Denmark for several years with a market penetration as high as 80%+ and a No. 2 strongest brand

Addressing the Must-have Attributes of CIOs

in Denmark within customer experience (after LEGO). It

Martynas believes that in modern times, the role of the

was also a company that built the new face of finance for

CIO is crucial, and it is impossible to imagine a Fortune

many private and SME businesses. During those years, I

500 company that doesn't have a CIO, CTO, or CDO as a

elevated my leadership to CIO level in terms of agile ways

key executive in the main decision-makers team.

of leadership, high-performance teams, ability to lead an

To lead and embrace changes with great velocity in the

exponential growth for the business and handle

fast-moving, customer demands driven and constantly

55

changing environment full of opportunities and significant challenges, here are some of the attributes

Ÿ

High Fragmentation, Low Transparency

that Martynas assumes every CIO needs:

Ÿ

Underutilization of Assets & ineffectiveness in costs

Ÿ

Outdated Customer Interfaces

Ÿ

Business Acumen- Understanding business to the core and the industry, so that one can draw insights

Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

and bring opportunities, communicate with the board

Martynas presumes that he sees these as massive

as well as other CxO's, bringing initiatives that help

opportunities that can be improved to a considerable

identify innovative revenue streams.

degree by bringing fintech alike customer interfaces that

Customer advocacy- It is fundamental for all

are in the market, new ways to plug the gaps in visibility,

successful businesses – to listen to the market and act

work with the platform - ultra-asset light business ideas,

fast. If necessary, be noticed across the board and

partnerships and utilize AI and RPA for improving asset

speak on behalf of the clients.

utilization at a far greater level than it is in the industry.

Merry tech & business. “The role of a technology

Speaking about innovation, Martynas says, “To innovate,

leader is not to develop a digital strategy or vision—it

you must understand your own and the industry

is to embed digital in the business strategy” -Larry

standpoints and where tech links the strategy and

Quinlan, global CIO of Deloitte. Quoting this,

capabilities of the company. We chose to make changes

Martynas says that CIOs cannot abandon the

in all areas mentioned previously. So far, we have +75% of

technology roots, which propelled them to the

Europe's operations planned with AI and this is the start

executive level, with the skills required to translate

of the revolution, as we see it. We, as No#1 trucking

external pressures to business stakeholders.

company and dreamer of Top#10 Logistics, see that as a

Emotional and leadership intelligence – In short,

fundamental operational advantage. Over time, we

global hybrid working, different management

created new interfaces between clients and ourselves

techniques, agile leadership, and a day-to-day sense

and this resulted in more than 340m EUR inflow revenue

of your people is essential to be a person that leads

via digitally enriched orders from clients, which entails

and not just manages.

+60% growth YoY. On the sidelines, we also run 100+ robots and will invest even more towards different forms

Embracing Industry Standpoints to Drive Innovation

of automation shortly.”

Martynas mentions several fundamental challenges in the transportation industry well noted in the BGC

AI to Open a New Era of Technologies

report published in 2018 (link,

Martynas truly believes that this is the world's crucial

https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/why-road-

tipping point where AI will open a new era of

freight-needs-go-digital-fast ).

technologies that are needed to work with. Adding to

56

this, he compares the impact similar to one the internet

electrification of logistical assets and dropping that 72%

caused back in the day.

carbon emission contribution number to a way more

He highlights that tech like IoT, intelligent enterprises

manageable and acceptable level. He says, “Customers

backed by data, RPA, Cloud computing with SAAS, and

will not sleep on their expectations, which will grow to

others are fundamental to understanding not only the

unprecedented demands – like same-day delivery,

CIO leaders but also business leaders. All businesses are

carbon-neutral service. We will be required to adapt and

to a massive extent tech businesses as customers

lead into the next decade. Uber-type experience will

demand that and this requires steep learning and

come about where ultra-asset light business models will

adoption of business lines to fit the ever-changing

win in the marketplace over the old-fashioned asset-

realities.

heavy ones. This does not mean assets will be out of the

“Cyber security is an area of its own. My former

equation but from the investor standpoint, the financial

leadership mentor had a good saying. It's like a snake…

investment will back new agile business models that can

you can play with it, but it can also kill you one day. CIOs

be easily scaled and fit within the comfort of the market

need to understand that it doesn't matter how well you

when the time comes”.

do in terms of clients and business side of things, security is not something you can compromise on,” Martynas

Thumb Rules for Emerging Executives

claims.

Martynas mentions the three important tips for the budding or emerging CIOs/tech leaders/executives:

Towards the Future With More Resiliency and

Ÿ

Sustainability Logistics and the whole supply chain will essentially be

Understanding the industry and business one is in, taking the lead, and not being a follower.

Ÿ

Never leaving the fundamental tech roots that have

redesigned over the next decade or two, reveals

brought one to where he is now but invest in creating

Martynas. Many businesses learned the COVID-19

a principal understanding of business and leadership

lessons the hard way and more resiliency and

to be a T-shaped executive at the decision table.

sustainability will be tied into the new design of the

Ÿ

Having a high ethical and leadership standpoint and

industry.

merging them to your values so that you never have to

This leaves opportunities to improve ecofootprint and

fight against yourself and build a positive synergy

sustainability per service design also bringing

with yourself.

57