digital transformation

Constant firefighting downgrades the role and the CISO must fight to avoid its gravitational pull

This is the second post in a series of four that focuses on the adoption of Procurement technologies. It will highlight some important aspects of the psychology of change because:

• they explain why so many projects fail,
• they must be taken into account to design a successful implementation.

The problem with changes…

“The only thing that is constant is change” — Heraclitus

What was true in Ancient Greece is even truer today. Especially when looking at changes induced by or linked to technology.

We conducted a Q&A interview with Prasoon, Vice President at Société Générale Global Solution Centre, around digital transformation, and the future including blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

About Prasoon...

So … May 25^th came and went, quickly followed by the football world cup and a heatwave which wrecked most of Europe and many other parts of the world …

Around GDPR, bureaucracy claimed birthrights over the act and things went back to normal: Snake oil vendors packed their stalls and alleged experts headed for the beach … The anti-climax was predictable, and we are still going through that phase where all players are expecting regulators to set their first fines and wondering “where the big one is going to come from”.

We conducted a Q&A interview with Deepthi, Head of Technology Upskilling and Communication (Corporate and Investment Banking Technology) at Société Générale, around digital transformation, automation, and the potential future for technology.

Could you introduce yourself and what you do?

My name is Deepthi Rajan. I have over a decade of experience in the technology and financial services space. I’m the Head of Technology Upskilling at Société Générale, an inspiring role I took up early this year.

One of the key themes was the pace of technology changes. Specifically, how does it affect organisations & its people? It brought back vivid memories of my Digital Transformation experiences. On reflection, I can definitely share three gotchas & lessons. If you are leading a Digital Transformation or being a part of one, keep an eye on these three gotchas! 

Gotcha #1: Partial digitalisation and/or digitalising bad process are not good. 

As a start-up you can do two things. Create a digital service which falls in the wow category of social mobile app, cool gadget, another cryptocurrency, or similar. Nothing that will make this world a better place. Alternatively, you can try to solve a really hard problem with some really clever technology and try to sell your new product or service.

Driving security transformation is becoming key; not justifying investments

The age-long debate around security metrics and dashboards seems very much alive within the CISO community. But it is often positioned in an outdated historical perspective.
For many CISOs, it seems to be still about “justifying investments” or articulating some form of “return on security investment”.

Over the past 15 years of working in the cybersecurity industry I have been privileged to have worked with highly intelligent, experienced and articulate colleagues. My experiences in large scale transformation programmes, workshops, interviews, managing both project and operational teams encompass consulting and internal business roles. These experiences led to interactions with hundreds of individuals where I have become aware of some consistent and humorous behaviour types displayed. These include eight positive and negative types including:

Design Thinking is currently enjoying a surge in popularity and not without good reason. Processes for creation and innovation are worth their salt and are indeed integral to Digital Transformation. Having said that, one is not a substitute for the other. Here is my take on Design Thinking and where it fits with Digital Transformation.

Business School must come before Design School.

In my opinion, most enter the room of Design Thinking assuming they’re bringing the right diagnosed challenge to the table to be fixed.