IT Life: Stepping Up To Services

Steve Cox is chief operating officer of IT services group TSG, where he aims to provide end-to-end solutions for smal to medium businesses

The importance of Research and Development

What has been your favourite project so far?
Just over a year ago we made the bold decision to invest in building a new R & D department at TSG. I say bold because typically R & D departments are one of the first things to go in times of economic difficulty. Our financial strength has allowed us to start ours when the economy wasn’t at its greatest, so some would say it was a bit of a leap of faith. However, it was a decision based on listening to our customers’ needs to build repeatable solutions that address common challenges that we’ve identified by working with thousands of customers.

Our first product that we’ve built is called Tribe, and this helps membership organisations provide an enhanced service for their customers by helping them to manage their data more efficiently. Our first customer went live last month (April 2014) so it’s very exciting, very challenging times, and I’m really proud of the significant steps we’ve taken into product research and development.

Services first

What tech were you involved with ten years ago?
Ten years ago I moved on from working in the IT departments of large corporate institutions, learning first hand their business and technology requirements.

Then I was in the services industry, using what I’d learned at an efficiency and process level to help small and medium sized companies who wanted to grow with the help of technology. I helped to craft IT solutions for them from the Microsoft product stack (Server 2003, Exchange 2003 –things that have now or will soon become end of life), giving them the tools and advice they needed to drive true business benefits. And that’s a path I’ve continued on with TSG – taking business requirements first, and then choosing the right technology that can help get you where you want to be.

What tech do you expect to be using in ten years’ time?
Well when those hoverboards we were promised by 2015 eventually do come to market, probably those. It will at least make my weekly commute from Essex to our head office in Newcastle more entertaining.

Failing that, I think it’s less about the technology itself, and more about what’s behind it. It’s an awful phrase, but the ‘Internet of Things’ is going to enable every object to communicate with each other, providing us with vast amounts of invaluable Big Data analysis that will help us to make better predictions about the future. For that to happen, we need to have incredibly robust and reliable connectivity.

Better connectivity

I still can’t get through one patch of the M25 without my mobile signal giving up, so if we’re going to become as reliant as is predicted on objects that are connected to the cloud, then strong connectivity is a key focus, as much for businesses as it is for consumers. There’s no point having your applications and/or data stored in the Cloud if you can’t reply on your connectivity to allow you to access them whenever you want.

Who’s your tech hero?
Has to be Steve Jobs, purely because of his resolute attitude. He knew what he wanted and he fought every step of the way for it with focus, passion, and belief. And he was right.

Don’t sell the wrong solution

Who’s your tech villain?
Not a character as such, but I think the biggest villain(s) in the IT sector at the moment are companies that choose not to offer the right solutions for their customers. They may well be jumping on the bandwagon and it’s likely that they’re selling what they sell because that’s all they have to offer.

We’re also seeing certain companies crossing over in to the IT space from sectors with a questionable reputation for their sales tactics and professionalism. Equally, malpractice such as selling products sourced through the grey market or online auction sites can leave customers vulnerable in the event of problems with their equipment. Which to me is pretty villainous…

What’s your favourite technology ever made? Which do you use most?
Definitely the Kinect technology which I use on my Xbox One. To use motion and voice control within technology is all my childhood dreams come true. Back then virtual reality really meant just putting on a very silly helmet. Now, we’ve come a long way and we don’t need any of that kit; we can just use ourselves and I find that brilliant.

I remember a video game called ‘Daley Thompson’s Decathalon’ in the wake of his gold medal achievements at the 1980 and 1984 Olympic games, which was released on a Commodore 64 (the one where you had to insert a cassette tape to load the game and blow on it should it freeze). The game worked by pressing two keys alternately as fast as you could to make him run – now you can be the runner yourself. All we need now is to remove the obstacle of the TV and we’re on our way to having true virtual reality in our living room.

But it’s not just about gaming applications – the potential in a business, medical or industrial context is huge.

In terms of what I use most, that would be my iPhone. I like it because of what the iPhone did to create this whole app culture. It’s totally changed the way I consume my information and my morning routine can be served through apps, whether that’s checking the sport, news, Twitter and industry headlines.

What is your budget outlook going forward? Flat? Growing?
The pressure to drive business results, increase growth and profitability, reduce operational costs and manage workforces are all key focusses for businesses at the moment. But what businesses are increasingly doing is looking to technology to help them get there, which is why we’re seeing stats like 62 percent of companies increasing their IT budget this year (from TEKsystems’ 2014 Annual IT Forecast).

Companies are also increasing the amount they spend on outside expertise, so we’re exceptionally positive about the outlook going forward and helping businesses who want to embrace technology to help them achieve positive results.

Apart from your own, which company do you admire most and why?
Amazon. How many companies are visionary enough to invent their own demise? By that I mean they started out selling books online, and the biggest threat to paperbacks – e-books – was driven by a product (the Amazon Kindle) that they themselves designed and built.

Amazon are continually re-inventing themselves and disrupting markets in which they’ve already been successful, and we’ve seen this again recently with Amazon Instant Video.

Amazon sold a huge amount of DVDs on a daily basis, but unlike other retailers they’ve adapted to customer  requirements for on demand viewing, and embraced it. On demand is killing the traditional DVD market but Amazon are a truly revolutionary company and have turned the tide on themselves. I’m sure the phrase, “But this is how we’ve always done it,” isn’t permitted around Amazon headquarters.

What’s the greatest challenge for an IT company/department today?
It has been, and always will be, the requirements of end users. Today, the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend means that getting that balancing act right – allowing users access to the tools that will help them be more productive, whilst keeping company data as secure as possible – is an incredibly tough one.

It’s all to do with multiple devices trying to access the company network, and absolutely key is setting the right controls so that you can identify any suspicious activity (such as devices trying to gain access to your data), and ensure that there are no rogue devices draining your bandwidth and impacting on other people’s productivity.

Often it’s the things that you can’t see that can have the biggest impact, so becoming aware of that will help address the biggest challenge that IT departments face today.

Also, most IT departments spend at least 30% of their time firefighting, when their time would be spent more wisely adding value to the business by identifying and deploying the right technologies.

A third of respondents to the ‘SolarWinds Time and Budget Spent on IT Study’ say when they reduce their IT spend, they end up wasting 30 percent of their time on IT issues that could have otherwise been dealt with.

To Cloud or not to Cloud?
It’s not a case of one or the other, it’s about what’s the most appropriate for your business, and what will create the most effective IT system for you. It might be that having some of your applications sitting in the cloud, and some sitting on premise, is the best solution specific to your needs.

So in all honesty, I don’t think to cloud or not to cloud is the question. It all starts with a question about your business, how you operate, what you’re looking to deliver and where you can make improvements. And then finding the solution that fits.

What did you want to be when you were a child?
I loved a good courtroom drama growing up, so I wanted to be kitted up in full prosecution mode, telling criminals on trial that they couldn’t handle the truth…

Another aspiration was to be a racing car driver, living the dream on the Formula 1 circuit. But instead I ended up in IT…

If McLaren ever need a new IT director though…..

How do Tech Companies get their names?