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Showing posts from December, 2015

Agile / DevOps: (_____) as CODE #DevOps

Infrastructure as Code – is a common term among developers, architects, and operational staff and the practice has evolved in response to demand for quality and efficiency in the industry.  Over the last decade many organizations have come to realize that the essence of Infrastructure as Code is to treat the configuration of systems the same way that software source code is treated.  Frequent code integration, automated builds, and integrated testing have resulted in stronger IT performance and therefore business value. Security as Code – An increase in security breaches across all industries has brought forward a similar concept, and that is to look at “Security as Code”.  This concept would include the usage of repeatable algorithms to integrate security checks with each code check.  This expands the scope of traditional “Continuous Integration” and automation.  Organizations realize that security is no longer a second thought and must be addressed at ...

The Customer Experience

We are all customers of someone right?  What was your last customer experience like?  Was it so good that it completely changed how you thought about the product or the organization you were receiving services from? On the other hand was the service you received so poor that you vowed never to use their products or services ever again.  We have all been in those situations. You may not have realized it, but how that interaction was designed can have a huge impact on the perception you, the customer, walk away with.  I recently read a series of articles in the September issue of Harvard Business Review magazine.  The entire series was titled “The Evolution of Design Thinking” - It’s no longer just for products. It speaks to how executives are using this approach to devise strategy and manage change.  I can’t tell you what an absolute must read this is for all.  It will make you take a second look at how you design, deliver and support the services to y...

Designing a Service Design Package

I was recently asked what the compliance requirements, architectural constraints and interface requirements are in designing the service design package for a new app. The short answer is that the Service Design Package (SDP) would have ALL of the documents and information related to how the app was designed and developed including any policies or known compliance or other constraints.  The purpose of the SDP is to provide a living set of knowledge assets that can be passed around the lifecycle for use in each stage (e.g. deployment, operations, support, updating, etc.). For more information the the SDP please use this link:  http://www.itsmacademy.com/itil-sd/

Resilia - Cyber Resilience Best Practices

Operating under a constant threat of cyber attacks is the new normal for many organizations in today’s virtual business environment.  These attacks can come from anywhere, from anybody and at any time.  It is no longer a question of reacting to and then fixing the problem.  Today the question is “How do we prepare the entire organization to be prepared and vigilant to deal with cyber security threats each and every day. A defensive approach is no longer adequate.  A proactive strategy by cyber security teams with the appropriate expertise, capabilities and best practice processes and policies is an absolute must have in order to meet the challenge of recurring engagement with those whose intent is to harm the organization in some way. There must be well defined and documented processes to prevent, where possible, detect and respond with control and countermeasures as quickly as possible while predicting what will happen next.   The introduction of effe...