Why Educause matters to me

Each industry has a number of organizations that unify professionals and enable them to network, collaborate, communicate and exchange ideas and knowledge. For me, one of such organizations, is certainly Educause. Educause is an association that unifies all of us who are in higher education (higher ed) information technology (IT) and provides opportunities for collaboration with colleagues and vendors. When …

Why leaders are not experts

As a leader one must motivate, inspire, set standards, coordinate, improve, communicate, collaborate and so on, but they should never mistakenly believe and act as if they know everything. There is a multitude of reasons why teams are built with people of diverse backgrounds, experiences, knowledge and education in order for them to complement each other and cover all responsibilities. …

Be honest, compete on value, not price

Honest and transparent approach will go a long way in customer acquisition and more importantly, customer retention. When it comes to your services and products it is important to be honest, sincere and transparent with respect to your strategy, cost and pricing that they may need to incur. Be honest with your clients and tell them the truth, tell them …

Be passionate, yet remain cool, calm and collected

Passion is one of the most important attributes that influences what we do and act on each day. Loss of your passion and your drive will unavoidably result in a decrease in commitment, attention and quality of output. Once you stop caring about a project, process, job, organization…you check out mentally and it is noticeable to those who are observant …

Negativity has no place in your life

Negativity is pointless. Simple as that, there is no point or value in it. Instead, one should reflect on their current state as well as on past achievements and even more importantly focus on future endeavors and potential opportunities. Negativity is not your thing, let it be someone else’s problem. Surround yourself with positive and supportive people who have your …

Attract the best talent, then do your best to retain them

Talented people are hard to find and they are even more difficult to retain long term. They have options and they know it. Having this in mind, it is important to invest in people ahead of anything else. Get the best folks you can and focus on quality over quantity. Once a team is built, then shift your focus towards …

CIO: one of the most rewarding positions

In my humble and somewhat biased opinion, one of the most rewarding positions is that of a CIO (Chief Information Officer). I say this based on their potential to influence positive transformation, change and growth within organizations. CIOs are uniquely positioned and have exposure and partnership opportunities with all business areas (finance, legal, marketing, operations…you name it, technology is involved …

Cyber security is a full-time job

As more and more products get connected online in this Internet of Things (IoT) “revolution” of sorts, it is important to take information security strategically, seriously and proactively. To start, your systems and networks need to be redundant, backed up and up to date (properly configured, patched and tested); your users need to know what NOT to do online (at …

Lessons from T-Mobile and Experian partnership and data breach

Cyber security, information security…call it what you want, but it must be taken seriously and proactively in every organization. Furthermore, your plan and attention must extend beyond the confines of your own networks, systems, applications and walls. You need to collaborate with your partners on join strategies to strengthen your connections, secure your data and protect your intellectual property. As …