Ctrl Alt Lead

In this episode, legal expert Jonathan Armstrong of Punter Southall Law breaks down the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and its implications for financial services firms and their suppliers.

Jonathan talks about DORA's key requirements, the challenges of cross-border compliance, and how CIOs can prepare for these sweeping changes across the EU and UK.

Click here to learn more about DORA

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LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen

Twitter: @Computing_News / @Tom_CTG

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen / Penny Horwood

Are you an IT leader with a story to tell? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].

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General purpose AI models are great if you want to discuss everything from geopolitics to baking with the same chatbot; but when you have hard limits on data and compute, you need a more focused system. Enter, small language models.

This week Tom talks to Arm's Paul Williamson about what the rise of SLMs means for edge computing and the people who use it; different ways to shrink language models; and how a change in software dev behaviour is forcing hardware makers to evolve.

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen

Twitter: @Computing_News / @Tom_CTG

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen / Penny Horwood

Are you an IT leader with a story to tell? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].

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Multifactor authentication is better than nothing, but is it really just a false sense of security? With attackers increasingly knowing how to break MFA, whether technically or through social engineering, director Richard Richison switched his entire company of 1,600 employees over to a phishing-resistant process relying on biometric security keys and device-level checks.

In this episode of Ctrl Alt Lead, Richard and I talk about the flaws of modern MFA, potential replacements, and his selection and global rollout of a brand new system - plus the widespread embrace of the same, a rarity in anything related to cybersecurity!

Click here to view the Kevin Mitnick video Richard discusses in the episode, showing how hackers can bypass two-factor authentication.

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen

Twitter: @Computing_News / @Tom_CTG

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen / Penny Horwood

Are you an IT leader with a story to tell? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].

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Will Amazon's return-to-office mandate be a success, or will Andy Jassy's employees slap on a return label? Reed co-founder Mark Ridley and Dr Andrew MacLaren, Associate Professor of Team Communication at Heriot-Watt University,  join Tom to talk all about the points for and against office vs remote work - and why hybrid might be not the perfect middle ground.

What does Jassy's order mean for remote workers who won't relocate? Will other companies benefit from a new flow of talent? And just how do you structure your firm to take advantage of remote workers? Here's a hint: Look to how you planned your cloud infrastructure.

As well as their professional qualifications, Mark and Andrew are co-hosts of the Teamcraft podcast. You can find their own episode on virtual teams here.

GitLab's guide to an all-remote workforce, discussed in the show, can be found here, and the company handbook here.

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen

Twitter: @Computing_News / @Tom_CTG

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen / Penny Horwood

Are you an IT leader with a story to tell? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What effect will a protectionist President have on the global tech sector? Professor Grant Neeley discusses Donald Trump's stance on tech issues from AI to immigration, and what we can expect from his historic second term.

The incoming President is critical of regulation, but has spoken out against Big Tech. He is anti-China, but pro-TikTok. He wants tariffs on global imports, but expects lower prices.

What form will these contradictory stances take in government? And who will be brave enough to take a top job in a White House where tenure can only last for days? Grant talks about all this, and more.

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen

Twitter: @Computing_News / @Tom_CTG

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen / Penny Horwood

Are you an IT leader with a story to tell? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Acquiring new companies is a popular way to grow quickly, but it brings a host of technical challenges: from finding the right company, to due diligence, and finally integrating their systems. 

In this episode Ardonagh Advisory CTO Tom Clark discusses the role tech leaders must play at every stage of the process  to smoothly bring new companies on board.

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen

Twitter: @Computing_News / @Tom_CTG

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen / Penny Horwood

Are you an IT leader with a story to tell? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

BT consumes about 1% of the UK's total power, a massive amount for a single company. In this episode Tom talks to Clare Schramm of BT's "internal hyperscaler," the cloud services division, about how they are reworking software, hardware and partnerships to slash energy use.

Clare talks about how and why BT has written sustainability metrics into all of its commercial tenders; how vendor relationships are changing as a result; and discusses the use of observability tooling to monitor efficiency.

We apologise for the late posting of this episode, which was due to a bereavement. Ctrl Alt Lead will return to its regular fortnightly schedule going forward.

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen

Twitter: @Computing_News / @Tom_CTG

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen / Penny Horwood

Are you an IT leader with a story to tell? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Culture is one of the most difficult things to build, even for engineers. In this episode, Admiral's Chief Engineer Pankaj Kane talks about how he built an engineering-led culture, and why he's made sure to remain separate from it.

Instilling a culture through one of the UK's largest insurers was no easy task, so Pankaj launched it using a common vision: a North Star. Plus, he shares his advice for how other IT leaders can do the same.

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen

Twitter: @Computing_News / @Tom_CTG

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen / Penny Horwood

Are you an IT leader with a story to tell? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

IoT sensors are common in infrastructure, but strangely rare in stately homes - where the predictive maintenance piece, at least, makes them incredibly well suited. Oxfordshire's Blenheim Estate, though, uses hundreds of sensors. I talked to Head of Innovation David Green about the organisation's modern approach.

David explains how and why Blenheim invested in a massive sensor network, and how the Estate is evolving its use of sensors to track visitors and improve their experience around the site. As with all things IT, it all comes back to data.

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen

Twitter: @Computing_News / @Tom_CTG

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen / Penny Horwood

Are you an IT leader with a story to tell? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

IT professionals are perfectionists under pressure in a changing industry: a combination that leads to exhaustion, stress and burnout. In this episode, head of IT Jeremy Cooper tells Tom how he overcame the problem, and how he tackles it in his team.

Jeremy talks candidly about his own experiences of burnout - from what caused it, to how it affected him and how he learned to address it; as well as why IT professionals are so prone to it, and how you can learn to spot it in others and in yourself.

Missing audio: An internet issue caused an intermittent audio dropout from 17:30-18:00. Please see a transcript of the missing audio below:

Tom: Yeah, your LinkedIn famously says 'Average crossfitter.'

Jeremy: Yeah.

Tom: Okay, so that's great advice. The other question I have is, "How do you combat burnout in the short term?" What you've said is great, but it could take some time to show results. If they need something they can do on the day, what can they start doing?

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen

Twitter: @Computing_News / @Tom_CTG

Become a member of Computing today at www.computing.co.uk

LinkedIn: @computing-- / Tom Allen / Penny Horwood

Are you an IT leader with a story to tell? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.