The Hitchhiker's Guide Podcast

Join host Michelle Dawn Mooney in this enlightening episode of "Hitchhiker's Guide to IT" as she welcomes Elzar Simon, author of "AI Hacked" and Senior IT Director at NYU. Together, they explore the vast realm of artificial intelligence (AI).

In this first part, Elzar demystifies AI, highlighting its language processing prowess, where AI can converse and generate content, bridging the gap between machines and humans. He showcases AI's incredible face recognition capabilities and its impact on self-driving vehicles, manufacturing robots, and even medical applications.

The episode captures the transformative power of AI, offering insights into its potential across diverse industries. Stay tuned for part two, where Michelle and Elzar delve deeper into the challenges and implications of AI. Subscribe to the "Hitchhiker's Guide to IT" on Device42.com for part two and expand your knowledge of this groundbreaking technology.

Join us on the "Hitchhiker's Guide to IT" podcast as we embark on an inspiring journey with Imperial College London's Director of Digital Infrastructure, Steven Prescott Jones. Delve into the innovative strategies and cutting-edge technologies behind Imperial College's ambitious mission to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. Discover how data-driven decisions, smart energy solutions, and collaboration are shaping the university's path towards a sustainable future. From reducing campus energy consumption to optimizing resource utilization and embracing carbon-neutral data centers, Imperial College's roadmap for sustainability offers valuable insights for organizations worldwide. Tune in and be inspired by the bold steps being taken to create a greener, more sustainable tomorrow.

In this episode of the Hitchhiker's Guide to IT Podcast, host Michelle Dawn Mooney discusses the challenges and strategies for building a robust IT Asset Management (ITAM) program with special guest Ian Silver, the ITAM manager for the Flynn Group of Companies. They delve into the definition of ITAM, which involves managing technology assets throughout their lifecycle, from procurement to retirement. They emphasize the importance of standardizing processes and procedures to overcome the challenges posed by fragmented tribal knowledge within organizations.

Silver shares insights into the first steps organizations should take to improve their ITAM practices, emphasizing the need to identify the specific problem they are trying to solve. He advises against letting tools dictate objectives and stresses the importance of clarity and focus.

The conversation highlights the significance of setting interim milestones and using reporting to track progress and measure success. Silver suggests tackling ITAM improvements incrementally and being patient with the process. He explains that productivity may initially decline as new standardized approaches are introduced but assures that the long-term benefits are worth the short-term trade-offs.

Listeners are encouraged to reach out to Ian Silver on LinkedIn for further assistance or questions regarding ITAM. Overall, the episode provides valuable insights into the challenges, strategies, and key considerations for organizations aiming to enhance their IT Asset Management practices.

In this episode of the Hitchhiker's Guide to IT podcast, the host Michelle Dawn Mooney discusses technology business management (TBM) with guest Andrew Pratt, the technology business manager for Teladoc Health. TBM focuses on providing cost transparency in IT and ensuring that IT spending aligns with organizational goals. The TBM office acts as an interface between IT and other departments such as finance, accounting, and procurement, translating best practices and financial information to IT leadership.

Pratt emphasizes the importance of understanding an organization's maturity and challenges when implementing TBM. He suggests starting with the low-hanging fruit and addressing pain points identified by executive leadership. By implementing processes and gathering data, the TBM office can provide insights to IT leadership on improving operations, maximizing ROI, and aligning IT with the organization's profitability goals.

Pratt advises on benchmarking IT spend against revenue, assessing the number of software applications and their impact on revenue, and monitoring cloud spend compared to industry standards. These benchmarks help drive objectives and measure the success of TBM implementation or upgrades.

Overall, TBM is crucial for organizations to gain cost transparency, improve financial responsibility, and ensure IT efforts are aligned with organizational goals. By integrating TBM processes and focusing on profitability, organizations can achieve operational excellence in IT management.

In this episode of the Hitchhiker's Guide to IT podcast, the host Michelle Dawn Mooney discusses technology business management (TBM) with guest Andrew Pratt, the technology business manager for Teladoc Health. TBM focuses on providing cost transparency in IT and ensuring that IT spending aligns with organizational goals. The TBM office acts as an interface between IT and other departments such as finance, accounting, and procurement, translating best practices and financial information to IT leadership.

Pratt emphasizes the importance of understanding an organization's maturity and challenges when implementing TBM. He suggests starting with the low-hanging fruit and addressing pain points identified by executive leadership. By implementing processes and gathering data, the TBM office can provide insights to IT leadership on improving operations, maximizing ROI, and aligning IT with the organization's profitability goals.

Pratt advises on benchmarking IT spend against revenue, assessing the number of software applications and their impact on revenue, and monitoring cloud spend compared to industry standards. These benchmarks help drive objectives and measure the success of TBM implementation or upgrades.

Overall, TBM is crucial for organizations to gain cost transparency, improve financial responsibility, and ensure IT efforts are aligned with organizational goals. By integrating TBM processes and focusing on profitability, organizations can achieve operational excellence in IT management.

Businesses worldwide are grappling with the need for robust cloud security. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the transition to cloud computing services, leading to aninflux of cybersecurity threats. Today, businesses must navigate the complexities of vendor management concerning their cloud security obligations. Data from Risk Based Security suggests that data breaches exposed 36 billion records in the first half of 2020 alone. An Exabeam survey of 500 IT professionals indicates that many cybersecurity specialists cannot carry out their duties adequately. Partnering with a services provider that can handle cloud security needs is more critical than ever.

The Hitchhikers Guide to IT explores this core question with host Michelle Dawn Mooney and her returning guest, Thomas Johnson, the National Cybersecurity Leader at BDO Digital. The pair continue their dialogue on this pressing issue. They began discussing cloud security in a previous episode and delved further into the topic in this second discussion. Highlights from Mooney and Johnson’s second conversation include:

- Emphasizing the need to clarify roles and responsibilities with vendors, including defining incident management protocols

- Highlighting the essential elements of business continuity, resiliency planning, and availability in incident management

- The need for a robust, usable disaster recovery and business continuity plan and the role of incident response within this framework