Apr 06

Redundancy is not so bad

Yes, you guessed it, I have been made redundant. I naively believed that working for a smaller organisation, being highly visible and perhaps more important, would create more of a safety net. My intent was to have a long term association but hey, these things happen and we are in the business of change, after all. Of course, all businesses need to take corrective actions/measures and must adapt to changing market conditions. Unfortunately though, the fact is that there is always a human cost.

My team have mostly been impacted and some have more than 12 years service. Loyalty does not seem to be rewarded! I will continue to help and support them if they require me to do so.

This is of course the PC version.

So, moving on, I am past the anger/bitter/anxious stages and move on to the optimistic stage! The market for Cloud/Digital/EA/Solution Architects seems rather good although building and managing a team seems so much more important to me now after 20+ years in technology.

Anyone need a true leader in technology?

#integrity_matters

May 28

Partners required, provoke discussion on post brexit trading with the EU

Opportunity knocks in the face of adversity, well perhaps?

All about our SME, DIG360 (https://dig360.co.uk), we are in the early days of developing a solution to interact with the HMRC CDS (Customs Declaration Service) and also the GVMS (Goods Vehicle Movement Service). This is in response to a requirement from a consortium of hauliers that move low value items to and from the UK.

Having been was previously employed in the import/export business prior to working in technology, I have some insight into the freight forwarding business (and looking back on 12 years working in the industry I smile and think of the great camaraderie and genuine folks in the industry). I remember the simplification of systems (route 7 and so forth) and now we are going in completely the other direction (added complexity aka post brexit trading). There seems to be massive demand on customs brokers and agents in the logistics chain post brexit and still a lot of market confusion. Does this represent an opportunity to leverage disruptive technology to provide competitive advantage – we believe so!

So my ask to my community, is, are you an accountancy/haulier/freight forwarder/broker/agent/trader who would be open to a discussion with a view to discussion? Dig360 are open to partnerships /distribution etc. to consume services/software/platforms. Please get in touch via this blogg or via email steve@dig360.co.uk to discuss further – thank you.

May 13

DIG360 launch ‘humane’ technology

Excited to launch our new website https://dig360.co.uk/ that advocates our core behaviour of ‘humane’ technology. Quite simply, we are champions of good citizenship and embrace the use of technology for the good. Our commitment to our customers is to:

  • listen and concentrate on the why
  • work entirety without bias
  • ensure that any business case supports redeployment of people where required
  • solutions will be vendor agnostic

Contact us for a free evaluation of your requirements.

#CloudJourney

#HumaneTechnology

Mar 04

Trading with Europe post Brexit

Are you confused by the mountain of paperwork and regulations? Recently, I have been approached by a consortium of small parcel hauliers that are frustrated with the added costs of import/export procedures post Brexit. Freight forwarders are inundated with demand and at £45-85 per customs entry, use of these services would, in any case be cost prohibitive. 90% of transactions are small and non-commercial.

I have contacted HMRC, and still await a significant response to my request for clarity on the type of customs import/export declaration required. Royal Mail have the CN22 and 23 but I believe these documents to be specific to mail transit.

Do you have such a predicament and would like to collaborate on a solution? The new HMRC CDS solution is modern in design and has been replacing CHIEF since 2014. We could certainly build a software system that interacts with the new Open API’s available, but, as yet cannot define the requirement.

Does my network have any suggestions or perhaps are open to a discussion. I believe that this could be an opportunity to disrupt the freight industry software market.

Feb 19

Calling all British manufacturers

Time for consumer reflection on 2020 and early 2021 (Covid and Brexit impact specifically). The UK relies way too much on supply from outside (we probably already know this of course ). The supply chain has stopped and started but continues to be unable to cope with demand. As consumers we can either wait or just not bother, but this is not how Western society works – we continually evolve, adjust and create. My own natural preference is to wait (living in Cornwall and remembering previous slower paced decades) but I feel passionate about British engineering and production.

So, have I missed the point, or is the answer simply to create more in the UK, pay a bit extra for the convenience, protect UK jobs and invest in the economy. Maybe also help to save the planet…….

I am no politician, so I am off to buy a CNC machine and commence manufacturing from my garage. Who is going to invest?

https://www.themanufacturer.com/uk-manufacturing-statistics/

Feb 18

Do you need a builder?

To my network, I am available immediately on a part-time basis, ramping up to 4 days per week (can be full time with compressed hours) – very flexible on terms and duration. My main areas of architecture focus are:

All things Cloud (primarily Azure but also AWS and GCP), Security and Modern applications, but I have extensive reach and experience across the domain stack (my CV is on LinkedIn and this website).

My passion is building and developing teams. I have worked in public and private sectors for small (and pre-IPO) organisations as well as large corporates.

If you have a great, collaborative, fun culture then please connect for a ‘no-obligation’ discussion #Redundancy!=THE_END

Dec 10

Opportunity knocks (part-2)

Useful links
Amicable divorce!

Dec 10

2021 Opportunity knocks

It has been a while since writing my last post. I make no apology for being submerged in the day to day life of work and not so much ‘play’. If I am honest it feels kind of strange as we rapidly move towards the festive season. For the first time in many years I am having an extended break which will allow me time to reflect on this ‘ground hog day’ of a year.

So, time to prize open the guitar case, wax the surfboard and get out on the mountain bike. Life is not so bad living in Cornwall, the pandemic has had a dramatic impact on us all but other parts of the country have been hit much harder. It’s not time to lower our guards, but we must look back and learn and perhaps reassess what is important in our lives.

What therefore of the future, more from me separately on that front.

Working in technology is all about change and at a pace that sometimes is overwhelming. I find myself constantly reinventing my work self, infrastructure/applications/mobile/security and then Azure/AWS/GCP – hybrid/multi-cloud/private – it is a whirlwind out there.

And here lies the question, what will be 2021?, a year of opportunity or further cost ‘squeeze’ in enterprise pursuit of more for less. Will there be further business shift and understanding that IT presents value as opposed to cost? There will be a new operating model for sure, work from home is already widely accepted as the new norm (and I advocate where feasible – work is an output and not a location!). I see this new market as an opportunity if you are in business change and IT architects should be at the forefront of this demand.

Again, more to follow from me on this later but I feel very positive for both myself and Cornwall on what happens next…

About | The Cornish Life | Cornwall Lifestyle Blog

Enjoy a well earnt break and be safe with your families – my best, Steve.

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Oct 27

MotoGP on BT Sport

I absolutely love the coverage BT Sport provide for MotoGP. Great presenters with relevant experience and knowledge combined with a fantastic TV schedule for each weekend. A real coup for BT no doubt!

But why or why do I have to endure BT service provision in the UK. Sorry BT, but any customer engagement in my experience is frustrating and time consuming. Just received the yearly ‘your BT price is changing’, no surprise there. Have to ring to either negotiate by extending the internet contract or leave – it is as simple as that (or NOT). Phoned 3 times now and constantly on hold – come on BT, you have got to try harder!! No excuses that you are extremely busy – all of us are!

Long gone are the market dominance days, you have to do better at the customer experience. Maybe it is time to break this monolithic organisation up into smaller, perhaps regional resellers/a partner model.

Is it simply just too big to manage?

This is not only a problem in the home retail sector, I have had a similar experience at work but least we have options in that space to explore (and we have). #Ofcom

Oct 27

Autopilot integrated MDM

I am sure there are many other service providers that have the same type of challenges that we face. Managing multiple customer environments and in doing so requiring zero touch device deployment as far as possible. The operating model of many organisations is changing rapidly which means devices are sent direct to folks homes (CV19 etc.) with minimal intervention by IT. The key is reducing friction and adding value to the process, key points:

  • Windows Intune/autopilot multi-tenant integration is not recommended
  • many small tenants to manage (often with only a handful of users/devices)
  • the preference is to use 1 tool for deployment and management
  • needs to be easy and intuitive for the SME support market
  • would like the zero touch benefits of autopilot
  • ideally do not want to sell a kidney to licence
  • any takers for open source tools?
  • patch management/remote control etc.
  • 99% windows devices but also Mac/IOS/Android
  • need to implement yesterday (or even the day before)

Are there any aspiring start-ups, SME specialists or open source support organisations that have this type of tooling/capability? I will reply individually as appropriate – thank you community!