I think I am justifiably proud of my son. He’s a 'top of the class' boy and he attends a special class for kids who are a bit more advanced – they quaintly call it an 'Opportunity Class' but it blows my mind how much advanced stuff they are doing. He challenges me every day with increasingly more complex questions, and I have no doubt that by the time he finishes primary school he’ll be of the opinion that his Dad is no longer the all-knowing super hero of his younger years.

One discussion I had recently with him stands out. We talked about resilience, and I wound up relating the things he was talking about back to my experience in business.

There is a poster on the wall in his classroom:

Resilience is Never Giving Up, Even When Things Get Tough – An easy statement to make but what does it really mean? My lad talked about working a lot harder than he ever had before and sometimes having to go back over homework problems that he found really hard. For my part, I talked to him about the way we go about working on problems for customers. We’re often called in to assist with a hardware or software error that is intermittent, or seems to be caused by multiple things all interacting. It can be really tough to diagnose and it isn’t unheard of for problems to remain outstanding with vendors for weeks or even months. I pointed out that no matter what, we don’t give up. We keep pushing to find a resolution. It may not always be what we first thought would be the solution, but at the very least we try to find a way around the problem.

'Your customers must love that, Dad', says he.

'I guess so', I replied, 'Although it isn’t something we talk about a lot.' – Maybe we should!

Resilience is Trying Even if You’re Not Sure You’ll Succeed – Interestingly, my son started talking about his science class where they learned about experimentation and trial-and-error. I likened this to the application development process and bringing new products to market.

In recent times we’ve released QuickTrans, which is a low-cost simple file translator for business to business transactions and file integration. We developed it partly as a technical exercise and partly because we just had a hunch that there was a need for it. The concept took us a while to get right, and the design of the application went through a number of significant changes during the solution’s gestation.

I’ll put my hand up and say I wasn’t completely sure it would succeed and I’m equally ready (and very glad!) to admit my fears were unfounded. The thing is a hit, but would have never happened if we’d only put our energies into a sure thing. Stupid risks are just that – stupid – but I think the lesson here is that if you have a belief that you 'could' succeed then the good ol’ Aussie 'have a go' spirit can net some great results.

Resilience is the Courage to Come Back from a Failure – and every second business article I read says we’re supposed to embrace failure these days. My young fella talked about his first days in his new school trying to make new friends. He tried and failed on the first day to find a mate and I remember that feeling in the pit of my stomach that all parents get when they know their kid is hurting. The best my wife and I could do was reassure him and encourage him to try again the next day. He did and now has some really good mates he kicks around with. For him the lesson was to learn from his mistake on the first day – trying too hard and not being himself.

If I think of how failure relates to our business, I’m drawn to our Disaster Recovery practice. We exist to help customers deal with failure. We help them plan and test and revise and test and plan some more. All so they can come back from a failure. Over the years I’ve had senior IT staffers at customer sites call me in tears because something “big” had gone wrong. In one particular case the simple fact of Team being on the end of the phone, gently reassuring the customer that they were on the right track, was enough to calm the situation. Then we could get them focused on the steps they needed to take to bring their systems back on line.

Resilience is Getting Back Up Again When You’ve Been Knocked Down. My boy and I laughed a lot about this one. He described the schoolyard soccer matches that happen on a daily basis at lunch times. He tells me they are pretty rough and ready affairs with few rules and plenty of argy-bargy. The very day we talked about this poster he’d been vying for a ball with another kid and the managed to trip each other up. In the process he got a knee right where it hurts, and the other kid hit the concrete hard (yes, they play on concrete so perhaps these kids aren’t quite as gifted as I’m told). Apparently both of them spent a couple of minutes breathing hard trying to not cry in front of their mates but both re-entered the game to prove they could “take it”.

I explained that business is a bit like his soccer match. We have competitors and we also have those on our side. We don’t win every time and nor do we always escape without injury. There have been times we’ve been knocked down pretty soundly. Once or twice it’s been at our own hand and other times we’ve be wronged by a vendor or a customer. I explained to my first-born that it isn’t important how many times you get knocked down that counts. It’s making sure that you get back up exactly the same number of times.

As a parting shot, I asked my son whether he thought resilience was as important as they get taught at school. His response floored me.

'I guess you have to be resilient. There’s always stuff that goes wrong no matter how good you are at something. So I think you have to be at least as resilient as you are good. I think successful is being good AND resilient.'

Strewth – 10 years old and way more eloquent than me.

Just as some people are more likely than others to jump out of planes or ride fast motorcycles, so businesses have different attitudes to risk. Unlike individuals, though, businesses may have to meet stringent legal requirements, or satisfy shareholders that risk is appropriately managed. Failing to manage business risk can be the equivalent of sky-diving without a parachute.

When we mention risk in the context of IT, the first category that springs to mind is likely to be data. After headlines about cyber-crime, what business leader would fail to appreciate the potential cost of losing access to customer records, for example?

But there are other assets that need to be safeguarded, ranging from software, hardware and network to the people in your IT team. Your administrative processes and your physical environment should also be considered – if you do ever find yourself rebuilding from some crisis, your documentation is invaluable.

Your risk assessment might consider software vulnerabilities, the possible impact of bugs and errors, as well as the more obvious virus and malware threat. More commonly missed, software obsolescence, and limited or non-existent vendor support, can be costly in the event of problems. Nobody wants to be frantically seeking someone with obscure skills when a key legacy system is unavailable.

Much the same risks apply to hardware, along with machine failure of course. And hardware is more vulnerable to environmental issues, from the everyday, such as heat or power failure, to the more dramatic natural disasters. Even when the hardware is doing its job as intended, there is another risk. Reaching maximum capacity without a plan is never a good idea – especially because it is bound to be on Friday night with a long weekend ahead (if that happens, we’re here – but we’d still prefer you to plan ahead).

Where businesses are more likely to invest time is assessing risk to data. Availability is all-important in the always-on digital era, but there are risks to consider beyond that. What happens if it becomes corrupted? Are we adequately controlling who can access data? And are we complying with all legal and industry requirements?

This last consideration is a big one. Non-compliance attracts increasingly hefty fines as governments crack down on wrongdoers, making an example of those caught out. In some industries – in particular financial and healthcare – failing to comply with data regulations can cause such tremendous loss of consumer confidence that a business cannot continue to trade.

Some risks are subtler, making them harder to detect. The network complexity that leaves a chink through the curtains for cyber-criminals; the limited capacity that slows business growth; fraud that over time represents a considerable cost. Oh yes, and the less subtle, such as theft and damage haven’t gone away.

Once you’ve identified risks, they need to be classified and considered carefully. A formal risk assessment includes the likelihood of a situation occurring, the potential cost of that occurrence, whether it can be fixed, and the cost of prevention. We then look at mitigating the risk, and put together a risk management plan, including policies and procedures, instructions, training, and all the tools needed to implement the plan.

It is interesting what our risk assessment specialists uncover. A fresh pair of eyes can make all the difference, even if your risk assessment plan is mature and well documented. Often it is a simple matter of a new hardware or personnel addition that changes the risk landscape, while other times we help growing businesses that have never formally addressed risk.

Wherever you are on your risk journey, our experienced Team Computing risk assessment specialists can help you to work through your risk profile – and every assessment includes plain-English recommendations and an easy to understand report.

To help your understanding we also include charts like the one below that you can use when reporting to your senior management.

Need to know more? Give us a call.

Examples of Impact (Consequences)

People: Minor injury through to death

Information: Compromise of internal information – minor impact through to compromise of sensitive information with significant ongoing ramifications

Property: Minor damage or vandalism through to complete loss of all assets

Economic: Loss of 1% of budget through to greater than 30% of annual budget

Reputation: Local. Forgotten quickly, self-improvement required through to Govt Inquiry & national or international media coverage

Capability: Minor impact on organisational capability, no delays, dealt with by routine operations through to critical failures, unavailability of key people and skills. Organisational survival threatened.

It is a momentous rite of passage in the growth of many businesses. After the hard yards bringing an idea or product to the market, the opportunity is there for the kind of contract you dreamed of. One of the big retailers wants to buy your product… but before you pop the champagne open, there is something you need to figure out. How on earth are you going to satisfy the retailer’s ordering requirements?

When you’re fulfilling orders with most major organisations, such as supermarkets or online retailers, you will need to be able to receive, interpret, and respond to an electronic purchase order. This might include an extraordinary amount of details that must be adhered to – specific delivery windows, expiry dates, packaging requirements and the like.

Whether you’re an established business or an emerging provider, you will need an electronic data interchange (EDI) solution that ensures you can meet the contractual requirements of your big customer. There will often be penalties in place if you miss even a small detail, and, ultimately, your big fish may find other alternatives.

These order requirements are ultimately designed to make life easier for the big business you’re supplying. They have sufficient buying power to insist – and after all, they are dealing with perhaps tens of thousands of line items every day, so they want everything to happen with precision.

Let’s say you’re a dairy producer who’s developed a cheese so delicious that you’ve caught the attention of a major supermarket. Up until now, the product has probably been your focus, which means your IT systems may have a number of manual processes. Dealing with the demands of the ordering process may seem daunting, but Team EDI specialist Emilio Rodriguez says this can actually be a real opportunity to make your life easier.

‘Before starting an EDI process, you do have to tidy up a few manual processes, but the short-term pain can bring some great benefits.’

These benefits include saving your people a lot of time, saving your business money, and having more accurate records that make tax time less painful. Sales forecasting becomes easier, meaning less waste and lower warehousing costs. And what is really exciting is the reports that you will now be able to generate – you will be able to see more clearly what is working for your business, and what can be improved.

So how does it work? The supermarket places an electronic order for 8,000 cheeses, packed a particular way, with specific labelling, a six week minimum shelf life, to be delivered to its distribution centre ready to go to 300 stores. The order goes to a value-added network (VAN), and you may be required to download and respond to the order within a time window. This message will be in standard EDI format.

Your business will need the information in your own format, for example MYOB. Your EDI translator does the conversion, and you are able to respond to let the supermarket know that you agree to their terms. The leading EDI translator product is IBM’s Sterling, which makes handing multiple complex orders way simpler – but if you’re not yet big enough to afford Sterling and testing the waters, Team does have an option developed in-house to help you reach that point.

This is where the automation we mentioned becomes very important. The detailed information translated by your EDI solution will automatically prompt your own processes, so that you produce, pack and supply everything exactly the way the retailer requires, and avoid those late delivery penalties.

There are, says Emilio, three factors that indicate a supplier is likely to manage EDI successfully. First, they need a readiness – if the business is not prepared to evolve, then it is more likely to return to bad habits. Secondly, the fewer manual processes the better. A good EDI specialist will help with the transition for staff, and work with them to develop processes they are happy to adopt. Thirdly, it helps if the business already has some form of ERP system, rather than depending on spreadsheets. If the staff know the ERP system well, they are likely to be comfortable with EDI more quickly.

With twenty years’ experience in EDI, Emilio says that making EDI work for a business can be as much about who you know. His network of retailer contacts can ease the process, and he often finds he acts as a go-between to resolve difficulties.

‘Often, I can talk with the retailer about the situation, explain the challenges, and perhaps get an exemption from conditions that cannot be met, without losing the order,’ said Emilio. Whether you want to improve your current EDI solution, or you’ve just landed your first big order, the EDI specialists are ready to help you to get it right. For more information about EDI, or a chat about whether it might be time to prepare your systems, contact the EDI specialists at Team Computing.

Managing infrastructure can be like refereeing a children’s football game. Things change fast, you’re surrounded by clamouring voices expressing different needs, and while you pay attention to the offside rule, another problem springs up outside your line of vision. When you’re dealing with competing needs, it is near impossible to make strategic decisions, or to spot new opportunities.

Little wonder, then, that using infrastructure as a service (IaaS) that is managed by someone else seems appealing. IaaS can be an excellent solution, and one that saves the sanity of the IT department in much the way the final whistle saves the patience of the football referee.

IaaS has matured at much the same rate as the IT department’s function within the business has become more complex. From a necessary cost centre, IT has blossomed into an expanded role that is expected to forge a path into the digital economy. And that means diverting in-house teams to innovating with new apps and services – their skills are too precious to squander on the more mundane, everyday lights-on tasks. Throw in 24/7/365 business needs, and getting some help seems attractive.

Still, IaaS is not the only solution to freeing up time. It is certainly not always the right solution. There are five key considerations that any business should know before making so important a move.

Know what you want to achieve. It is advice that applies to any IT project, of course, but that makes it no less relevant. Focus on the outcome rather on the means of getting there. That means talking to others in the business and establishing their needs. We often find that our role as a technology partner includes supporting or facilitating those conversations, and gathering information before designing a solution. Not all situations are suited to IaaS, so it is important to assess whether options like managed services might ease the workload. When you have clearly established your direction, you have given yourself the best chance of success.It doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. While a few organisations operate solely in the cloud, most work with a hybrid mix composed of cloud and on-premise options – and that’s OK. Some workloads are just better kept close to home, while others are a natural fit. It really goes back to point 4. A partner who respects your world-view and understands your business will be best placed to help you to the right IaaS choices – part of the beauty of consumption models is that you really can design a combination that is a perfect fit.

If you’re not sure about IaaS, or want to get the best result while avoiding pitfalls, talk to the friendly Team professionals. They’ll be happy to offer you a free basic assessment of your aaS options, including your readiness for the move.

Whether you’re big or small, international or local, selling widgets or selling ideas, you’re probably in the most exciting - and terrifying - time of your business life. Competition is coming from new directions, and emerging so fast you barely have time to blink. If there’s one thing you need, it is focus. So, should you be spending time thinking about the mechanical side of IT?

Yes and no. We’re not going to tell you there’s a simple answer here, but then again, if leading a business was easy, wouldn’t everyone be doing it? There are, of course, a lot of considerations.

Technology giant HPE’s Technology.nxt report asserts that ‘Rates of change in technology and business are outstripping our ability to comprehend them.’

Think about that for a moment. Your business, says the report, will change in profound ways, with everything connected, and your customers expecting something different than you are giving them right now. The question then must be, how do I focus on what my customers need, as well as everything else?

The simple answer is, you don’t. Something’s got to give, and it is better that is a planned something. We’re not saying you should get out of IT, but it is a very good time to rethink the way you see it.

Imagine your business as a car. OK, let’s make it Formula One, since business is all about speed these days. If you’re tinkering under the bonnet, or changing tyres, then who’s behind the steering wheel, making all those rapid decisions that set the business direction and get ahead of the competition?

The pit crew is, of course, a vital part of success. But you can guarantee that as Daniel Ricciardo navigates a chicane, he isn’t thinking about which spanner they are using when they change the tyres, he just needs to know the engineers are there, doing their job to support him.

IT is, like F1 engineering, becoming a lot more complex. Managing infrastructure means keeping up with that rate of change the HPE report mentioned, and it requires a lot of focus. Your in-house team may be very capable of that focus, just as Ricciardo may be handy with the aforementioned spanner, but it doesn’t make it the best use of their skills.

Keeping at the front of the pack means being inventive, and in today’s everything connected world, it means being inventive with IT. The new services and apps that will get you ahead are where your IT team needs to focus, because they are the people who know your business and industry, as well as the technologies that make it all possible. The thing is, if your IT team is focused under the bonnet building the engine, who is driving your digitisation strategy? When you focus your best IT resources on managing infrastructure and lights on, you’re missing an opportunity, and navigation can falter.

The changes in infrastructure are now so rapid, even some of the biggest businesses are consuming some aspects as a service, rather than employ the broad range of engineers in-house. It makes even more sense for smaller and mid-size businesses, where employing specialists in all kinds of technology just wouldn’t be financially possible. It is both a matter of attention and of economics, says Ian Hight, Sales and Marketing Manager of our Power Systems cloud partners, SAS IT.

‘IT systems are becoming so complex, it just isn’t reasonable to have all the IT experts you need on staff,’ says Hight. ‘People need to be getting out of the mundane support business, they have to be the driver and not the mechanic.’ What that escape from the ‘mundane’ might look like can vary, with a mix of cloud and managed IT hitting the right balance for many businesses. It may mean on-premise equipment managed as a service, or various ‘as a service’ possibilities. Whatever mix works, it gives you the chance to hit the gas on services that get you ahead of the competition.

At the same time, removing yourself from these mundane tasks doesn’t mean you should abdicate responsibility. Ensuring that those providing the services are accountable is as important as getting the right mix of services in the first place. Measuring and reporting on the performance of every element of your team is as vital in business as it is

in a race team.

We partnered with SAS IT because they bring that perfect mix of experience, expertise and accountability that we, and our customers, demand.

For help designing the right IT engine to power your business to a podium finish, talk to our experts at Team Computing.

I was privileged to be in Singapore this week attending an IBM workshop on their excellent B2B Integration portfolio - think EDI, managed file transfer, secure proxy and other unexciting but desperately important components of your IT environment.

Safe to say I didn't expect to laugh during the session. Part way through the first day, though, and Don Davis, who heads the channel for IBM in this area, quoted Tom McLaughlin, the SVP and director of Technology Management Services at Wells Fargo Bank in the US. Tom sees FTP servers as the cockroaches of the IT landscape because, "it hides in the dark corners of the organisation" and they are "hard to kill". How funny, but how true.

Most organisations we work with have FTP in some form in their organisation, usually because it is quick and dirty (just like a cockroach) to implement. There are serious problems with FTP, though. It is inherently insecure in most cases, and by its very nature is unmanaged. It's also pretty unreliable, with a quoted 8% of transfers failing according to research undertaken by Vanson Bourne. And at around 24 minutes to track down each failed transfer that adds up! All that time chasing cockroaches instead of doing something productive!

I've come away from this week with a new appreciation of just how good the IBM solutions are in this area (they are leaders in virtually every industry analyst's view) and also how much risk there is out there, not to mention how much money our customers could save by implementing a more disciplined approach to the files coming into and leaving their organisation.

We're going to be offering FTP risk assessments to all of our corporate clients over the coming months. In the meantime if you've had enough of the cockroaches in your IT infrastructure get in touch with us. At Team we've got a group of certified Managed File Transfer professionals with family-sized cans of bug spray.

I just attended an IBM presentation on what they are focusing on this year, with Hybrid Cloud implementations being part of that. Apparently 40% of IT executives are looking at this as one of their strategic initiatives. Interestingly they came up with 3 key "Must Haves" for success, which relate to 3 of our 4 key purposes here at Team.

1. Integration for New Services - Tap into ecosystems (internet, APIs) and leverage infrastructure investments to drive new business outcomes*

2. Data for Analytics and Insights - Integrate data from various sources (on and off premises, social media) to achieve real-time insights*

3. Infrastructure for Resilient IT - Build on the strengths of service management, predictability, scalability and reliability*

Integration can be complicated even when just dealing with in-house systems, so care should be taken when planning for it in the cloud. Analytics is fast-becoming the competitive advantage for the fastest growing companies; and protecting the systems on which you so heavily rely and importantly the data they contain, almost goes without saying.

Our purpose is articulated as helping our customers capture, analyse, protect and integrate their business data.

I really shouldn't be surprised that we're in agreement - their "must-haves" are really just common sense - and that's always been our approach to supporting our customers' IT environments, whether in-house, Hybrid Cloud or fully cloud-based.

Nice to have you on board, IBM!

*Edited excerpts from IBM's Asia Pacific Q2, ONE Channel presentation to Business Partners on 5/5/16.

Quantum computers, which will harness the power of atoms and molecules to perform memory and processing tasks, will enable us to perform some computations that would take more than the age of the universe to do on a classical computer. Now IBM is offering students, researchers, and general science enthusiasts hands-on access to IBM’s experimental cloud-enabled quantum computing platform, and allowing users to run algorithms and experiments, work with quantum bits (qubits), and explore tutorials and simulations around what might be possible with quantum computing.