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A CIO Perspective: “Our Journey to the Cloud”

Ian Gibson, Chief Information Officer, SuperChoice provided the Speaker Session, “SuperChoice: Our Journey to the Cloud” today at the CIO Leaders Summit Australia 2016. During this presentation, Ian spoke on the internal transformation that SuperChoice has recently undergone in their journey to the cloud. He spoke on how re-developing their platform has transformed the SuperChoice culture; the functionality, agility and transformation of this entirely new infrastructure. Ian spoke about the SuperChoice functionality, public v hybrid cloud, security & cost as well as the cloud market and role of the cloud trader.

Ian spoke on the software solutions and varying pricing, that gives rise to the cloud trader paradigm, highlighting the work load management, aggregation, elasticity management and dynamic sourcing of cloud management. He shared that cultural resistance is the biggest barrier to successful cloud adaptation at most organizations, followed by data security, compliance, data privacy, data sovereignty and IT implementation or management constrains.

Ian also claimed SuperChoice’s biggest challenge to date: addressing the people issues and shared the approach towards this issue, highlighting:

•Getting infrastructure / operations staff to start operating like developers
•Adopting systems thinking / throw-away mentality
•Looking end to end rather than functional silos
•Adjusting to different notions of time and approach
•Developing and upgrading new skills e.g. analytical and conceptual capabilities
•Automating the software development process

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Ian wrapped up this presentation to a close by claiming the key takeaways that include:

•Start migrating to the cloud now
•Moving to the cloud is not a straight lift and shift
•Automation is critical to staying sane
•Accusing the right mindset and skills is important
•While its all new, taking a deliberate methodological approach works

iangibsonsuperIan Gibson is the Chief Information Officer and Responsible Officer for SuperChoice Services Pty Limited where he has been completely transforming the technology business. Prior to joining SuperChoice, Ian worked in senior executive and CIO roles including at Adaptra, CitiStreet, Link Market Services and the National Australia Bank. He also co-founded a boutique consulting firm and has worked with several technology start-ups.

Ian was a Partner in Accenture’s Strategy practice where he focused on business and IT-enabled strategic and operational planning. His consulting work ranged across several industries, both locally and internationally, and for some of the largest clients in their respective industry. Ian is also a Non-Executive Director and Company Secretary focusing on technology start-ups and NFPs. Ian has a BSc (Computer Science & Mathematics) and an MBA from Melbourne Business School and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.  He is a regular speaker and has authored more than 43 publications including twice nominated for Thought Leadership awards.