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Interview – Tim Palmer, General Manager, Workplace Technology, NAB

20+ years Technology and Finance professional having worked across strategy, architecture, business planning & finance management, program delivery, and operations.   Currently accountable for the executive leadership of all End User Computing across the National Australia group.

Driving the improvement of customer satisfaction and staff productivity via digital transformation and Cloud migration of NAB’s EUC environment, and currently delivering the strategic insourcing of previously outsourced Hosting & EUC services.

What do you feel are the biggest challenges IT leaders are currently faced with within their business?

a – Competition from lower cost Start-ups/FinTechs/Disruptors and the inability to respond or be as agile due to large legacy platforms and commitments that consume the majority of the IT budget and FTE resources.

b – Shortage of skilled resources to compete in an agile world – Developers and teams who can build and maintain Cloud native apps (stateless micro-services that are truly cloud agnostic, automated, and seamlessly portable), combined with the cost and time to retrain existing staff.

As an IT leader, what do you feel businesses continue to get wrong when it comes to their IT strategy?

a – Focussing on cost rather than value (productivity, agility, user experience) which often results in unrealistic, short term pay-back expectations

b – Execution of large change. Juggling too many priorities and underestimating the importance and effort for effective comms, change, & user adoption. Any significant change must have Executive sponsorship and a strong focus on user adoption.

What are the latest trends and behaviours you predict will be surfacing on the market over the coming 12 months?

Zero trust networking/computing – A decreasing focus on securing the corporate network and the devices that may access it, to an any-device/any-location model where the data is secured rather than the physical infrastructure. This changes the investment profile from ‘fixing the legacy environment’ to ‘enabling user productivity’.

What is the best piece of advice you have received within your job over the years?

Judge an idea/solution by its results, not the rhetoric used to promote it.

What is one key takeaway you hope our IT audience leaves with after hearing your presentation on site?

Right-Sourcing – Focus on value not cost. Match your organisation’s skills/staffing and consumption of 3rd party services to your agility needs, and risk profile based on customer requirements.