CIO Surety Ltd

Where do you get your motivation? I was privileged to be one of the few who managed to get a ticket to see AC/DC in Dublin on Saturday 17th August. As I was watching the antics of Angus and Brian onstage, I pondered the age old question of motivation. Amazingly, AC/DC as a band have been together since 1973 which if I do the maths correctly is 51 years!! I was first introduced to them when I saw a strange album cover in the bargain bin of my local record store in the late 70's which depicted people outside a motel with their eyes blacked out. When I got it home and put it on the turntable, I fell in love for the first time. "Jailbreak" specifically was the song that did it, a song that physically assaults you with it's raw power. And who can forget "Back in Black" as an album. Those of us who bought albums regularly would know that there was always the concept of "skippers" on an album. The tracks put on to fill out the time and not much else, and you would lift the needle on the record player to "skip" them. "Back in Black" was the first (and still probably the only) album I ever bought that did not have a "skipper!" But what is the band's motivation after 51 years? The cynical amongst us would say that it is the money. But given "Back in Black" is the second highest selling album of all time, do they really need the money. No, given they are going for 51 years, I think it is much deeper than that. I personally think their motivation is the desire to be the absolute best at what they do for a living. (and based on their performance on Saturday last, I think they've achieved it!) At the end of the day, isn't that what we all strive to do? #Creativity #WhatInspiresMe #Motivation

"When technology works but it REALLY doesn't..." I had occasion to interact with a government agency recently, and my first challenge was to identify how I could contact them. Most companies have dispensed with the phone as a channel (no, I don't understand why either as phone handled problems are usually quick and easy) but I did find a Chat function. Helpfully, the new Chatbots do tell you when you are talking to a machine and when you aren't. However, you wouldn't necessarily need to know that upfront. In every case that I have had to use an automated chatbot recently, I have spent 5-10 fruitless minutes trying to make the machine understand what I want. And I pride myself on my understanding of the spoken and written word. In this case it was about 10 minutes of fruitless typing and hair pulling, when it finally gave me the option of talking to a live agent. The live agent was able to answer my query immediately and I had everything I needed within 5 minutes. So lets dig into the data on that interaction ( I love data analytics!) Time customer is engaged (not able to do anything else) - 15 minutes Time wasted by the automated agent - 10 minutes Time gainfully employed by the live agent - 5 minutes If you wanted to justify your automation (and or get more funding for instance) you could say something like "66% of all complaints now handled by AI" But lets be honest, this does not improve speed, efficiency or customer service and if the "customers" are at the sharp end of your business, you could actually be affecting productivity with mediocre automations. And the automation didn't actually handle anything! Another example is automated Tills in supermarkets. They maybe cheaper for the Business that is running them, but I would say my time wasted at Supermarket tills has at least doubled since the advent of automation. Not sure what we can do as customers / consumers, but in your own workplaces, please do not implement automation that does not do the 2 things below:- 1) Save customers time 2) Give them better service It's not a lot to ask is it, and you could be damaging your own business if you're not careful. Technology can be great when implemented for the right reasons, but a nightmare when implemented for the wrong reasons. You heard it hear first (but not via automated chatbot!) #CustomerRelations #DigitalTransformation #BusinessIntelligence

#Management #Technology #BusinessIntelligence

#Health #Future #Growth

#Health #Future #Growth

#Culture #Collaboration #Teamwork #Leadership

"Do it once and do it right!" We were recently in Italy on a walking holiday from Trevignano Romana to Orvieto via Ronciglione, Viterbo, Montefiascone & Bolsena. This is a journey of approx 103km and follows the route of the Via Francigena which is an ancient road and pilgrimage route running from Canterbury in England, through France and Switzerland, to Rome and then to Apulia, Italy. In medieval times it was an important road and pilgrimage route for those wishing to visit the Holy See and the tombs of the apostles. Because it is so old, it follows the route of some old roman roads. The photograph doesn't do the road justice to be honest. You can still make out the chariot ruts on the stones, but just after this photo was taken we had to make way for a couple of cars. It is still being used by road traffic literally centuries after it was built!! My first boss used to have a saying, which he said applied to everything you do professionally and personally. He used to say: "Do it once and do it right!" The ancient roman road builders certainly proved his mantra to be correct... So next time you're starting a project or program, either professionally or personally, just keep those 7 words in mind, and maybe your endeavor will also last for centuries! #GettingThingsDone #Motiviation #WhatInspiresMe

"The key to performance?" I was lucky enough to attend the 14th Monaco Historic Grand Prix last weekend with my eldest son. For someone of my vintage, it was great to see the cars that I remembered as a kid when I first started watching F1 and I had most of them as Scalextric models too (if anyone remembers car driving toys pre PlayStation/Xbox) However, the one thing that struck me over the weekend was how some of the cars that were truly uncompetitive in their heyday were incredibly competitive on the historic circuit. You have to believe that not a lot has changed with the cars themselves. Most of them (apart from safety tweaks) would be pretty much the same spec as they were back in the day. So what was the difference? Put quite simply, the power of the Team! The people driving, managing, maintaining, repairing, transporting and tweaking the cars are doing so in a way that is collaborative with clear targets in mind. I would also be so bold as to say they have tons of ambition and desire too and the Culture they have created within their work environments is extremely positive! To put it in an IT context, I worked in 2 different companies that were of a comparable size and had almost identical IT infrastructure. However in one of them the creation of a positive Culture was actively managed and encouraged. Leaders were encouraged to focus on Culture and this drove productivity upwards and customer satisfaction was in the high 90's. In the other one the creation of a positive Culture was totally ignored. Leaders were given impossible goals and no support, and and this drove productivity down and customer satisfaction was in the low 70's. But remember, the technical environments were almost identical - the only things different were the people running them. So take a leaf out of the historic racers book. Cultivate a positive culture and you'll start winning (maybe sooner than you think!) Given that Culture drives how work gets done, it's a no brainer really. Go team! #Motivation #WhatInspiresMe #GettingThingsDone #Teamwork

#Health #Growth #Mindset

“Innovation” - Disruptive and highly visual or subtle and behind the scenes?   I was talking to one of my kids the other day and we were debating innovation and technical development.   My favourite example of Innovation is powered flight.   On 17th December 1903, the Wright Flyer flew for approx. 860 feet, making it the first powered flight.   Almost exactly 66 years later, Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon.    To put that in context, someone who read about the first flight as a 10 year old could have watched the moon landing (in colour on TV) and only been 76!   The thing that strikes you about flight, is the speed at which the underlying technology (and thus the aircraft themselves) have changed.   If you look at cars though, it’s not as clear cut.   The first car to achieve 100mph was in 1904! The basic 4 wheels, 4 seats configuration of the car hasn’t changed really since the 1920’s. Yes, there have been developments in propulsion (Petrol, diesel, Electric, hybrid, hydrogen etc) but the basic look and feel of the car has not changed in decades.   Computing as well is something that hasn’t changed, certainly from an IO perspective. When I started in IT all those (38) years ago, you had a keyboard and a screen. You still do.   Yes, a lot of people have smart phones, but how many people can do their roles just from a smartphone.   Not very many I would wager.   However (and this is where we got into a bit of an argument) just because something hasn’t changed that much visibly, doesn’t mean that there has not been innovation.   You could argue that “Wright flyer” to “Rocket to the moon” was disruptive innovation, but that the development of the car is not, but I would argue that the 3 point seatbelt (very simple design, made available for FREE to all manufacturers by Volvo) was the ultimate example of disruptive innovation.   Interesting also that Volvo’s traffic safety vision is “Our Safety vision is zero accidents with Volvo Group products. As long as people are harmed on road, off road, in the city, or at sea we will strive towards zero accidents by offering high quality and innovative products that reduce both the number of accidents and their consequences.”   A lofty ambition fuelled by innovation.   My point to my son was this.   Whether the innovation is disruptive and highly visual or subtle and behind the scenes, Innovation is Innovation.   Isn’t it?   #Innovation #Technology #WhatInspiresMe