IBM Looks To Future With Big Data, Cloud, Mobile Security

Early in the week, IBM announced results for Q3 that were well below the market’s expectations. Maybe in response to that, or maybe because this is the way information management is going, IBM said it would really be pushing the cloud, analytics and big data management for future growth. Today, IBM announced new security initiatives for cloud and Big Data apps, and threw some in for mobile devices for good measure.

IBM Security

The overall objective here is to secure data and as all three elements are linked — Big Data, Cloud Computing, Mobile, that is — it makes sense for Big Blue to be making a clean sweep.

With the security capabilities, users will be able to implement better control over their data on mobile devices, reduce the risks around storing data in the cloud, gain real-time access into data access, and automate compliance and data security.

It’s IBM, so the announcement here was buried among customer wins, but when you look at it, the new services and capabilities will be useful for any company that is considering its Big Data future in the cloud.

As before, IBM is building these new releases around its existing product portfolio and applying analytics, access and intelligent identity management solutions to the problem of securing data.

IBM Cloud, Big Data, Mobile Security

At this point, we have spent so much time talking about data and the explosion in the amount of data that the problems with it hardly need to be outlined. However, issues stem from the fact that an estimated 2.5 Quintilian bytes of data are created every day, not to mention the piles of data that are lying around global repositories all over the world.

On top of that there is the growing number of regulatory regimes including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the burgeoning number of regulations coming out of the EU. With all these, traditional ways of managing information just won’t cut it anymore.

1. Big Data

For Big Data solutions and privacy in Big Data environments, IBM has developed InfoSphere Guardium for reporting in Hadoop-based systems like BigInsights or Cloudera.

This offers federated controls across data sources enabling users to understand application data access patterns and stop the deliberate, or even accidental, leakage of data through data change controls.

It comes with built-in audit reporting and federated controls across all data sources, while the audit reporting tools can be used to generate compliance reports on a scheduled basis and distribute them to oversight departments for electronic sign-offs.

2. Mobile Security

This is not the first time that IBM has broached the problem of Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD), but this looks like a major step forward in this respect.

The news here is that Big Blue is offering users the possibility of risk-based access control along with the integration of access management into mobile application development. It has also announced a comprehensive Mobile Security Framework to help organizations implement security in mobile environments.

Mobility and consumerization are fundamentally changing the way organizations interact in the marketplace. By 2016, 200M+ employees will use their own smartphones for work.

Mobile security from IBM now offers wider and greater context aware access control for mobile users with a number of different solutions for mobile security and management, including mobile security intelligence.

3. Cloud Security

For the cloud, IBM has released cloud security enhancements that will improve visibility and increase levels of automation across the entire system.

According to IBM this will ensure that there is no unauthorized access to data, which along with automated patch management, will ensure the latest available patches will be available for remediation.

It is also extending its security intelligence threat platform with QRadar technology, a unified architecture for collecting, storing an analyzing information about security threats. This will be particularly useful for mobile workforces that are working off multi-tenant cloud platforms. More on this as it happens.
 

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Building a Social Media Team: The Project Manager

As the use and expectations of social media grow in the enterprise, so does the amount of work that’s necessary to realize goals. Somebody has to manage that work or it will quickly spiral into uncoordinated threads that consume time and resources. In our series, Building a Social Media Team, we have looked at the community manager and social strategist. Now we will examine a role that exists to ensure what the community manager and social strategist envision actually happens — on time and on budget.

Getting Things Done

Many businesses that decide to invest in social underestimate the amount of work required for their social programs to be successful. Even modest social efforts focused on marketing often require coordinating several people, departments, external vendors and dates. The increasing use of social media and growing realization that more than a few Facebook posts are necessary to achieve business goals has caused the number of opportunities for social media project managers to increase dramatically in the last few years.
      
Although this role may have different titles across organizations:

• Social media manager
• Social media program manager
• Social media project manager
• Social media program lead
• Social program coordinator

the responsibilities are similar. Social media program managers must understand business goals, be able to run multi-campaign and project programs, measure social media impacts against business objectives, and perhaps most importantly, effectively communicate.

Communication skills are essential for all project management, but it is especially vital for those people that manage social media teams. The very nature of social media is “social.” Project managers that don’t understand the importance of two-way communication and working collaboratively will not be successful.

This doesn't mean the technical aspects of project management are not important. A report by the Altimeter Group found that most companies lack formalized social media processes. A lack of process makes it more difficult to respond in a crisis, manage employee behavior and consistently implement social initiatives. Project managers with an ability to establish formal processes can play an important role in helping create, implement, monitor and measure the performance of social programs.

What organizations want to accomplish when it comes to social media can vary and so can their needs. However, social media project managers should possess several core characteristics:

• A passion for social media — If a candidate believes the term tweet is just a sound birds make, look elsewhere for someone to manage your social media program.
• Friendly, patient and responsive.
• Detail oriented and timely.
• Comfortable working with creative and technical personalities that may be neither detail oriented or timely.
• Not overly confident in his or her social media skills — This can lead to the project manager attempting to control the shape of social media programs instead of managing them.
• Excellent team builder — Listens to team member concerns, resolves conflicts, encourages feedback.

Great social media project managers may possess many additional qualities, but having this core set of attributes provide a solid foundation for success.

The Circle of Success

No matter what type of social program an organization is pursuing, a strong, competent social media program manager is critical.

It is interesting to note that the relationship between social media and project management is not just one-way. Social media can also make it easier to manage projects. Vendors have introduced a new breed of social project management platforms that leverage social mechanisms to improve project communication, information sharing and collaboration. These tools allow team members to interact more naturally and provide more visibility into the actual work that’s occurring in the project. 

Does your organization have a social media project manager? What did you learn filling the role? We would love to hear your feedback.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com