A self-professed Windows 8 fan, SAI Global's APAC general manager of IT Peter Macarthur-King loves using his Windows 8 phone.
He spoke to Computerworld Australia about the consumerisation of IT and technology refresh projects underway at the company.
What does your role as general manager of IT involve?
My responsibility is the normal corporate IT environment which includes finance systems, wide area network and Exchange. We have 1500 employees in Asia Pacific so I’m responsible for their IT needs. I also look after the hosting environment because IT operates as a service provider to three primary business units.
What are some of the technology projects you have been working on?
I looked at the core network for the hosting environment when I arrived and launched into a redesign of that. We went from a basic network to a high availability environment.
Security has always been a huge focus and within this organisation it is very important. I have been reviewing security and educating the team on good security practices within a multi-tenanted hosting environment.
We have replaced a PABX environment with a hosted Mitel voice solution which is very cost effective.
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What are some of the challenges you face in the role?
The cultural change within IT to get them to think as a service provider and about customer needs has been the biggest challenge, but the guys have done a great job. It has been a big transition in a couple of years.
What are the issues facing IT managers today?
Because we’re acting as a service provider, there is constant pressure in the background asking why IT isn’t outsourced like Amazon.
From the corporate IT side, there is a constant discussion about bring your own device so we’ve decided to take a two-pronged approach. The first is choose your own device; so instead of having two HP laptops, we’re broadening the range. We’re adding a Sony Vaio and a tablet because the community of users wants to have a modern fleet.
We also have a BYOD policy for tablets. There are some rudimentary controls put on end points to ensure our email is secure.
What is your favourite gadget?
I love my Windows 8 Nokia 900 phone; I can’t believe that more people don’t use them. The operating system and technology are so good.
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