Summit: Tony Young, Informatica CIO interview

Young: Sometimes its better to be in the mainstream than at the cutting edge

V3.co.uk: How do you manage problems that stem from information overload?
Tony Young: Well, I look at the problem and there are two aspects: there is what I call unstructured data like emails, Twitter and Facebook content and documents, and then the structured data world like all the content held in databases. The challenge when talking about information overload is that it is happening in both areas.

So in terms of the unstructured world side, what we have done internally is try to consolidate all the technology we use. For example, we use Yammer internally, which is a kind of Twitter tool but it keeps tweets private.

Also Sharepoint allows people to build their own Facebook internally, as we don’t want all their corporate posts consumed by the general Facebook.

These tools train people that there is content not appropriate for external use but which can still be shared internally. We are trying to encourage people to keep information inside the company. It is not a good idea for employees to be tweeting about where they are going and which customers they are visiting.

On the structured data side the biggest problem is that people never control the data themselves. The data is not defined and there is a lack of data governance processes. For example, customer data in a company lies in multiple systems and everyone has had that experience where you change your email with a company but the change does not get reflected in all of the systems.

Therefore it is important for an organisation to agree internally on how they will define customers and who can overwrite whom when changing customer details.

How can people deal with all the channels of information coming at them from so many different directions?
At Informatica we have a staff member responsible for employee enablement. There are so many technologies available for people to use and there is a fine line between over-communicating and needing a wide range of technologies to continue with your job.

The staff member makes sure when staff go to the airport they know how to connect to the internet for free, and when they are with the customer, where to access the right documents. It is important to get control of data rather than allowing it to control you.

How many conversations do you have about information overload a year?
I never really get asked about information overload but the biggest question I get is how do I find something, and I get this once a week. That goes back to having one member of staff dedicated to employee enablement.

How can IT stay at the forefront of technology innovation and avoid being bogged down by data security and privacy issues?
I would say IT should be conscious of what staff can get in the consumer world and try to make the tools available internally and as easy to use and accessible as possible.

Also, most companies require two levels of authentication to get into their intranet. But the question is how important is it to be that security conscious about getting onto an intranet. Why does a business user need to have so many encrypted logins to get to a white paper? Is it that important to make it so secure?

How do you keep on top of the latest technology developments?
I read all the top weekly magazines and I subscribe to several different podcast that I listen to on my commute.

How do you differentiate which tools are good for business users and which are just a distraction?
Part of it goes back to your main IT strategy and how important you regard it to be a leader versus being a mainstreamer. In my business, it is not a great business decision to be a leader but it is good to be a mainstreamer. I would like to see how technology fleshes out before I adopt it, as adopting technology is expensive and to keep adopting new things is not productive.

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