GET TO KNOW...
On the lighter side of things, we ask the
industry experts what makes them tick. . . .
Justyn Goodenough,
International Area VP
at Unravel Data
W
What would you describe as your
most memorable achievement?
In terms of business, I’m most proud of
helping a number of SMEs to becoming
enterprise class businesses. For example, at
Pentaho, the average deal size went from
25,000 in 18 months to one million. That
was a great feeling for the whole business.
It’s partly the thrill of success, partly the joy
from growing and helping collaboratively
– but working together to make big things
happen is a real reward in itself.
What first made you think of a
career in technology?
Technology enables so much change across
different industries and within all sectors
of society, and it’s fascinating to see the
impact it can have.
The whole world changes around it and yet
the majority of people don’t even notice
the most momentous changes after a short
while. Technology is reshaping every facet
of life.
What style of management
philosophy do you employ with your
current position?
Work on the basis of trust, empowerment
and feedback – these should be core
principles for every leader. Beyond this, one
should always lead from the front and be
www.intelligentcio.com
prepared to do anything that you ask your
subordinates to do. You should show willing,
understanding and a measure of ability to
inspire trust.
The signs are all there and as long as the
world doesn’t go topsy-turvy, this is one
trend that can be counted on to continue.
What do you think will emerge as the
technology trend of 2019 and why? What do you currently identify as
the major areas of investment in
your industry?
The transition of core business processes to
the cloud will be the key trend. CRM moving
to the cloud, HR moving to the cloud –
everything delivered ‘as a Service’. It’s the
way of the future and if the experience of
the past couple of years shows, the pace
will only increase. We’re seeing that the main area of
investment is in the migration to cloud and
the process of making it successful. People
aren’t just talking about cloud migration,
they’re doing it. It’s still a complex and
challenging area, so efforts are sometimes
cautious and mistakes are made.
“
ONE SHOULD
ALWAYS LEAD
FROM THE
FRONT AND BE
PREPARED TO DO
ANYTHING THAT
YOU ASK YOUR
SUBORDINATES
TO DO.
However, on-premise investments are still
being maintained and new ones made – but
the balance is really now tipping to cloud.
Data and the cloud are the best of friends
– but only when well understood, optimised
and maintained. It’s only recently that the
right kind of solutions, mainly automation,
have allowed organisations to break through
from data swamps, slow data pipelines and
excruciating troubleshooting, on-premise.
There are whole new futures now, whether
in a much better place on-premise, or in a
smoothly-running cloud environment.
How do you deal with stress and
unwind outside of the office?
So far, pretty standardly! I enjoy a social
drink, try and get my exercise in the day and
spend quality time with my family. I like a
INTELLIGENTCIO
81