Featuring on this month ’ s cover is Neil Holden , Chief Information Officer , Halfords – one of the UK ’ s leading retailers . We hear how the company has accelerated its Digital Transformation to create better commercial services and a unified , omnichannel retail experience for its customers . You can find out how this was achieved with Juniper Networks on page 58 .

One of the burning questions we ask in this month ’ s issue is about why professionals are remaining overly attached to password-based security despite growing risks and widespread frustration . Keen to input their thoughts were Tal Zamir , CTO of Perception Point ; Muhammad Yahya Patel , Lead Security Engineer , Check Point Software ; and Eduardo Azanza , CEO at Veridas . You can find the discussion on page 34 .

as he stresses the importance of increasing focus on collaboration between the CIO and CFO for empowering organisations .

An often talked about subject among industry leaders is automation and the pros and cons it may or may not bring to businesses . On page 55 , Lisa Topliss , Category Lead , Business Process Management , Ricoh Europe , discusses the many benefits that she believes automation offers but says communicating with your employees is crucial for success .

A key challenge for business leaders currently is data management and in this month ’ s ‘ Tech Talk ’ article , Thomas LaRock , SolarWinds Head Geek , expands on how AIOps can help IT pros receive end-to-end visibility and detect security threats while improving system reliability .

To round off , we ‘ Get To Know ’ Stephen Cavey , Cofounder , Ground Labs , about how he landed in his role and how he likes to relax and unwind outside the office . This can be found on page 81 .

One of our hot topics this month sees David Lees , CTO at Basis Technologies , discuss how CIOs should embrace change to continue driving the evolutionary transformation of the CIO role . He believes CIOs are ‘ strategic enablers ’ for Digital Transformation in business and we learn more on page 38 .

I hope you enjoy the read and if you ’ d like to contribute to any future editions – be it news stories , case studies or thought leadership articles – please don ’ t hesitate to contact me at alix @ lynchpinmedia . com

Dr Alexander Becker , Chief Operating Officer , Serviceware , also targets the CIO for ‘ CIO Opinion ’

Alix Pressley Editor

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