Tech Insights: Interview with Shane Reid, Forum IT

In our new Tech Insights series, we speak with industry leaders to get their views of what the year ahead holds for the IT world. Today we speak with Shane Reid, General Manager of Forum IT.

What do you see as the single biggest challenge facing the ICT industry in the year ahead, and why?

Quality talent. IT relies heavily on the expertise and integrity of the team you’re working with. Studies show that the average cost of replacing someone is 2.5 times the cost of keeping them on the payroll. With staff generally being the single biggest cost on the P&L, why shouldn’t it be given the focus it deserves? Culture and values are everything. It’s easy to get someone who knows the technical side of your problem or products to impress your customers, but they need to uphold the core values of the business and hopefully add or invest in your culture.

What emerging trends or developing technologies may influence or change the way the ICT industry will do business in 2015, and why?

The term ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) has been bandied around for 15 years, but is only becoming a reality now. 2014 saw some great innovation around NFC and some clients are already asking for this to be embedded with current mobility and BPO solutions. M2M communications will be able to automate processes and efficiencies at a greater rate than ever before. The downside to all of this is the burden on businesses around security and big data. ICT providers will be required to upskill and provide sound plans around security.

I am hoping to see further innovation in the big data area, especially in the digital and online presence for the SME, and being able to use predictive analytics.

What new and innovative technologies do you see emerging in your IT solution categories in 2015, and how will they help your customers?

Mobility. This has been a core area in our service catalogue for years, but we truly can offer full mobility to a client with the assurance of reliability and security. With NFC technology, GPS, the IoT era upon us and releases of new mobility platforms, it really is an exciting time for our guys looking after it.

Offering hybrid cloud and IT as service broker is also another emerging area. With more businesses finally putting trust in the hosted (cloud) world, bringing together personal clouds and external private and public cloud services will also be essential to IT solutions. We are investing heavily in more infrastructure through 2015 to assist our clients manage cloud services efficiently with security in mind.

What are your customers demanding of you more today than five years ago, and how will you meet these requirements in 2015?

Innovation. Customers are more educated and equipped with information than ever before. Years ago complacency could be hidden with a few ‘good ideas’ but I have seen salespeople being taught solutions by the client. Clients expect (and deserve) proactive, not reactive, management from their provider.

Good ICT businesses need to think like a start-up; they need to keep relevant with new ideas, expand their service catalogue and keep their customers ahead of the game. We constantly encourage our team to think outside the box and always collaborate with our ‘innovator’ and ‘early adopter’ clients.

Shane Reid is the General Manager of Forum IT, based in Sydney. He has over 16 years’ experience in the ICT industry covering IT management and sales management, and was founder of Save My Records (a Forum company). Shane is passionate about enabling businesses with mobility products and has been a driving force behind the Software as a Service (SaaS) product suite Forum offers.