In all walks of life, there are certain people who keep the world from spinning off its axis. Most of us don’t even notice their good deeds. If the world keeps turning, what is there to notice? Why do we often not recognize the role these essential people play in our daily lives?
This concept comes in many forms and the players in many guises, but these kinds of acts performed by good people are about risk management. National defense is the ultimate in risk management — the collective insurance policy for a country. Risk management is also part of how law enforcement and intelligence agencies operate. If they are doing their job, you may not know they’re there, or realize they’re even needed.
At an early age, people learn that a great deal of everyday risk is mitigated through avoidance, such as looking both ways before crossing the street or not running with scissors. Risk avoidance requires substantial amounts of accumulated data over wide populations (i.e., people attempting things and injuring themselves, and others learning from those results). Data used to mitigate risk through avoidance can be complex. It is stored, processed, analyzed and shaped into knowledge that produces ever more sophisticated risk responses to enhance the prediction of outcomes. In other words, it creates wisdom by allowing us to understand the impacts of our actions or inactions. In the technology sector, this is sometimes referred to as predictive analytics. With the rapidly changing ecosystem that businesses operate in today, there is a large amount of data that helps inform decision making, which helps prevent crises.
A global technology firm that supports its customers’ mission-critical systems around the world requires the utmost trust. Trust means customers have faith in you to deliver, to act with integrity, to do what you say you’re going to do, and to do the right thing for them. The “essential” people must apply their wisdom to avert crises.
As business and government environments evolve, customers require information at the speed of relevance. To achieve this, the right people with an understanding of what is essential, and the application of that knowledge (read: wisdom), are necessary to adapt in a rapidly changing landscape.
For example, as industries grapple with the challenges of how to fit artificial intelligence (AI) within their organizations — challenges such as not having enough high-quality data or having too much data from different sources — it becomes apparent that realizing the benefits of AI starts with ensuring they have the right skillsets with the right people to establish a strong foundation of data. What is often overlooked is the need to have the right team to govern the data and apply AI to effectively deliver end-to-end business solutions while avoiding pitfalls and setbacks. Organizations hire smart people to solve specific and complex problems, but these people must also have a variety of skills and the right attitudes to not only deliver outcomes but also avert crises along the way.
So, as human beings increasingly augment our knowledge and wisdom with data and analytical tools to solve complex challenges and synthesize and visualize the connected world, it is important to combine human-centered design with digitalized assets, automation, and traditional and generative AI.
As technology advances collide with ever-present cyberthreats, national security organizations, and those that support them, need to attract, develop, retain, recognize and reward exceptional people — people with the skills and drive to use data effectively to make predictions and timely decisions that keep the world from spinning off its axis. Even if nobody notices.
Graham Hughes is a senior managing partner at DXC Technology with extensive global experience leading digital transformation in multiple industry sectors. Graham is responsible for strategic growth in the Canadian market, focused on DXC's customers in the public sector, national security and critical infrastructure.
