You Can't Automate The Fire

Every digital transformation journey is unique. The goals may be similar, but the requirements, features, and choices made along the lead to new systems unlike any other. That’s all well and good—until you need to merge two systems into one, on a short timetable.Atul Verma of the Bank of Montreal recounts how he and his team found themselves handling the technical side of one of the largest acquisitions in Canadian banking history—with only a few months to get it done.

Modernizing your IT systems is a worthy achievement. You can reap the benefits of digital transformation at last. But don’t be lulled into a false sense of security—digital transformation isn’t about reaching the finish line. It’s about reaching for the horizon. Randall Núñez of Experian explains how perpetual improvement is a key element of digital transformation, because systems can’t stay modern forever.

It can be difficult to know the full outcome of your choices. Not having clear priorities makes it impossible to know which choice is the right one, because those should inform your direction. Adam Timm of Crunchy Data explains how multiple factors influence outcomes—and how keeping your priorities at the forefront of your decision-making process makes it easier to pick the right choice for your organization.The guest featured in this episode works for Crunchy Data, a Red Hat partner.

Databases are rarely the stars of digital transformation. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But that doesn’t mean they should be an afterthought either. Craig Kerstiens of Crunchy Data covers the state of the database—and how the database tools you choose have implications beyond the databases themselves.The guest featured in this episode works for Crunchy Data, a Red Hat partner.

We’ve been taught to stash our secrets. Passwords, credentials, and tokens shouldn’t be shared lest they fall into the wrong hands. When it comes to building and running large-scale systems, that thinking has to change. But maybe only a little bit.Rosemary Wang and Steve Almy of HashiCorp share how business as usual for secrets management means putting your business at risk.The guests featured in this episode work for HashiCorp, a Red Hat partner.

Modern IT systems have a lot of components—components people have to use, and components who need to talk to each other. That’s a lot of traffic and exchanging of sensitive information. How do you sort the legitimate users from the potential intruders?Niels Van Bennekom shares how CyberArk helps organizations set up identity management systems that can keep up with expansive, ever-changing IT systems.The guest featured in this episode works for CyberArk, a Red Hat partner.

A journey of 1,000 upgrades starts with a single commit. It’s not always clear how much change digital transformation entails. But it’s likely more than expected.Season 3 of Code Comments travels the well-trodden paths of IT modernization, cloud migration, and the unmentioned necessities to make it all work.

Is there such a thing as too much enthusiasm for automation? Probably not. But it can be difficult to unify an organization with strong opinions. Vincenzo Sposito shares how Discover harnessed its teams’ passions to build a unified automation solution—while preserving debate and experimentation.

The tensions between security and operations and developer teams are the stuff of legend. DevSecOps is trying to change that, and automation is a big part of making it possible. But automation alone can’t overcome entrenched behavior. Joylynn Kirui shares how Microsoft is helping shift security considerations to the left—and alleviating the headaches that process can bring. Because in the long run, everyone is better off with better security.

No single person can automate a whole company’s IT. Even most teams would need some help. But it’s also not likely you can immediately get everyone to automate their own work right away. So how do you get it done? Sudheer Kumar Donthineni explains how Ulta Beauty makes the most of its small team of 3 automation experts. Through the power of collaboration, they’re able to make significant progress with automation—and help their employees grow.