Computer Weekly readers give their views on the week's
news
Provide an IT opportunity and the young will seize
it
In response to Carloyn Kimber's article
"We must turn 'nerd' into a badge of honour", I am 16 years
old, I enjoy riding BMX bikes and socialising with friends.I am
your average teenager, but I am also studying for a national
diploma in IT. I have two Dell servers, hosting websites. I have
set up a VPN and I am experimenting with directories and learning
C++. I have built computers for friends and myself, and I also help
the IT technician at my place of work.
I love working with computers, yet I do not wear a "nerd" badge,
nor do the 21 people who are also on my college course. As a group,
we are all fascinated by the ins and outs of a computer, and I am
certain that there are other young people eager to learn how a
computer works.
Kimber is right in saying, "Schools allow pupils to choose soft
subjects that have no relevance to our industry." There were no
facilities at school for me to take apart or to learn about
computers. Unplugging a keyboard would get you in detention!
Despite this, I still wanted to learn. There are not enough
opportunities to allow young people to explore the world of IT,
but, given the opportunity, many would jump at the chance.
Matthew Gooch
Business and education must bridge the skills gap >>
Good news on UK IT skills shortage >>
Users are not to blame for outsourcing
failures
Regarding John-Paul Kamath's article,
"Outsourcing derailed by focus on ROI", I don't think that
Computer Weekly readers should believe Compass's editorialising on
its own results.
It is fair enough for them to say that IT outsourcing is failing
due to corporate consideration of return on investment. That
conclusion does make sense. But Compass goes on to say that IT
outsourcing is failing because firms are "focusing too closely" on
ROI!
If outsource service providers cannot deliver the required
service and promised cost savings on time and on budget, then it is
right for corporates to cut the contract. In that case, the
corporates have proven the cost savings over-optimistically
promised by the supplier to be a falsehood.
Secondly, failure of outsourcing contracts should never be
blamed on the users. If the service provider cannot deliver and it
blames users, it is like saying that food poisoning caught in
restaurants is the fault of the diners because they ate the dinners
provided. What nonsense!
The story is correct, though, in saying that the cost savings of
using cheap offshore call centre labour are more than offset by the
droves of grossly dissatisfied customers boycotting businesses that
use call centres whose staff know nothing about the product,
nothing about the vertical industry, and little about the business
culture.
Allan Shriver, Director, Ecomm Reputation
Management
Half of FTSE firms forced to renogiatiate outsourcing terms
>>
Good information security is about people
We read with interest Ian Mann's article
"The human factor is key to good security", and we congratulate
the author on highlighting what (ISC)2, as a professional
organisation in the field, has been telling businesses for 17
years: good information security is about people, those that manage
it and those that use the systems, including customers. It is about
ensuring that all these people have the knowledge they need to live
up to their responsibilities.
Security experts have told us, in our most recent Global
Workforce Study, that they prioritise the human factor,
overwhelmingly identifying management support for security policy,
users following policy, and the need for qualified security staff
ahead of the need for hardware and software solutions as critical
factors in securing the enterprise.
This includes working with human resources staff, many of whom
welcome input to better understand the challenge and to support
employees - after all, HR is about more than recruiting.
Ian Mann points out that the CISSP guide states, "It is easier
to prepare employees to withstand social engineering attacks than
it is to set up a firewall." The point is that tackling social
engineering will have a greater effect than a single firewall. So
yes, Mr Mann, the security experts - at least those that are
certified to have the knowledge to perform the task at hand - will
save the day.
John Colley, Member of the board of directors,
(ISC)2
(ISC)2 homepage
>>
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