With the introduction of the information age came the rise of a new discipline known as 'technical due diligence'. As an expert technology strategist and experienced CTO, technical due diligence is a core part of my skillset. I understand that it is critical to maintaining a company's security, viability, and productivity. It is something that cannot be ignored in a world that relies almost exclusively on technology to drive business forward.
For the last two years, Google has been spending millions of pounds on projects aimed at boosting both mainstream journalism and their own revenues. Now the tech giant has announced plans to invest some £25 million in the third and final year of their Digital News project. In so doing, Google is acting as a technology strategist to usher in the age of artificial intelligence via natural language processing.
Your company has hired a technology strategist to help streamline things. After a few days of poking around and analysing, the strategist recommends a lengthy list of changes, including abandoning some of the company's legacy software in favour of a software as a service (SaaS) model. The suggestion is a good one – but only if SaaS supports your business rather than hindering it.
Last June, the UK saw a day that many thought would never come as voters chose to leave the EU. Some seven months later, the May government delivered a letter to the European Parliament officially triggering Article 50. The events mean a lot of things to a lot of different people; they mean very significant things to the technology strategist.
Angel investors are a unique group of people who have a passion for finding, and investing in, opportunities with tremendous potential. Tech angel investors are a bit more specialised in that the kinds of projects they finance tend to be cutting-edge projects for which the success ratio is about 10 per cent. It should be obvious that every investor is not a perfect match for every project.
Will Brexit hurt or harm technology investment in the UK? No one really knows. One technology strategist might live in fear of the eventual separation while another fully embraces it. Still other strategists are taking more of a wait-and-see approach. As a technology strategist myself, I can say that there are still no clear answers even with Prime Minister Theresa May officially invoking Article 50.
