Reigning supreme in a digital age

In this discussion, MOQdigital Executive Director and CEO Joe D’Addio shares his insights on delivering accelerated growth and explains how local businesses can embrace digital disruption through the integration of smart technology. Joe has over 35 years’ experience in the IT industry and specialises in professional services, technology consulting and system and network engineering. He also has held many senior-level managerial and directorial positions, building and leading various businesses in the tech industry. Most recently, Joe was Co-founder and Director for Technology Effect, an ICT Consulting and Systems Integration company based in Queensland, Australia.    

Today, Joe leads a dynamic team of over 200 employees committed to helping businesses understand, invest in and lead the way in digital transformation initiatives. A wholly owned subsidiary of the Australian Securities Exchange listed company, MOQ Limited, MOQdigital gives businesses the agility to stay competitive by harnessing the latest in today’s digital technologies. Following are excerpts of an interview with Joe:

Q: What does it mean to be a ‘tech company’ in 2017? And how have things changed now that you have been in the industry for over 35 years?

A: When I started in the industry over 35 years ago, computing was exclusively the domain of larger enterprises, universities and government entities due to their purchasing power. ‘Tech’ companies in those days were limited to application vendors, consulting services, bureau services (yes, the ‘cloud’ existed years ago!) and hardware manufacturers with propriety software systems. That was it – pretty simple ecosystem really! 

A great deal of things have changed since then. Nowadays, computing is affordable, pervasive, diverse and open to any organisation or person. This has led to a variety of ever-evolving ‘tech companies’ building and enabling technology at the individual and organisational level. 

But for an IT service-oriented company like MOQdigital that focuses on ‘technology enablement’ in the business sector, not much has changed! Technology adoption continues to be about positive outcomes for a business, whether that would be improved productivity, competitive advantage, market differentiation, enhanced customer service, new market entry, cost reduction or even staff attraction and retention.

And whilst ‘tech companies’ have adapted, changed and multiplied in line with the acceleration of technology advancement, emphasis has always been  placed on the customer. For as the old proverb goes, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Q: What is the role of a leader in this context?

A: A leader brings great people together and empowers them to execute a focused vision and set of strategies towards business success.

Sounds simple, right?

Leadership in a ‘tech company’ is a lot about creating the right environment so that great people can thrive and realise their potential – in the context of the positive outcome that we are seek for our customers in the technology adoption cycle.

The sheer level of complexity and rate of change, whilst not unique to the technology industry, is a significant challenge which requires a range of staff to provide technical leadership skills and contribute to the vision and strategy of the business. 

In a business like MOQdigital, we constantly change gears and adjust to this complex environment. A “Mission Control” approach to leadership, in my opinion, is the most scalable method -- allowing for agility, fast decision making and adjustment of strategy execution on the fly. The result is as per Lao Tzu’s understanding, “[that] a leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” 

Q: MOQdigital has set itself apart from the cookie-cutter approach to IT solutions and dug deeper into an organisation’s needs in providing solutions. What drove the company to this kind of an approach? What was the vision behind this?

A: Our business vision and model have been built around the realities of the industry. To understand the true business benefit from a technology investment, one must deal with the complexity and challenges of technology implementation with strong specialist skills and services.

We keep on the leading edge of the technology cycle (in our chosen and focus areas), build great teams with relevant skills, source industry leading technology partners and then provide advisory, implementation and operational services.

We also understand that, whilst the technology may be consistent, each customer has their own unique business or organisation dynamic, so we use a consultative sales and customer relationship method with a focus on listening and tailoring to customer needs, rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

This is a market and customer-centric approach. It’s not unique but it’s certainly appreciated by our customers.

Q: Why is it important to have centres of excellence across multiple geographies?

A: There are many reasons why focused service delivery across multiple geographies are not only sensible but a competitive advantage. The obvious factors are cost advantage and “follow the sun” support requirements. I also believe that opportunities to create geographical centres of excellence allow businesses to grow and diversify due to the unique characteristics and attributes of another country – people, culture and society. 

The reality is that we are in a global marketplace, both from a resource sourcing and service delivery perspective. We discovered many years ago in Australia that cultural diversity had major benefits to both society and business. Our customer base is also very diverse so it makes sense.

In short, centres for excellence are not only important from a business outcome perspective, but great for the culture, soul and health of a business and its people.

Q: Is there a talent advantage the different geographies bring? (compared to other countries in the region like India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, etc.)

A: My direct experience is limited here. Research that I’ve reviewed highlights the cultural, political and educational systems of each of nation varying to the point where there are various strengths and challenges in each geographical area.

I will say this, though. The “talent” requirement for our hires is a combination of academic knowledge, attitude, discipline, experience, and the unique challenges some geographies naturally put them through. 

For a company based in Australia, there is a significant affinity in conducting operations in Sri Lanka. It’s something difficult to quantify in business value. All I know is that the alignment is strong, the talent is of high quality and the results, whilst in constant improvement cycles, are always apparent! 

Q: How significant is your footprint in Sri Lanka?

A: In short, we are entrusting a significant portion of our client service delivery model through our Sri Lanka operation (or Centre of Excellence). This is not a supplementary service, but rather a front line customer-facing service that’s critical to MOQdigital’s success formula.

A strategic decision was made last year to increase our investment in Sri Lanka, in people, business processes, facilities and systems, in order to achieve the scale we need in the Managed Services delivery.

We are also looking to raise our profile in the local market, in order to continue attracting and retaining quality staff.

Q: Data collection and storage is a core component of IT solutions today. But there is a feeling that we are more exposed and more vulnerable as a result. What is your opinion on this? (in the context of the recent ransomware threats)

A: Our experience is that many mid-tier enterprise clients (our target market space) who maintain their own infrastructure have inadequate cybersecurity strategies, relatively low level security solution implementations and poor ongoing proactive maintenance of those security solutions.

A brief review of the clients that were impacted by recent ransomware threats, clearly showed that the greatest impact had been on internal infrastructure, not Public Cloud (i.e. Azure or AWS) base storage! Computing and storage through Public Cloud, does not mean poorer security – in fact, it can significantly enhance on what clients have been running with in-house.

And as with all technology, use of Public Cloud in full or hybrid cloud modes requires good design, good integration build and excellent ongoing operations.