Mark Samuels

…for fun and limited exercise. GSOH absolutely essential.

This isn’t an online dating exercise, but it is a call for more men. Me and some of my middle-aged mates play in a 5-a-side league in Wanstead on a Sunday evening. We are, in short, rubbish.

There are only six teams in the league at present. However, it’s pretty professional – games are arranged and results displayed on our own league web site. It’s not only the set-up that’s professional, either. Some of the teams are mustard – The Unknows (who caned us twice) are basically semi-professional. They are everything we are not: fast, energetic and talented.

We managed to win two games all season. The first was a stunning 5-2 victory over fellow strugglers League of Asians. Our second win – an unexpected 10-0 triumph – came last weekend as the result of a no-show. That sneaky tactic lifted us to the glories of fifth (and in the Premier League, that would be an automatic Europe League place).

But this isn’t the Premier League, it’s the Sylvestrian Football League. And we stink. Still, there is hope – and a new round of games is set to begin in just two weeks. By way of a season round-up, special mention must go to the following players:

• Steve Wilson (captain) – Organiser, goalscorer and often goalkeeper (by default, rather than choice)
• Richard Walsh – Looks like a rugby player; scores like Zico
• Adrian Mason – Essex boy that bangs on endlessly about a volley he scored earlier in the season
• Greg Demetriou – Late starter; scores regularly but always picks up an injury
• Mark Samuels – Another late starter; scores very, very infrequently
• Ben Lock – Specialist in ankle injuries
• Niall Magennis – Fellow IT journalist with a mean line in tackling
• Cathal O’Donoghue – Good at missing the middle part of the season, basically
• Kevin Malone – Mysteriously absent for later matches

If you’re in Wanstead and want to get stuffed at football, check out the league web site – matches are on a Sunday evening and your team is almost guaranteed two wins against the Villa (Wanstead, not Aston).

Silicon has just published my analysis piece which suggests there should be no such thing as an IT project. The article quotes a number of CIOs and a link to the full article can be found beneath the following introduction:

“IT projects never really work,” says Mike Day, CIO at fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger. That seems like negative talk from a technology chief but there is sound method in the apparent madness.

More technology chiefs are waking up to the need for IT projects to be sponsored by the business. In cost-constrained times, CIOs are trying to avoid driving into a technology cul-de-sac. So rather than simply implementing IT projects, many CIOs are aiming to understand what executives need from the outset and meet agreed outcomes.

“The best ideas are sponsored by the business,” says Day. “Technology is now so pervasive through the organisation; it’s end-to-end. The CIO has to communicate to the business what is possible and why.”

For the full feature, click here.

Just over three quarters (78%) of CIOs think that business intelligence equals better decision making, according to this week’s CIO Connect poll.

The endorsing level of support tallies with IDC’s European Software Survey 2010 (see further reading, below), which suggests European organisations are planning an increase in spending on business intelligence (BI) products in 2010 compared to last year. The analyst says a third of companies will spend more on analytics than they did in 2009, although UK organisations are generally spending more on the basics of BI, rather than more advanced analytics.

That was a theme picked up by IT leaders responding to this week’s CIO Connect poll, many of whom noted the importance of analytics and analysis: “Data is turned into intelligence which can support effective decision making,” responded one CIO. “The quality of the analytics will certainly have a bearing on the quality of the decisions that it drives.”

Click here to read more…

The summer 2010 edition of CIO Connect should be hitting IT leaders’ desks this week. Cover star is Deloitte UK partner and CIO Mary Hensher, a people person with a passion for the potential of IT to change business. Other articles include cloud computing, innovation, governance and a review of IT leadership from India.

As ever, thanks to all the CIOs, business leaders and technology experts who contributed their time and opinions. Below is a full list of featured participants:

• Mary Hensher, Deloitte UK partner and CIO
• Richard McGrail, head of IT at Baillie Gifford & Co
• Steve Webster, IT director at Admiral Group
• Peter Ingram, IT director at Addison Lee
• Martin Ferguson, head of strategy at Socitm
• David Hopkins, manager of business development at Siemens Enterprise Services
• David Wilde, head of IT at Westminster City Council
• Patrick Smith, local government client executive at IBM
• Richard Mahony, director of telecoms research and analysis at Ovum
• Philip Virgo, secretary general of the European Information Society Group
• Ian Wilcox, principle IT consultant at Hampshire County Council
• Peter Bassill, chief information security officer at gambling giant Gala Coral Group
• Chris Head, principal associate at Socitm Insight
• Robin Johnson, global CIO at Dell
• Peter Breunig, CTO at Chevron
• Mike Bevil, manager of IT Innovation at Merck
• Ruth Spellman, chief executive at Chartered Management Institute
• Zafar Chaudry, CIO at Alder Hey
• Peter Bauer, chief executive at Mimecast
• Rajendra S. Pawar, chairman of technology company NIIT
• John Suffolk, UK government CIO
• Saurabh Srivastava, chairman of CA
• Filippo Passerini, president of global business services and CIO at Procter & Gamble
• Dana Deasy, group CIO at BP
• John Torrie, UK chief executive at Steria
• Michael Gogola, director of information services at HCA International
• Francis Jellings, head of IT at Virgin Trains
• John Robinson, group IT director at Morse
• Mark Foulsham, head of IT at insurance specialist esure
• Stuart McGill, CTO at Micro Focus
• Maurice van Sabben, president of National Geographic Television International
• David Head, director of LFA
• Adrian Joseph, Google’s European managing director
• Dominic Batchelor, partner at Ashurst LLP
• Inbali Iserles, professional development lawyer at Ashurst LLP
• Danièle Tyler, solicitor at Ashurst LLP

If you’re not a member of the Samuels family, you should probably stop reading about now. If you are – and you’re not Dan – you’ll probably stop reading anyway.

The premise, for those of you that are still with me, was simple: eight members of the family drew a team from each of the original seeding pots for the World Cup (which gave me South Africa, in terms of the top seeds – lucky me).

The winner of each seeding group (that’s the team that goes the furthest in each pot, please keep up) wins the huge sum of £2. So, in terms of two of the seeding groups, we already know the winners – Japan got the furthest out of pot 1 (extra time, last 16) and Slovakia got the furthest in pot 3 (2-1 defeat, last 16).

Teams still in with a chance of bringing you the cash are in bold. And to think, everyone laughed when I pulled out Ghana. Here’s that draw, and the remaining teams, in full:

• Mum | 1. Honduars | 2. Chile | 3. Serbia | 4. England
• Dad | 1. USA | 2. Ivory Coast | 3. Switzerland | 4. Spain
• Annette | 1. South Korea | 2. Cameroon | 3. France | 4. Italy
• Mark | 1. Japan (ladies and gentlespoons, we have a winner!) | 2. Ghana | 3. Denmark | 4. South Africa
• Lily | 1. New Zealand | 2. Uruguay | 3. Slovenia | 4. Netherlands
• Jemima | 1. North Korea | 2. Nigeria | 3. Portugal | 4. Argentina
• Louise | 1. Mexico | 2. Algeria | 3. Greece | 4. Brazil
• Dan | 1. Australia | 2. Paraguay | 3. Slovakia (ladies and gentlespoons, we have a winner!) | 4. Germany

Common consensus has it that a player peaks at about 27 or 28. Clubs traditionally look to buy players in their mid-to-late 20s, knowing they’ll have four years at the top of their game. That pattern is slowly changing.

Arsene Wenger has made a career of selling players in their late 20s at the Arsenal. When he sold Thierry Henry to Barcelona in 2007,  it was a controversial move – Henry was at the top of his game. Now, three years later, the sale of the then-29-year-old seems like a master stroke. Henry has never recaptured his best form for Arsenal.

Now look at the England team. The average age of the England squad at the 2010 World Cup was over 28; they were well-beaten by a team (and that word in the case of England’s defeat is also an explanation) that was on average four years younger. Even England’s younger players – such as Rooney and Milner – are experienced; both started their first team careers at 16.

The peak in football is no longer 28. It’s more like 26, possibly younger. England need to freshen their team up but the problem is that there are few talented youngsters coming through. Just James Milner was a member of England’s 2009 U21 European Championship team, a side that lost 4-0 to Germany in the final. Four of Germany’s side yesterday came from that triumphant team.

England need a younger team. But while Lampard et al might look spent at international level, there are no young replacements coming through. Once again, it comes back to the way we produce football players – and the bad news for England is that the talent simply isn’t there. Welcome to the international wilderness. We might have to get used to it.

“Oh, this could be enjoyable,” suggested the over-excitable and frankly tiresome Clive Tilsley four minutes into England’s first World Cup match against USA. For the record, it wasn’t.

England huffed and puffed to a tedious draw against the nation of baseball and basketball, before looking far worse against Algeria. Another similar performance against Solvenia on Wednesday will see the country that invented the sport returning home.

Having invented the sport is part of the problem. Our “proud history” creates some sort of rose-tinted effect, where everyone – the media and the populace at-large – believes we have a right to win the World Cup (or at least to get pretty close). For the record, we don’t.

We might have invented football in England but we have always been pretty naff. The rest of the world quickly surpassed us – Scotland, for example, showed us the short passing game at the end of the 1800s. Hungary, on the other hand, showed us how to play quickly and intelligently in the post-War era.

The last 50-or-so years, 1966 excepted, have shown us to be a second rate footballing nation that relies on kick and rush. Our record in major tournaments is woeful. Added to 1966’s World Cup win is a fourth place in 1990; Sweden, hardly a football giant, has finished second once, third twice and fourth once.

We might go and beat Slovenia. We might then go and win the World Cup. I doubt it but it would be bloody great. If we don’t succeed, everyone will start bleating about the need to change the way we play football. Yet 130 years of kick and rush suggests this will not be easy.

England has a woefully poor coach to player ratio, unlike other major nations such as Spain, Germany and Italy. Fifa sees this ratio as the “golden thread”; the key to success in major football.

Nothing will change unless you stop people shouting “just get the ball forward”. And this is never, ever going to happen. It’s the soundtrack to watching football in England, from school pitches to Wembley. Enjoy the World Cup.

So, that’s a big claim – but I kind of have the answer. Towards the start of last year’s Premier League season, I predicted the final standings. The prediction was based on a fairly simple premise; the table after 12 games is pretty much the table after 38 games. As I said then:

“I heard about the theory a couple of years ago and – give or take a bit of movement – the theory was sound. There’s normally a couple of big changes. And as I said before, you have to have an accepted error of one or two places around most teams.”

So, how did I do for the 2009/10 season? See for yourself below:

12 games / 38 games / movement

1. Chelsea / Chelsea (spot on)
2. Arsenal / Man Utd (+1)
3. Man Utd / Arsenal (-1)
4. Tottenham / Tottenham (spot on)
5. Aston Villa / Man City (+1)
6. Man City / Aston Villa (-1)
7. Liverpool / Liverpool (spot on)
8. Sunderland / Everton (+5)
9. Stoke / Birmingham (+6)
10. Blackburn / Blackburn (spot on)
11. Burnley / Stoke (-2)
12. Fulham / Fulham (spot on)
13. Everton / Sunderland (-5)
14. Wigan / Bolton (+2)
15. Birmingham / Wolves (+4)
16. Bolton / Wigan (-2)
17. Hull / West Ham (+1)
18. West Ham / Burnley (-7)
19. Wolves / Hull (-2)
20. Portsmouth / Portsmouth (spot on)

Pretty good, is my conclusion. Just five teams (Everton, Birmingham, Sunderland, Wolves and Burnley) finished more than two places away from their predicted finish. As many as six finished in the correct spot. The rest were within the expected error margin of two places.

If you’d bet on the champions, you’d have won. If you’d bet on the top four, you’d have won. You’d have lost on the bottom three bet, but only just. And that is a hard one to call, because there’s always one club that falls like a stone.

You can’t actually beat the bookie, obviously. But the 12 game system is probably as close as you’re going to get.

The spring 2010 edition of CIO Connect magazine was printed and posted during my recent paternity leave. The magazine hoasts the usual mix of business IT features and leadership profiles, including extended articles on sustainability, social media and leadership success.

As ever, thanks to all the CIOs, business leaders and technology experts who contributed their time and opinions. Below is a full list of featured participants (in order of appearance):

• Natasha Davydova, group head of strategy for global technology and operations for Standard Chartered
• Jody Goodall, head of research and development at Trader Media
• Omar Haque, managing director at AxiomCSG and formerly consultant at RS Components
• Dave Fleming, head of ecommerce and innovation at Shop Direct
• Andrew Abboud, CIO at City University London
• Professor Lee Schlenker, chair of emerging economies and technologies at EM Lyon Business School
• Scott Herren, managing director and vice president at Citrix
• Ian Pratt, vice president for advanced products at Citrix and chairman of Xen
• David Head, director of La Fosse Associates
• Dominic Batchelor, senior associate at Ashurst LLP
• Inbali Iserles, professional development lawyer at Ashurst LLP
• Danièle Tyler, solicitor at Ashurst LLP
• Robin Johnson, CIO at Dell
• Stephen hand, CIO at Lloyd’s Register
• Alistair Russell, advisory services director at CIO Connect
• Maggie Berry, managing director at womenintechnology.co.uk
• Bobby Cameron, principal analyst at Forrester
• David Southern, head of IT at WWF UK
• Phil Collard, head of business and operational support at Scottish and Southern Energy
• Tony Young, CIO at Informatica
• Steve Palmer, CIO at London Borough of Hillingdon and President of Socitm
• Lorie Buckingham, CIO at Avaya
• Les Taylor, director for business development and IS at the Disposal Services Authority (DSA)
• Robbert Kuppens, European CIO at Cisco
• Dan Matthews, CTO at IFS
• Myron Hrycyk, CIO at Severn Trent
• Jane Kimberlin, IT director at Domino’s Pizza Group
• Phil Durbin, head of IT at UNICEF UK
• Matthew Pontefract, CTO at Glasses Direct
• Alistair Cox, chief executive at Hays
• Ian Woosey, IT director at Carpetright
• Heather Corby, HR director of BT Innovate and Design
• Eachan Fletcher, CIO at Sporting Index
• Ian Cohen, CIO at Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group

While I was away on paternity leave, Computer Weekly published my feature on cloud computing, security and audit trails. Here’s the intro, with a link to the full article below:

“Do you fear the auditor more or the attacker?” asks Peter Bassill, chief information security officer at gambling giant Gala Coral Group.

It is a key question for IT leaders thinking of dabbling in on-demand computing provision through the cloud. For Bassill, there is only one answer, particularly for firms operating in highly regulated sectors: “A lot of companies fear the auditor more. If you hold data internally, you can show the auditor your controls, but the cloud makes such demonstrations more difficult.”

The resulting complications mean many businesses still shy away from on-demand IT. About 40% of UK companies use cloud computing systems, according to the Information Systems Audit and Control Association. This represents a significant proportion of British organisations, but implementation levels – certainly with regards to large-scale enterprise systems – are nowhere near matching the cacophonous intensity of supplier hype.

For the full feature, click here.