IT leads the modern data platform, functioning as the conduit, efficiently delivering the correct data to the right users, to empower data-driven decision-making in organizations. Over the last decade, IT vendors have been trying to develop and offer solutions to address the flood of data that companies manage. A modern data platform tries to solve this problem. It's a combination of interoperable, scalable and modular technologies, working together to deliver an enterprise's overall data needs.

At Big Data London, data quality and intelligence took center stage as companies strive for fast and efficient delivery of quality information -- and the vendors to make it happen. Big Data London is the U.K.'s leading data and analytics event, with more than 150 vendors, 300 expert speakers, and an estimated 10,000 attendees coming together to discuss data-driven strategies. During the event, I interviewed seven vendors to get their perspectives and insights on where the market was going, the challenges they saw, and more.

Data clean rooms are moving into the mainstream as privacy concerns complicate measuring ad ROI, but the "people problem" poses challenges to data operation success. Data clean rooms are becoming the preeminent tool for brands to better understand the place of digital marketing within the broader marketing ecosystem. In fact, data clean rooms are key for measuring advertising effectiveness, especially as advertisers are relying on cookies less, due to privacy regulations and big tech changes.

More than ever, increases in data-centric developer reliance, data sources, and users push developers to understand IT purchasing to provide more value to data. The days of creating data-generating systems for a single operational or analytics application are over. Because of this, developers must become more data-centric to increase business agility and empower data consumers -- including internal teams, partners, and customers. Data-centric developers are expanding their sphere of influence on IT purchasing decisions and maximizing the value of data.

This episode of Women in Cybersecurity features Barbie Bigelow, a veteran CIO, cybersecurity executive, board member, advisor, and investor. She is currently CEO of Emerald Growth Partners, LLC, (formerly Better Technology Partners, LLC), which she founded to help clients develop and execute strategic moves while leveraging technology to accelerate growth and increase margins. Clients have included Fortune 500 companies, startup ventures, and non-profits, and she is passionate about sharing her knowledge and increasing the number of women in leadership and board member roles.

Barbie said she got into cybersecurity out of operational necessity; after all, if there is a cybersecurity incident, it affects operations. In her first CIO role at an electronics company, she created a cyber incident response team (CIRT). Since then, she's held roles and advised companies on how to approach cybersecurity in ways to support technological innovation and business needs.

Don't miss her video below, and be sure to check out the full audio interview to learn about her story and her commitments to helping increase the number of women in leadership roles in cybersecurity. 

The path a career can take is often based on moments – a company going out of business, chance encounters, seismic shifts in a given industry, enormous external pressures. My career is no exception. After many years as a consultant or in-house systems engineer, I joined BrianMadden.com where I became an independent blogger, analyst, and speaker focused on end-user computing. TechTarget acquired BrianMadden.com in 2007, and I spent that time covering the EUC space as it expanded from a handful of desktop virtualization vendors to hundreds of companies covering everything from virtual desktops to mobile devices to cloud services, along with all the adjacent technologies that support those pillars.  

In this episode of Women in Cybersecurity, I was delighted to interview Helen Patton, an experienced CISO who literally wrote the book on Navigating the Cybersecurity Career Path and is currently CISO for the Cisco Security Business Group. I'm also a longtime follower of hers on twitter where she shares information and resources for security leaders. 

Like many of us, her path to cybersecurity wasn't exactly direct or planned; she says, it was "a series of accidents and unexpected opportunities," where she moved from IT support, to disaster recovery, to cybersecurity. As someone who is passionate about her role and helping others, she is generous in sharing information and advice for other CISOs, as well as bringing more people into our field and helping them thrive. 

Don't miss her video below, and be sure to check out the full audio interview.

Two recent high-profile breaches—Intercontinental Hotels Group and Uber—demonstrate the criticality of securing your identities. Both of these attacks started with a social engineering attack. One started with traditional business email compromise (BEC), and the other started with MFA push bombing. The next stage of both attacks compromised the password/secrets vault.

Organizations are increasingly moving applications to the cloud to better serve their customers, partners, and employees. The ability to quickly deploy applications to the cloud so employees, partners, and customers can connect to companies for business transactions and services gives organizations a competitive advantage. This makes maintaining security posture more important than ever, as  increasing the availability of products and services connected to company and customer data increases exposure to attacks. Cloud security posture management (CSPM) is key to mitigating security risk while enabling the use of innovative cloud technologies that drive better business results.

ESG On Location – VMware Explore 2022

Sporting a new name, the long anticipated in-person event, VMware Explore, was back this year with new innovation, new conversations, and a new theme, “Cloud Chaos.” The ESG analyst team was there, on location, and in this video, you will hear from me, as well as Mark Bowker, Bob Laliberte, Paul Nashawaty, and Kevin Rhone, on the most impressive announcements and insights from the event.

Check out the video and hope to see you in person at next year’s event.