Ethics makes a comeback in cloud-based systems
Years ago, I found myself sitting in a conference room dealing with a question that I’ve gotten thousands of times in my career: Was the technology I was representing, which I created as the CTO of an enterprise technology company (I’m being purposely vague), the right fit for a specific customer problem that I had just learned about in that conference room?
This would have been an easy sale and one that we needed to make our quarter. All I needed to do was agree with the customer, who was already convinced that my technology was a “perfect fit.” Instead, I explained that a competitor’s technology was likely a better fit and had the features and functions needed for this problem. The salesperson shot daggers at me from across the table. Commission gone.
My technology was unique but it was designed for a specific problem. The customer likely could have made it work, but it was not the optimal fit for this situation.
IT ethics defined
That was my first real experience making choices that lived up to an ethical standard. I did it because it was the right thing to do; I’m not an exceptionally virtuous man. I was called back to that same customer six months later to look at a new problem for which my technology was the right fit. That deal was three times bigger than the first one, and I found out recently that my technology is still running that portion of the system. That feels good.
Ethics in IT, as I define it, is the process and guidance of solving the problem with the best possible solution rather than choosing something because of any personal agenda or benefit, such as making your sales numbers to trigger a bonus or doing a favor for a friend.
Artificial intelligence has caused many enterprises, technology providers, and consulting organizations to refocus on ethics. All are realizing that it is not only a good idea but also can significantly reduce their legal exposure. In a recent LinkedIn poll that I conducted, about one-third do not consider ethics when making IT decisions. If that sounds bad, it would have been 50% to 60% just a few years ago.
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