Intelligent CIO APAC Issue 01 | Page 44

CIOopinion CIO OPINION “ WHEN THE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE IS RESTRICTED, THE MOVEMENT OF DATA NEEDS EVEN MORE ENABLING. Ravi Naik, the Senior Vice President and CIO of Seagate Technology How to make sure data is going places when we cannot Ravi Naik, the Senior Vice President and CIO of Seagate Technology, proposes five best practices for a displaced workforce. At a time when many people around the globe find themselves working from home, it is every company’s job to do right by its employees and to fulfill its commitments to its customers – even if it involves some pivoting. From laboratories to emergency rooms, grocery stores, janitorial services, through data storage companies, businesses around the world are working to introduce order and safety where chaos and harm may loom. As the majority of employees throughout the world heed the call to work from home, the onus, more than ever, is on data to do the legwork for us. When the movement of people is restricted, the movement of data needs even more enabling. Good data management these days, more than ever, must include attention to efficient flow of data. Why? Smart data activation, after all, can lead to connection – even if from afar. It means using AI and the cloud to collaborate on vaccine development, finding treatment and triaging patients. It also means schoolchildren learning virtually, employees working safely, doctors seeing their patients remotely and relatives seeing their loved ones smile in real time. At Seagate Technology, we realize that we have a dual job to do: 1) Keep our employees safe, and, at the same time, 2) Keep enabling the critical flows of data around the world, which has been our focus for over 40 years. 44 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com