John is the Head of Technology New Business Development at Jetstar Airways. He is focused on building Agile IT teams for Delivery, Operations, Support and Partnerships to deliver systems for new opportunities.

He has been in the industry for over 10 years and previously worked as Sensis as the Group IT Manager specialising in online search and directories.

John shares some of his experiences with Agile and discusses what makes it different from other methodologies.

View John Sullivan’s LinkedIn profile.

According to the Australian Bureau of statistics 80% of the 150,000 working in the IT Industry are classified as “young males”. On further review it turns out that most of them (and nearly all the ones that work on service desk)  are under 32, which makes them what the researchers call “Generation Y”.

Gen Y’ers are those born after 1980. They currently make up about 28% of the population and are more educated that any generation before them (most of Gen Y’ers working have an under graduate degree, many have a Masters Degree). They are technologically savvy to the point where the technology is completely integrated into their social and business interactions. They are adaptable, innovative, efficient and resilient. But there is a dark side…

Nathan O’Donnell talks to Ambition about staff retention and why the focus should be on Gen Y.

Why is staff retention so important?

Why should we be focusing on Gen Y staff retention?

Nathan  O’Donnell has worked in management positions in the IT industry for the last 10 years. During this time Nathan has managed a number of large frontline teams and specialises in people management, specifically around engagement and retention. Nathan currently leads a team of thirty staff working at Leighton Contractors, one of Australia and New Zealand’s leading contractors, service providers and project developers.

Hundreds of millions of text messages are sent between sports fans during live sports. Whether it’s a English Premier League football match, a NHL hockey game, American NFL football or the Indian IPL cricket series, communicating around sport is a social networking phenomena without a formal framework.

PlayUP’s mobile and web based social gaming allows sports fans to impulsively engage with the live sport they’re watching and the fans watching the match. Sports fans can now compete in real time with millions of others for cash, points, ranking and bragging rights! By creating fun & quick social games around live sport, PlayUP adds a new & thrilling interactive dimension to watching a game.

Today we’re talking to James Drucza who is the Head of Application Development for rapidly growing sports related, live and interactive social mobile gaming company PlayUP.

15 years ago Azzurri pioneered the delivery of IP(IPVPN) networks across Europe as an alternative to traditional costly networks.  Since then they have developed leading edge tools, methodologies and delivery frameworks that deliver benefits to all their clients, irrespective of size.  From large IP circuits through to satellite services, Azzurri manages over 7000 data circuits globally. Today we talk to the Australian founder of Azzurri, Managing Director Jon Evans.

Jon established  the Azzurri business in Australia in 2006 having held a number of senior sales roles in the UK for a global carrier.  During this time Jon became involved first-hand with the Azzurri service model and upon moving to Australia he couldn’t refuse the opportunity to join the Azzurri fold and establish the Australian operation from scratch.

Are you tracking what your customers, the media and the market are saying about you? Millions of conversations occur online everyday and many of them are relevant to you brand, your people, your products and your competitors. BuzzNumbers enables you to quickly and easily track online conversations from News, Blogs, Social Media, Online Video, Forums and all other online channels.

Today we talk to BuzzNumbers CEO Andy Gent about the ongoing attention social media commentary is receiving and how to discern the important content from the gossip.

Tim Olorenshaw is the IT Infrastructure Project Manager for Leighton Contractors in Sydney.  In this capacity he is responsible for managing major IT infrastructure projects, managing key relationships with data centre managed services providers, is involved in IT strategic planning cycles and manages the cross functional team members including mentoring and staff development.

Tim’s core skill areas with regards to IT consultancy and project management are:

• End-to-end Project Management experience – from initial business case to final delivery.
• Extensive experience building successful relationships with key stakeholders and C-level clients.
• Keen understanding of financial management and building business cases.
• Technical abilities and understanding across Wintel, Linux and Novell multi-tier architecture, Data storage and backup/disaster recovery design, PABX/VoIP systems, Network LAN/WAN design and setup, Unified Communications and data centre delivery.
• Real ability to translate business needs into design and solution.
• IT Management experience along with true technical understanding of systems.

Rob Kliman

Rob is responsible for J.P. Morgan’s Worldwide Securities Services Technology and platforms in Australia and New Zealand.
Rob has worked within J.P. Morgan Chase for over seven years and is now based in Sydney providing technology solutions to the Worldwide Securities Services business.

For three years, Rob was based in J.P. Morgan Chase’s London office, where he managed the relationship between Technology and the Structured Finance businesses for Europe.
Prior to working with J.P. Morgan, Rob gained a diverse IT experience with Abbey National Treasury Services, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank, Nomura Bank, Morgan Stanley and EDS in London, Frankfurt and Zurich.

All together Rob has provided the Financial Services Industry with over 20 years of service.

Introduction

How does an IT professional get noticed?

Acceptable Risk Taking

Staying ahead as an IT professional

What to expect from 2010

Sadiq Iqbal

Sadiq Iqbal is a Systems Architect for Ensyst and was the only person in Australia to be invited to the first Windows 7 course run by the product developers in Singapore. In the last few months he has been working with Microsoft on their Early Technology Adoption Programme deploying Windows 7 to production desktop SOE’s for a number of handpicked organisations nationwide. Prior to this Sadiq has worked with a multitude of established IT Integrators and also ran his own IT consultancy in London. During this time he has designed and implemented a multitude of sizable infrastructure solutions for organisations around the globe and also has provided thought leadership and strategic direction to corporate enterprises.

Ensyst is an award-winning IT solutions and services provider helping organisations, small and large, in leveraging IT to achieve their business goals. Ensyst has clients having between tens and thousands of employees in size, across all major industries and in all states of Australia and is the current Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year. More detail can be found at the Ensyt Website.

We asked Sadiq five key questions and his answers can be heard by playing below. (This podcast took place on Friday 23rd October 2009 between Vinay Patankar of Ambition Technology and Sadiq Iqbal of Ensyst, at Ambition’s head office in Sydney, Australia.)

1) What are some of the new features involved in Windows 7?

2) Are there any flaws or concerns with in Windows 7?

3) How does Windows 7 compare with Vista and XP?

4) What has been the general feedback from clients who have already gone live with Windows 7?

5) Are you going to install Windows 7 at home, and why?

Paul Lyons

BTalk Australias’ Phil Dobbie, talks with Paul Lyons, group managing director of Ambition Group.

Paul talks about how to get your career back on track after redundancy in these harsh times. The bad news is that it might take some time. The good news is that these days employers attach less stigma to candidates who are unemployed.

Listen to the Podcast:

Ambition Technology is pleased to announce a new series of podcasts to highlight the depth of skill which exists across our candidate network.  Each month we’ll be looking for new people to voice their comments or views of the world, click on the link and take a look or email us to suggest any topics you might like covered in the future.

In this podcast; Syben Osinga, Oracle HCM thought leader from HCM 3 Group is a pioneer in the field of Oracle Human Capital Management (HCM) and has extensive experience in the Oracle applications software planning, phase estimation, scoping, analysis, transformation, design, build and costing of the Oracle HCM and Financials application solutions.

With over 15 years experience, Syben has implemented the Oracle HCM & ERP suite of products and solutions for clients in different industry sectors across Australasia and the Asia/Pacific, the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

We asked Syben five key questions and his answers can be heard by playing below. (This podcast took place on Thursday 27 August 2009 between Prinz Mandap of Ambition Technology and Syben Osinga of HCM 3 Group, at Ambition’s head office in Sydney, Australia.)

1) What have been the most exciting developments in Oracle HCM of late?

2) How has the Oracle HCM space responded to the Global Financial Crisis?

3) What is currently hot in Oracle HCM?

4) What do you see in the future for Oracle HCM and the impact of Oracle Fusion?

5) With a relatively undersized presence in the Australian market, what can you suggest to someone wanting a career as an Oracle HCM specialist

Presentation Download

To compliment this “Podcast with an Oracle HCM Expert” session, please find the HCM 3 Group & Ambition Technology – Talent Management and Oracle HCM Sept 2009 Presentation

Download the presentation on Talent Management & Oracle HCM