CIO association of Canada hosts BlackBerry’s John Chen in fireside chat

BlackBerry executive chairman and chief executive officer John Chen doesn't like the time period "turnaround".

"I call it a chapter 2.0," he instructed countrywide analysis Council of Canada chief suggestions officer Philippe Johnston all over a virtual hearth chat subsidized by the CIO affiliation of Canada (CIOCAN). "I don't like the observe turnaround; it seems a bit bad to me. So we're going to reinvent ourselves in response to what we do smartly, and what our heritage is and what we're conventional for."

John Chen

That's what he did, first with Sybase, then with BlackBerry.

He all started by way of telling Johnston why he believed BlackBerry bought into challenge and crucial rescuing: the company had a sound method focusing on business and protection, but had now not accomplished enough work on the utility and customer house. The market shifted after iPhone and Android came out, and the particular person became in cost of the buying determination; BlackBerry ignored that shift.

"That's the place I suppose, from a advertising and marketing and a enterprise aspect of view, Blackberry had stuck to its guns on security and enterprise however had neglected the shift out there of who the patrons in the end grew to become," he observed. "And that's the reason why we picked the place we'd pivot. We pivot to our energy, to what we do top-rated: our most excellent reputation with all the governments and the felony programs and legislations enforcement and, and health care device, and economic methods that focus on now not only protection, however privateness."

Canada vs U.S.

Johnston then requested what the adjustments are in operating a Canadian enterprise vs a U.S. one, and Chen's point of view mirrored what many Canadians understand: we're now not first rate at self-promoting.

"I jokingly tell some of your colleagues within the govt, when i'm going to APAC (Asia Pacific), for instance, the place the properly 20 nations are represented, and you look on the Canadian display within the reveal corridor, what do you continuously see? You don't see technology, what you see is clean air and clean water. You see these quality-searching running streams, and a way of life and an ambiance," he stated. "All those are very vital, don't get me incorrect, but if you happen to wish to focus on change, it's very challenging to alternate clean air; nobody has captured that yet."

He stated that if Canada's strategy is to be a knowledge-based society, we should still be emphasizing that in interactions globally, and we should still be advertising ourselves.

"Canada tends to be more understated of its accomplishments and looks to be a bit shy of going out there and saying, 'howdy, i would like your company. provide me your business'," he cited. "And now you evaluate to the neighbour in the u.s.. There are greater americans in the Commerce department and the State branch pushing the American manufacturer everywhere on the planet, and we in Canada don't do as lots."

It's now not for lack of homegrown talent. Chen mentioned that Canada produces lots of technology-savvy grads, however we don't have people to control that ability and market its output; if a corporation wishes somebody as its world chief advertising officer, for instance, it appears backyard the nation to discover one. He pointed out we deserve to do more to grow our own.

He additionally brought up that we need a country wide agenda for a knowledge-primarily based society, which could be tied to AI or sensible cities, which in flip may be tied to privateness and security. These are areas the place the government may step in. but, he spoke of, these areas need to be addressed with the aid of a public/deepest collaboration; neither the govt nor the deepest sector can do it on its own.

The dialog then shifted to the concerns around intellectual property (IP), and the significance of maintaining it within the nation. Chen commented that, as a country, we should center of attention on IP era. but at the same time, he stated, "If I have an IP granted to me, I should be granted and permitted via ecu, by using US, via China, with the aid of Japan, by means of Korea, anything market that i am going to. It's no longer simply Canada. It's a reflection of how we suppose about our market. Our market is not just united states. Our market is world. however in practice, do we really go after the global market as we should? i do know I actually have query marks. I doubt it."

What CIOs can do

relocating on, Johnston asked what CIOs can do to tackle cybersecurity challenges.

Chen mentioned that he was alarmed that, in a contemporary survey, the vast majority of Canadian CIOs spoke of they had been cyber-in a position, and when asked what else they might do to increase their safety posture, they observed they essential greater talented individuals. He disagrees, declaring that in the U.S., lower than half of commercial enterprise CIOs consider they're ready.

"Why is the Canadian CIO feeling extra comfortable than the united states CIO? I feel it is value examining. One neighborhood is inaccurate. That's my fact," he noted. He has seen that Canadian CIOs seem to be comfortable with turnkey techniques even with whether or not they're more comfy.

What's coming from BlackBerry

Johnston wound up the chat by means of asking Chen in regards to the coolest thing as a way to emerge from BlackBerry within the subsequent 12 months or two.

"some of the coolest issues that we're working on, we're in fact putting a lot of effort and attention into, without a income however with a very promising future, is to create the protection analytics on any IoT equipment that might circulate a manner at each the fringe of the component, as well as connecting to the cloud and using AI know-how. I suppose here is extremely cool," he mentioned. "i will be able to just use automobiles as an example, because that's what I focus on right now. Your vehicle should be your new future pockets, your car will think an awful lot about how to improve itself. And there are dozens of functions, whether they must do with energy, or battery administration, or charge techniques, or producing encrypted id and making bound you're who you say you're, and monitoring the fitness safeguard of the entire occupants … These are all precise issues in the works, and a few of these things we're going to demo at CES."