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Opening up possibilities for a running a business better

Kirsten Doyle
By Kirsten Doyle, ITWeb contributor.
Johannesburg, 06 Feb 2017
Dave Ives, digital transformation director at Karabina Solutions.
Dave Ives, digital transformation director at Karabina Solutions.

Processing power has changed what we are able to do with technology: from a personal computer, mobile phone, wearables and new devices.

"I cannot imagine a world without some of the cool tech I use at home and every day in my pocket or around my arm. Cloud and connectivity make it easy to store, manage and process data anywhere anytime," says Dave Ives, digital transformation director at Karabina Solutions.

He describes his career as an exciting journey from engineer to IT specialist, from consultant to coach, business leader back to consultant. "It's all learning and it never stops."

Ives' journey from a junior chemical engineer to a PLC/SCADA developer took a few years. "From here, I tried my hand at running a business with a partner in this industry at Process Dynamics. Then I went into pre-sales, consulting and architecture at Dimension Data. A whirlwind tour at Microsoft South Africa which took me into the executive role for a number of years and gave me the experience to think more broadly about the IT Industry."

However, he says: "Moving to the coalface and making platforms work for our clients at Karabina has been an exciting journey. I have always maintained that the customer is the real boss, no matter what role I perform."

A natural progression

Ives' background is in chemical engineering. "I decided to start helping the PLC/SCADA commissioning engineers with writing the controller code. I got really interested in this field and learnt more about PLC/SCADA programming, going on to become a specialist in ABB, Allen Bradley, Siemens, Modicon and a few other platforms. Certifying in Wonderware SCADA and then building a deploying these platforms."

Having had a grounding in food, beverages, brewing, chemical and processing industries, he says he was able to provide a blend of process and industrial control language. "We always had to store and manage data so it became natural to move into business intelligence and later into systems and platform design or architecture. When the move opened to go to Dimension Data to do consulting, it was a natural progression. From there to Microsoft, gave me the IT industry experience of a lifetime. Now it's time to continue the learning and growth a pace in a time when things are developing faster than ever before."

Upon joining Dimension Data, Ives went on a number of data warehousing and BI courses to assist in the delivery and consulting being provided at the time. "This gave me exposure to a number of platforms and methodologies, nothing when compared to the consolidation that has happened and the emergence of new ways of doing BI and the real development of machine learning in the last few years."

Joys and frustrations

Speaking of what he loves about his job, Ives says: "I love seeing solutions live and running in a business, especially when they change the way people used to work and open up new possibilities for a running a business better or improving how a business works with its customers."

On the other hand, he says being intimately involved in deploying ERP platforms and related technologies, it's frustrating to see how long it takes to change the business and get the people orientated in a new way of working. "Resistance to change and the complexity of business when it should be simple - we live in a world where technology can make many things so simple today. Why do we still have some really old ways of working?"

ITWeb Business Intelligence Summit 2017

Meet Dave Ives of Karabina Solutions at the 12th Business Intelligence Summit in March 2017. He will share his thoughts on: How artificial is intelligence? Will machine learning replace human decision-making in the next five years? Registration is open and the agenda is live, click here for the most updated agenda.

Was there a defining point in his career? "Despite the great physical and design I did on the processing plant, people could make or break it. I decided that automation was the future and would help me make sure the process and facility would work better. Then later on, realising that no matter how much I automated, I still needed capability in people and if I could build teams and multiply talent, my life would be easier."

He adds that people can be complex and getting the best out of them is a constant process and journey. Looking back, he says he probably would have done more studying in the psychology field and worked more diligently on building and developing others.

Ives will be presenting at the ITWeb Business Intelligence Summit on 'how artificial is intelligence? Will machine learning replace human decision-making in the next five years?' The summit will be held on 14 and 15 March at The Forum in Bryanston.

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