Deri Jones, CEO, Scivisum, was invited to take part in theUK Fast  Industry Roundtable "Software for the Everyman – Innovations that make the net work" on 20th July 2011 with a selection of expert panellists, seeking to answer questions about one of the most creative and influential industries on the planet.

The discussion took the theme that Software developers are the Leonardo Da Vinci’s of the internet and that as architects of the web and designers of systems used by millions daily, they play a huge part in the productivity of the global economy. The expert panellists explored what makes a great developer/programmer? What has driven the industry to such prominence? Where is it going?

• Video of this event, and others, can be see in our Event Videos section of this site.

Around the table were the following experts:

Deri Jones, Director, Scivisum
Martin Butcher, Owner, Krypton TV
Billy Evans, Managing Partner, The Raft (client)
Stuart Howarth, Director, KOKO Digital
Steve Cable, Director, J media (client)
Carl Browns, Marketing Director, Wirebox


Questions for discussion were:

A well developed industry

• What key events in programming history have punctuated the growth of the web?
• If we looked at a timeline of internet programming would the lions share appear in the last 3 years?
• Where would we be without the open source community?
• What is the difference between a coder, a programmer and a developer?
• What tends to drive the industry – is it innovation from within or consumer demand?

Creativity

• Is the sheer speed of development on the web complicating life or making it easier?
• Is internet development more about convenience now than enablement?
• What projects strike the best balance between educating, entertaining and selling?
• Are we finding gaming skills being deployed in areas we wouldn’t expect?
• Are we only limited by our imaginations?
• As agencies, what are the most cutting edge projects you are working on?

Platforms for growth

• How are programmers working with the convergence of TV and the internet?
• What opportunities and challenges is the mobile web presenting?
• What is the concept behind the most successful mobile apps?
• Is the future of software development all directed towards mobile?
• What advantages does the cloud bring for programmers?
• What freedom does designing your own internal management systems give you?
• How do you track the success of your own systems? Do you create your own monitoring software?

Development of talent

• How easy is it for a budding programmer/developer to get started? Where do you source your best candidates from and what qualities does a great candidate have?
• Are universities teaching the right subjects these days?
• Should the UK be doing more to compete with other nations in breeding developers?
• Is Zuckerberg a better programmer than the creators of MySpace or just from a different time?
• Can a business become too reliant on the talents of its software R&D team?
• Do all departments need software training these days to do their jobs?

Making e-commerce work

• What makes people buy online? Is there a standard format for what a customer journey should look like in order to maximum sales?
• What top tips are there for developing a successful e-commerce site?
• Is social commerce a natural progression and will it work?
• Will we ever find a way to take away the fear of credit card detail theft?
• What could be developed within the web’s infrastructure to improve e-commerce?

Challenges to the industry

• 85% of hacks come through the coding layer. How do we guard against this?
• How real is the threat of software theft?
• Does the internet have the capacity to grow at the speed of innovation?
• Programmers often end up with a lot of access and power within a business. Is this safe? What can be done about it?
• Is there still more work to be done in allowing the internet to reach all corners of the globe?
• Are large groups of people who may not be web savvy being ignored in terms of being sold to or enabled to share their opinion?
• Where is the industry headed and what will be the cash cows of the next five years?

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