Maria Anderson is president of the Independent Oracle Users Group and has more than 20 years of experience in various technical and leadership roles.
Anderson is currently a doctoral student at Royal Roads University. In 1986, Anderson received a B.A. (Psychology) from the University of Calgary; however, she soon discovered a curiosity and aptitude for information technology. As a result, she has had an interesting career over the past 29 years starting as a programmer and progressing through various roles such as technical architect, systems analyst, instructor, and database administrator. Anderson has been a volunteer with the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) for many years and is currently president.
Anderson has held formal leadership roles for the past 8 years, and is currently leading the database team at a large Canadian energy company. In 2015, she completed a Master of Arts in Leadership at Royal Roads University, which sparked a passion to continue her journey as a student of leadership.
Articles by Maria Anderson, President of the IOUG
There has been plenty of dialogue within the IT community about when to migrate to the cloud, how to migrate to the cloud, which provider offers customers the best cloud environments, and the due diligence or governance that is necessary before taking that big step. There are larger waves of change nipping at our heels, yet we seem content to continue discussing a technology that is a means to an end.
Posted April 07, 2017
The Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) has represented the voice of data technologists and professionals for more than 20 years, and we are excited about how our community continues to grow and focus on peer-to-peer education and know-how. With that focus we are excited for our premier yearly event: COLLABORATE 17 - IOUG Forum.
Posted March 17, 2017
Innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, robotics, and IoT, have had, and will continue to have, broad impact that we don't yet fully understand. Organizations that adopt these technologies will require new business models and processes. We will need to understand who our customers are and what they expect. The world of work as we know it today will continue to evolve at a faster pace—this is why adaptability and resilience are critical to a vibrant career.
Posted February 08, 2017
In what has become a data-driven world, your organization's data is valuable. It has become the "keys to the kingdom," so to speak. Very few companies today could function without data, especially good data. However, I would suggest that more important than data, is information. Data provides the building blocks, but information is really the consumable outcome that can be used as a competitive edge.
Posted December 01, 2016
From an operational standpoint, there is the never-ending push to ensure environments are upgraded to supported releases, and then patches must be applied on a regular basis. From a project perspective, expectations are that new technologies will solve problems in organizations that are rooted in poor processes. There comes a point when we can become change-fatigued.
Posted October 07, 2016
The Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) is excited to be joining the Oracle technology community in San Francisco once again at Oracle OpenWorld 2016, September 18-22. IOUG's 30,0000+ member community is comprised of the top Oracle technology experts from around the globe, several of whom will be presenting sessions on hot topics like Data Intelligence, iOT, Data Security, and Cloud migrations.
Posted August 04, 2016
As IT decision making moves out of the IT department and into the functional areas of organizations, partnerships and collaboration become even more critical. According to an article in strategy+business on why CEOs must become more technology savvy, "the majority of technology spending (68%) is now coming from budgets outside of IT, a significant increase from 47% in 2014." What this means is that many critical technology decisions are being made without the consultation of IT professionals.
Posted August 04, 2016
Digital transformation is taking place at an accelerated rate in the world today. CIOs are struggling to maintain legacy systems, while the world around them continues to transform at a rapid pace. At the same time, clients are expecting IT professionals to support the latest technology that becomes available. As IT continues to lag behind the digital wave, clients are becoming impatient and moving toward cloud technologies such as PaaS, IaaS, SaaS, and DBaaS to address their business requirements.
Posted June 09, 2016
What makes an IT organization static or dynamic? What triggers an organization to move from one to the other? The transformation is not easy and it certainly does not happen quickly. These questions can also be asked at a personal level. As an IT professional, are you more likely to be static or dynamic?
Posted March 31, 2016
The Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) has represented the voice of Oracle technologists and professionals for more than 20 years, and we are so proud of how our community has not just grown but maintained its adaptive approach that centers on peer-to-peer education and know-how. We hope that you share our sense of pride as we celebrate the technology community's marquee event: COLLABORATE 16-IOUG Forum.
Posted March 21, 2016
The ability to stand up and voice your opinion about a solution or technology that will not solve a business problem is critical. At times, choices are made for budgetary reasons, and other times, it may be organizational pressure. But regardless of the reason, as IT professionals, we need to be courageous and do the right thing, whatever that is.
Posted February 10, 2016
Moving infrastructure, databases, or software into the cloud is no longer a bleeding edge decision. Many organizations have implemented this successfully with great benefits, and more continue to do so. It was not that long ago that we started learning about cloud technologies and capabilities. Technologists listened to webinars and read about the possibilities of such a paradigm shift with cynicism. It sounded great, but what about the practicalities, cost, and risk? The only organizations that seemed to embrace this new landscape were technology companies, while the rest of us stood on the sidelines watching and, on occasion, snickering. We thought nothing would ever replace our data centers. It appears we were wrong … it's time to embrace the paradigm shift.
Posted December 02, 2015
The topics of resilience and change have been on my mind a lot lately for a variety of reasons. First, IT is always at the center of technology change, so that's nothing new. We must continually learn and keep abreast of new technology and trends before they even materialize. Second, I am an IT leader in the energy industry, and when one is at the mercy of natural resource supply and demand, there will be peaks and valleys in production and financial performance over the years. With this latest dip in energy prices, I sense a different perspective—one of working smarter and more efficiently, emphasizing innovation, and analyzing decisions with an enterprise perspective of what is right for the company at this time, not just IT.
Posted October 07, 2015
IOUG Insight: Leadership and IT—Closing the Gap
Posted September 16, 2015
The Independent Oracle Users Group is headed to San Francisco this October to join the Oracle technology community at Oracle OpenWorld 2015. Representing the voice of Oracle technology professionals, IOUG members will present more than 35 sessions on critical Oracle technology topics, including big data, cloud, Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c, and more. There is a lot to discuss with the Oracle database and technology community, and I am looking forward to connecting with Oracle professionals with similar interests to address challenges and solutions face-to-face.
Posted August 05, 2015
The concept of shadow or stealth IT in organizations is not new, but it is a topic that is becoming more relevant. According to Gartner's IT Glossary, shadow IT "refers to IT devices, software and services outside the ownership or control of IT organizations." As IT professionals, what is our role in shadow IT? Is shadow IT good or bad for an organization?
Posted June 09, 2015