Michael Bissell

Who I Am
I'm a thought leader and technology strategist with over 30 years of experience in software technology development. My skills fit as an Enterprise Architect, CIO, Chief Evangelist, or other roles that involve influencing the technical strategy for companies.

I primarily focus on Application Security, API design, Cloud/Distributed Architecture and Identity Access Management. While that may sound like a large collection of items for a "focus" managing identity and security requires a holistic approach by working with the entire ecosystem.

Digital Transformation thught leadership at NWEA and Silicon Valley Bank
Worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies on API design and strategy while at Apigee
Deep IAM integrations with Cloudentity
Cloud migration and legcy integration at NWEA

What I Do
I help connect business goals to technology. This means working with leadership to understand the overall strategy of the company and working with technical leads to understand the capabilities of the team. The process of aligning the business requirements and technical realities often means influencing business process as much as adjusting technical infrastructure: that is to say, you can't automate a non-existent business process and you can't force the wrong technology to solve even the clearest goal.

How I Work
Every company has different challenges and needs, so the best way for me to engage with your company is on a limited, ongoing contract beginning with a deep dive evaluation, as short as a day but usually a week or so on-site to dig into the culture, people and current process and tools.

Generally, the deep dive breaks down into two primary activities:

Business Strategy Review:
Identify current business goals and challenges, regulatory compliance, and growth opportunities with an eye towards process management, automation and security
Architectural Review/Technical Deep Dive:
Once the business goals and challenges are clear, a review of the technology stack can be performed. Bear in mind, this includes not only the core software product (if you have one) but the ancillary systems that feed the business, such as CRM tools, the marketing website, onboarding systems, and any data systems that may provide a weakness in both security and managing the company objectives.

Various artifacts and projects stem from this process including clarifying the position and language of the company -- that is, while we will definitely produce the dry business documents required by a CIO, we will also hone the message and focus for Sales and Marketing which may include both internally and externally facing articles, presentations and other evangelical materials.

Depending on budget and need, I can engage with the team as part of these projects or I can provide ongoing "drift checks" remotely to make sure goals are being met and integrate new requirements as needed.

Management Experience

Director of Customer Enablement at Cloudenity
Enterprise Architect at NWEA (see my blog Meaningful Work that I Get Paid For)
Client/Project Management & Global Training Director at Apigee (see Apigee Projects)
Primary at Conquent (see Conquent Projects)
VP Emerging Technologies e/y/e/s/c/r/e/a/m interactive Managing in-house and contract teams for new (at the time) advertising vehicles and tracking methods.