As the enterprise slowly emerges from the recession, most IT shops would say security has been a necessity--something that was not severely affected by the downturn, partially out of fear. But Karl Popham, interim CIO for utility company Austin Energy, says security is more than just a way to cover your butt. 

Security is not just the cost of doing business, either. In fact, in his industry, it can be an enabler of business. Popham's company has an eye on security in two ways: It must be a good steward of customer information (collected from billing and customer service technology) and it needs to provide security around the network and infrastructure. The infrastructure issue becomes even more complex as the company shifts its focus to smart grid 1.0 and 2.0, which means an exponential increase in data and cost.

"The energy and utility industry is facing a...revolution in its core business and infrastructure is changing. Fundamentally, power is getting generated in smaller, more distributed types of ways," said Popham in an interview with MeetTheBoss.tv.

As Austin Energy develops smart grid technology, the role of the IT team has changed. Some employees are now being tasked with government outreach or working with national security teams to help develop protocols around smart grid. Because of this, Popham has had to adapt his leadership style. He said it's important to be a leader who can empower creative thinking and decision making as a company evolves.

"If someone makes a wrong decision, we can usually correct those, but if someone makes no decision, that's much harder from a management perspective," said Popham. "You can't always make decisions by consensus. There's times when you just--based on your knowledge and overall leadership--have to step in, but a lot of it is more about enabling them."

For more:
- view the full MeetTheBoss.tv interview here (reg. req.)

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