Cloud computing has transformed a large proportion of IT operations, enabling businesses to remain innovative, competitive and agile. But its creeping influence on businesses of all sizes has meant that IT is rapidly becoming more decentralised. Shadow IT is now the mainstream as departments and Line of Business (LOB) purchase IT as a service simply to get things they need done on time. That means many companies have one or more public cloud services plugged into their day-to-day operations.

For Penny Futter, CIO of the retail and business bank section at Absa, it’s Amazon Web Services (AWS).