The externally driven change in role is matched by an internal transformation in terms of how IT organizations are structured. The traditional data center is one of silos of control. The very nature of the technology that comprises IT infrastructure, and the lack of management tooling that has been able to treat it systemically or holistically and hide complexity, has forced the creation of expert groups, each with a specific focus on one aspect of the infrastructure, such as networking, storage, compute, operating systems, databases, applications and so forth. This “divide and conquer” approach allowed organizations to deal with the complexity of the technology and it’s deployment, to some degree. But at a high cost! Specifically the creation of organizational silos, that inherently tend...
Posts Tagged ‘ it ’
Cloud Changes Everything, Part 3 – The Changing Role of IT Operations
So far I have said more about the business, innovation, applications and services, than perhaps about IT and IT Operations (Ops) per se. However the impact on IT within the enterprise is no less profound. Cloud not only changes the cost dynamics for enterprises that consume Cloud services, offering a move away from essentially fixed cost CAPEX dominated IT budgets to variable cost OPEX driven budgets, but will ultimately force IT to fundamentally re-evaluate its role. One of the first drivers for this introspection is the business itself, where the notion of self service, variable cost and convenience have driven many business service owners to either start using external cloud providers or to demand equivalent attributes from their own IT organizations. Now that...
Beginning the Journey to User-Centric IT.
User expectations of their business computing environments are changing, being driven by their experiences as consumers. New state of the art devices and user interfaces, Cloud computing and the associated SaaS-based applications, ubiquitous connectivity. These trends are converging and when combined are profoundly influencing the direction of End-user client computing. What are some of the benefits of this consumer cloud experience? A better user experience – Simplicity!, Instant gratification, multiple devices. Always available, my apps and data are backed up, replicated or synched, ubiquitous access!. Its personalized – small, engaging applications (at least the client part is small)! Pay as you go, excitement and anticipation. In the technology sense, what does this mean? Self-service, easy, encapsulation and isolation between applications....
