Business Technology Roundtable

Hybrid IT is a catalyst of progressive organizations. In fact, two-thirds of surveyed leaders say a blend of traditional and cloud infrastructure enables a strategic competitive advantage, according to a market study by the IBM Center for Applied Insights . That said, savvy leaders are using hybrid cloud to power their digital transformation agenda, going beyond cost reductions and productivity gains. They’re also using cloud as a foundation for next-generation initiatives -- such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Cognitive Computing. New Insights into Emerging Cloud Trends According to findings from the latest Cisco Global Cloud Index (GCI), cloud service traffic is expected to rise 3.7-fold -- that’s up from 3.9 zettabytes (ZB) per year in 2015 -- to 14.1 ZB per year by 2020. The ongoing growth of cloud computing is being partly driven by the increased migration to hybrid cloud architectures that support the evolving demand for combining IT systems of record and systems of...

Some mainstream IT buyers might think that most cloud infrastructure vendors and service providers are essentially alike. But there are key differences. Besides, given the body of market research to the contrary, there’s clearly no such thing as a "one-size-fits-all" cloud solution. Furthermore, if you believe that a hybrid cloud should support an IT agenda to transform a business, then a viable solution must consider the preexisting systems of record within the enterprise. That’s why forward-thinking CIOs often seek information and guidance on two fronts. First, they want to know how to extract costs from their legacy IT investments. Second, they desire to use that assessment exercise to free-up budget and fund innovation via a DevOps model that would streamline new cloud-native technology deployments. That’s why pragmatic CIOs understand the reality of a coexistence environment, where current on-premises IT systems must be an integral part of the total digital transf...

The world of business is changing. Disruptive shifts in power are forcing everyone to question the established status quo. In particular, savvy chief executives are tasking IT organizations to help create compelling customer experiences, support new business models and adopt agile operational processes. That's why the vast majority of IT and business leaders are joining forces on the organizations’ most pressing commercial needs and wants. They seek an open and flexible business technology foundation that's an enabler, rather than an inhibitor, to meaningful and substantive workflow progress. Forward-thinking executives believe cloud services can empower them to achieve their strategic business outcomes. Moreover, they want their whole leadership team to collaborate across the business, developing a comprehensive IT strategy that utilizes existing infrastructure investments and the elasticity of cloud services. Innovation: Opportunities vs Challenges Meanwhile, CIOs are...

Forging a viable business technology strategy for today’s Global Networked Economy is a high priority for most forward-thinking CEOs across the globe. Their guidance to CIOs is to create the fusion between existing IT infrastructure and modern cloud services. Moreover, the shift to a Hybrid IT model must support the organization’s key commercial expansion objectives. The savvy leaders who have a superior approach can extract greater value from their legacy IT investments, and launch new initiatives based upon public and private cloud computing services. This is the new normal -- CIOs must create the optimal blended environment for purposeful technology-enabled innovation. Primary Motivation A global study of 500 hybrid cloud decision makers revealed that organizations are increasingly integrating cloud computing and storage resources with traditional IT infrastructure to accommodate dynamic needs and specific business priorities, according to a market study by the IBM Center for...

CEOs across the globe now view business technology as a key component of their growth strategies. That’s why the role of today’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) has become increasingly challenging. Mounting pressure to innovate has left many CIOs flat-­footed -- essentially playing catch­-up trying to integrate new technologies, rather than driving them. A recent International Data Corporation (IDC ) study examined CIO and Line of Business (LOB) executive perceptions of IT organizations, the changing role of IT leadership from being a traditional operational player to becoming a strategic partner in digital business transformation scenarios. According to the IDC study, the way in which CIOs view themselves has a direct impact on how they envision their evolving IT leadership job and their relationship with key LOB executives. Business Technology Innovation Disconnect Of the 150 CIO survey respondents, 40.7 percent viewed themselves predominantly as custodians of operational inf...

Worldwide, there's a growing appreciation for the many benefits of the Open Source way. Clearly, being truly Open is a frame of mind that can apply to just about anything in life -- including the development and nurture of a progressive company culture that's equipped for the challenges and opportunities of today's Global Networked Economy. Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat, recently launched his new book entitled " The Open Organization " -- Igniting Passion and Performance. He says, "The conventional approach to business management was not designed to foster innovation, address the needs and expectations of the current workforce that demands more of jobs, or operate at the accelerated speed of business." Granted, savvy senior executives within numerous multinational companies across the globe have already embraced the open way, and others will surely follow. Why would any forward-thinking CEO settle for the constraints of a legacy organization model, ...

As this year comes to a close, let's take one last look at the most pervasive cloud computing trends -- including increased usage across the different cloud service models, the key business drivers and the impact of agile innovation strategies. Cloud computing adoption has matured, with 69 percent of survey respondents stating that at least a portion of their computing infrastructure is in the cloud. However, 56 percent of companies are still identifying IT operations that could potentially move to the cloud , according to the latest market study by IDG Enterprise. Survey respondents believe that business technology is a game changer, and cloud solutions are providing advantages from increasing IT agility (63 percent), IT innovation (61 percent) and improving the ability to access critical business data and digital service applications (58 percent). Removing the Barriers to Cloud Adoption That said, IT leaders perspective on barriers to bringing these advantages to fruition...

We’re nearing the end of 2014 and most smart CEOs already know their IT transformation game plan for 2015 – more digital differentiation woven into the fabric of their essential operations. Every enterprise is now a digital business, regardless of the industry. That’s why digital service innovators are in such high demand. Meanwhile, many of the more traditional IT process-oriented jobs will diminish in importance. Are you evolving your IT support team’s roles and responsibilities, as a result these key trends? Forward-thinking CIOs and IT managers have already embraced business technology that will do some of the more tedious routine system administration tasks via automation, so that they can redirect their focus to higher-priority activities. What’s considered a pressing requirement? Many believe that it’s attaining parity in the enterprise with the freemium consumer cloud offerings that have helped to fuel the so-called Shadow IT phenomenon. Public Cloud Gains More Converts ...

Here's the challenge. Your CEO won't accept anything less than a world-class IT infrastructure that meets the expectations of his most informed Line-of-Business leaders. If you're the CIO and you don't want to rely upon public cloud service providers, then are you ready to deliver the caliber of IT services that they can provision? Take a moment. Consider the implications. Ponder the impact of your actions. All the leading public cloud services providers routinely design and assemble their own data center infrastructure components, due to their extreme needs for scale and cost control. Regardless of the cloud services company, a common element among all these devices is a requirement to run an open-source operating system, such as Linux, and various other purpose-built open-source software components. Gartner, Inc. refers to this trend as the Web-scale IT phenomena. Why You Need to Adopt Web-scale IT Practices What is Web-scale IT? It's all of the things ha...

Public cloud service adoption is already a mainstream phenomenon in most organizations. Meanwhile, many large enterprises see a private cloud in their future. But choosing whether to invest in building an internal cloud infrastructure or buy from a cloud service provider will become more challenging – in anticipation, savvy IT leaders are becoming brokers of dynamic business technology solutions. Hybrid cloud resource management and progressive operational process adoption are the key focal points in preparation for this transition. Moreover, Line of Business demand for emerging use cases and just-in-time IT workload creation requires speedy access to a managed self-serve DevOps deployment model . That’s why comprehensive management and provisioning tools -- such as Red Hat CloudForms -- have become essential platforms. Besides, given the pervasive trends in the marketplace, every business will eventually need an actionable hybrid cloud adoption plan. It’s a requirement of the for...

The CEOs of leading companies are already striving to create an agile business model -- one that responds quickly to competitive pressures and shifting market demands. Commercial agility often requires a corresponding accelerated business technology deployment. Meaning, the IT requirement is for applications to be provisioned in hours -- not weeks or months. That's a tall order for many corporate IT departments. Regardless, it must be done. More often than not, it's accomplished via a cloud services-based methodology. Savvy executives that proactively migrate their IT infrastructure to a cloud-centric architecture will generate new revenue that could surge by a factor of three from 2011 to 2017, according to the latest market study by IHS. Global business spending for infrastructure and services related to the cloud will reach an estimated $174.2 billion this year -- that's up by 20 percent from $145.2 billion in 2013. By 2017, enterprise spending on the cloud will r...

The transition to managed cloud services is having a trickle-down effect on various stakeholders in the business technology landscape. As an example, in the evolving enterprise communications market, customer premise equipment (CPE) vendors must confront imminent erosion in their installed base -- as cloud services gain traction across the public, private, and hybrid cloud domains. According to the latest market study by ABI Research , 41 percent of all enterprise communications users -- or 386 million lines or seats -- will be on virtual infrastructure by 2016, which is posing a serious danger to the traditional CPE market. "For CPE vendors, the cloud threat is real," says ABI senior analyst Subha Rama. "By 2016, the communications CPE market will only grow 4.3 percent, while cloud communications will grow by over 21 percent, reaching $8 billion in revenues." Smaller vendors with point solutions will see cloud services rapidly displace their installed base...

More IT managers will turn to cloud services to accelerate their responsiveness to business needs. Quicker IT deployments, end-user self-service, and reduced start-up costs equate to faster time-to-market for many organizations. Others will want to take advantage of the ability to pivot more quickly and adapt to market changes. Beyond the desire for better, faster and cheaper processes, cloud services will enable entirely new business models and associated revenue streams. Acceptance will advance as cloud architectures prove out the opportunities for real business innovation and new functionality. There is no single journey to cloud adoption, but rather a wide variety of entrance ramps and paths. On the demand side, organizations have different starting points and different objectives. Fortunately, public cloud computing services can unleash an exciting mix of new technologies, architectures, and organizational approaches. Let’s consider the needs of the evolving media sector. ...

Telecommunication service providers will likely consume their own cloud services. After all, every organization can gain something from the proven benefits of infrastructure and application out-tasking. However, their primary role will be to implement and deliver the services that their end-customers will seek from public, virtual private, and hybrid clouds. Service providers have the opportunity to extend their current offerings, which may already include hosting, communications, media, and software application services. Moreover, cloud offerings enable service providers to extend their reach beyond their traditional areas of operation. That said, service providers must be prepared to address customer concerns ranging from policy compliance, to end-to-end security, to quality of service management, and to technical customization. They must be able to deliver a flexible range of functionality , service levels, and payment models. Enterprise Cloud Use-Case Scenario Many enterpris...