Business Technology Roundtable

Forward-thinking CEOs ensure that their organization has access to the latest digital business technologies. But in today’s global networked economy, that’s not enough. If you believe that digital transformation knowledge is power, then fully mastering the ability to apply your IT capabilities into actionable wisdom is infinitely more potent. The Harvard Business Review ( HBR ) market research team recently completed a global study of the path that several organizations have taken to develop and deliver the digital learning support resources that their key internal stakeholders both need and want. In a prior editorial , I described how Digital Leaders are better prepared to cross the skills chasm. In this follow-on editorial, I’ll share the typical roadblocks on the path to digital transformation progress. Plus, I’ll also share some useful recommendations. Enabling Ongoing Digital Knowledge Transfer According to the HBR study findings, the biggest barrier to learning about new ...

Impatient CEOs are demanding more innovation from their business technology leaders, as the digital disruption that's already unseating entrenched incumbents can cause real angst. Some have requested their CIO to move quickly and harness the smartphone device that's in nearly every employee's possession. What is your mobile-first business strategy? Are you prepared to accelerate your mobile application development efforts? The right answers to these key questions will become increasingly important. The savvy IT leaders at forward-thinking organizations across industries are already utilizing enterprise mobility software applications to transform their businesses and gain a competitive edge in the Global Networked Economy. Commercial mobile application development is a strategic business tool in the quest to achieve a significant digital transformation . Leveraging Enterprise Mobility Leadership According to the latest global market study by IDC, $901 billion was spe...

Most informed CEOs seem to know intuitively that the most qualified person to lead their forward-looking business technology advancement isn’t likely to have the profile of a typical legacy CIO. In contrast, the role of a Digital Business Transformation innovator has very different requirements to the traditional IT utility infrastructure custodian of the past. That said, some progressive CIOs are already making the transition to lead the digital competitiveness quest, and others will surely follow. Moreover, a few multinational companies currently have a CIO in a highly strategic, visible and collaborative position within the company. Their challenge is to guide the rest of the organization’s leadership to attain the required skills that will enable them to actively participate in the planning and execution of a new strategy – empowered by digital technologies. The Harvard Business Review (HBR) market research team recently completed a global study of the path that several organi...

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, ...

The mobile communications revolution that has transformed our lives as consumers is now similarly redefining the way forward-looking enterprises manage their operations and engage with employees, partners and customers. The ongoing pursuit of digital business transformation projects are prompting many CIOs to rethink the technologies, services and techniques that underpin their enterprise mobility initiatives -- evolving traditional roles, responsibilities and organizational cultures in the process. While the numerous commercial applications for smartphones within the workplace tend to be top-of-mind for savvy Line of Business leaders, now mainstream applications for media tablets have also broadened the productivity enhancing potential of mobile device app development. Device Adoption in European Organizations A large number of the tablets already deployed across British, French and German companies are now considered to be the only device that employees are equipped with to ...

The rapid adoption of digital business transformation processes and the ongoing deployment of open hybrid cloud platforms are enabling the achievement of software development bold goals. But when management consultants and industry analysts talk about how IT innovation is changing many organizations, government leadership of this key trend typically isn't top of mind. That said, a new market study by MeriTalk reveals that approximately two-thirds of American federal government IT leaders say DevOps adoption will help agencies shift into the cloud computing fast lane. Agile methodologies, continuous integration and continuous delivery are improving IT collaboration and migration speed. But according to the findings, help is required -- with 66 percent of leaders saying that their agency needs to move IT services to the cloud faster to meet their mission and constituent needs. DevOps is a software development and IT management method that brings software engineering, quality a...

More CEOs are setting bold IT innovation goals for their company. Meanwhile, CIOs are tasked to quickly build the required business technology infrastructure. What’s the primary motivation? The growing expectation that all leading organizations will achieve their key strategic business objectives via superior IT-enabled advancements. In fact, a recent study found that 55 percent of survey respondents said their environment will be changed ‘significantly’ -- 20 percent actually said it will be ‘completely transformed.’ Such major transformations can lead to significant competitive advantages, as long as the IT goals are clearly articulated, according to the findings from a Harvard Business Review (HBR) market study and associated report that was sponsored by Red Hat, Inc. The apparent benefits extend beyond the traditional commercial enterprise. For example, a $650 million innovation project at a large State Government agency is returning $4.7 billion in additional tax revenue – tha...

Digital  Business Transformation projects gained momentum in 2014, as more companies moved their legacy IT workloads to cloud computing platforms and launched a variety of new cloud-native applications. This pervasive trend will continue and accelerate for the duration of 2015. Total cloud IT infrastructure investment (server, storage systems , and ethernet switch) is forecast to grow by 21 percent year-over-year to reach $32 billion in 2015 -- accounting for about 33 percent of all IT infrastructure spending this year, which will be up from about 28 percent in 2014. Private cloud IT infrastructure spending will grow by 16 percent year-over-year to $12 billion, while public cloud IT infrastructure spending will grow by 25 percent in 2015 to $21 billion, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). For the full year 2014, cloud IT infrastructure spending totaled $26.4 billion, up 18.7 percent year over year from $22.3 billion -- priva...

Senior executive expectations have been raised for traditional IT organizations that broker cloud computing services for their internal business stakeholders. Besides, there's a belief that the lack of dimension maturity can slow digital service innovation outcomes. As a result, International Data Corporation (IDC) now predicts that by 2016, 65 percent of global competitive strategies will require real-time IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) solutions. The ability of CIOs and their  IT organizations to grasp how business wants cloud computing services that serve actual business needs -- not traditional IT components -- is significantly altering the ways in which service management is achieving success. Quest for Competitive Strategic Advantage New business technologies are fundamentally altering how IT organizations function, how business is conducted, and how enterprises compete in the marketplace. IDC believes that this environment requires IT to deliver services that are focused o...

Back in 1982, many pundits in the business media were raving about the publication of " In Search of Excellence " – a book written by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman. As you may recall, the topic wasn't about the typical mainstream company of that time. Instead, it was about forty-three selected companies that were deemed to be “excellent” by the two authors. Those companies were chosen to be profiled due to their superior organization and people processes. Today, it’s more likely for management consultants to write about business technology adoption – specifically, digital transformation and the role of DevOps practices within the evolving enterprise IT organization. But is DevOps really a significant trend, or merely a fad? International Data Corporation (IDC) believes that DevOps will be adopted -- in either practice or discipline -- by 80% of Global 1000 organizations by 2019. IDC released a summary the findings from their "2014 DevOps Benchmark Survey...

How agile is your IT organization? Have you kept pace with the rapid evolution of cloud computing services? Have you applied that cloud investment to connect with your key stakeholders in the marketplace? Are you ready to seize the opportunities from the emerging mobile cloud trend? If you answered NO to any of these questions, you're at a competitive disadvantage with your more digital savvy business technology peer group. The leading organizations worldwide will rely on cloud infrastructure to achieve commercial benefits that extend far beyond IT cost reduction goals. Informed CEOs and other senior executives are realizing that cloud service adoption can be a much-needed catalyst for operational process improvement -- as well as a driver of business transformation. New market data shows the increased use of cloud technology by global business to better connect with their employees and customers. According to findings from the KPMG 2014 Cloud Survey, the top use of cloud com...

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...

The savvy CEOs that approved significant investments in business technology during 2014 are reaping the rewards of their first-to-market leadership advantage. Meanwhile, executives at the fast-follower companies are no doubt assessing how they plan to catch-up with the early-adopters of cloud services in 2015. This rapidly evolving IT transformation scenario is pervasive. It's happening in every corner of the globe. So, what's the outlook for worldwide cloud service adoption and how will the key trends impact cloud computing infrastructure investment? To get the answers to those questions, we'll look at the findings from the latest Cisco Global Cloud Index (GCI). Cisco forecasts continued strong growth of cloud traffic, cloud workloads and cloud storage -- with private cloud significantly larger than public cloud. Over the next five years, their market study projects data center traffic to nearly triple, with cloud representing 76 percent of total data center traffic. ...

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 ...

Earlier in the year, Gartner forecast that by year-end 2016, more than 50 percent of global companies will have stored customer-sensitive data in a public cloud platform. These services can scale very quickly, which has made them very popular for applications that have a requirement for flexibility. Cloud storage offers organizations significant cost and agility benefits, but can pose some security, privacy, accessibility and performance challenges. Therefore, a big part of selecting a best-fit cloud storage provider is investing the time to perform the research to fully understand its capabilities. Furthermore, most industry analyst prior market studies have uncovered that Line of Business leaders are most likely to procure public cloud service offerings for their organizations. However, survey participants at two recent business technology events on the East Coast were divided about who in their organization is primarily driving their cloud computing strategy. So, given these...

Most forward-looking CEOs have already made their move to prepare for the future that they foresee – where business technology is a key deciding factor for them to attain ongoing commercial prosperity. This new digital-propelled environment will profoundly change business processes, along with the need for accelerated tech-savvy human capital development across all industries. Those leaders that catch the next wave of Internet-driven market development will reap the rewards of the expanding Global Networked Economy. They’ll achieve a quantum boost in performance. And they’ll reach their lofty goals by harnessing the unique competitive advantages of cloud computing services , mobile enterprise applications and other targeted business technology investments. Welcome to the Internet of Everything Worldwide IT spending is forecast to surpass $3.9 trillion in 2015 – that’s a 3.9 percent increase from 2014. Business technology spending will be driven by Digital Business practitioners, ...

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...