The CompTIA Cloud+certification validates the skills and expertise of IT practitioners in implementing and maintaining cloud technologies. This is exactly what it takes to become a good cloud technician. In the past few years, however, the National Cloud Technologists Association (NCTA) has recognized that evolving market demands have changed cloud computing technology in at least 13 ways.
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Your Choice: Cloud Technician or Digital Transformer | @CloudExpo #Cloud #DigitalTransformation
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Top "Cloud Musings" Posts For 2017
( This content is being syndicated through multiple channels. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of GovCloud Network, GovCloud Network Partners or any other corporation or organization.)
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The Endpoint Imperative: ID’ing and Overcoming the Stumbling Blocks to Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation is the No 1 priority for organizations large and small. It’s imperative that IT remove any obstacles to digital transformation success – including outdated PCs and mobile devices. Intel’s Kaitlin Murphy has some pointers to assure that your PC fleet and mobile devices are not your Digital Transformation Stumbling Blocks.Kevin: Hello everyone and welcome to this episode of "The Endpoint Imperative" podcast series from Intel. My name is Kevin L. Jackson and I'm your host for this series. This episode's topic is identifying and overcoming digital transformation stumbling blocks. With me is Kaitlin Murphy, director of marketing for business clients at Intel. Kaitlin it's great to have you back.
Kaitlin: Thanks, I'm glad to be back.
Kevin: In my last episode I was talking with Yasser Rasheed, and he told us about how the IT security model is changing. Earlier you had talked about even more than that is changing, and that the PC is at the center of what's being called digital transformation. Can you tell us more about that?
Kaitlin: Sure. One of the core tenets of digital transformation is building in digital environment, where employees can work wherever they want, whenever they want, and however they want. To some degree that means using the technology they want, which includes the PC. The PC is a very personal device and it's heavily relied upon on a daily basis. In fact, there was a recent global survey that said 95% of respondents chose the PC if they could only have one device to use during the workday. So, for lots of employees the PC is the thing that they need to be productive. It's literally the gateway to access everything. The tools, the apps, and data and then to be able to do things with it, not to mention communicate with others.
It isn't just a consumption device, it's a creation device too. And with each generation of new platform, new features, new enhancements are introduced, and they help employees to be able to perform the way they want. Delivering performance improvements and security improvements too. It also benefits IT and they've realized the importance of prioritizing the new devices in the transformation, so that they can take advantage of those capabilities.
Kevin: Can we zoom in on this migration to Windows 10. What does that mean to the organizations in their digital transformation?
Caitlin: The moving to Windows 10 a new hardware is one of the quickest and easiest ways to take advantage of the best of both worlds. New hardware in conjunction with the new software delivers the best performance, the best security, and ultimately the best experience, both for end users and for IT organizations. And Intel powered devices are a great way to unlock that premium performance, for things like mobility, touch and workloads. Think about battery life, you can literally have a battery that lasts you all day. You're not tethered to your desk or to a power cord. Then there's multitasking. We all multitask, and the performance today allows people to be running multiple things at the same time and not be slowed down.
Not to mention there's huge enhancements with the introduction of Windows 10. Just think of the optimization in 365 and all the touch capabilities. Especially with the tight development relationship between Intel, Microsoft and OEMs you just can't find a bunch of well integrated devices to meet their needs and how they want to work. Like the two in one options, they have dials and touch and they can use a bunch of different modality based upon what the person is trying to do and how they feel most comfortable doing it.
Kevin: It sounds like a lot of new capabilities for the end users, but what is the biggest challenge you see facing organizations as they ramp up for this transformation?
Kaitlin: For any large-scale transformation is difficult, right? It's complex and it takes time. Not just time to execute but time for the people to adjust as well, and the culture. One big issue we hear about is the proliferation of more devices. How do you secure and manage all of them? So, think about it. Digital transformation is anchored in PC's but it's actually a lot larger than that. It's about building that digital environment. In doing so also involve deploying ambient compute, things like sensors from lighting temperature control, or intelligence in the conference room so that meetings it can start faster and deliver improved collaboration capabilities. Each of these pieces of compute has to be maintained right, both security managed, and that presents a challenge.
Kevin: Wow, sounds like the digital transformation can be really hard for the organization. But now we're out of time for this episode. I'd like to really thank Kaitlin Murphy with Intel, for providing us her insights and expertise. Thanks.
Kaitlin: Thank you.
( This content is being syndicated through multiple channels. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of GovCloud Network, GovCloud Network Partners or any other corporation or organization.)
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Cloud Storage 2.0 Set to Dominate Market | @CloudExpo #GDPR #Cloud #Storage
The enterprise data storage marketplace is poised to become a battlefield. No longer the quiet backwater of cloud computing services, the focus of this global transition is now going from compute to storage. An overview of recent storage market history is needed to understand why this transition is important.
Before 2007 and the birth of the cloud computing market we are witnessing today, the on-premise model hosted in large local data centers dominated enterprise storage. Key marketplace players were EMC (before the Dell acquisition), NetApp, IBM, HP (before they became HPE) and Hitachi. Company employees managed information technology resources (compute, storage, network) and companies tightly controlled their data in facilities they managed. Data security, legal and regulatory concerns, for the most part, were very localized. The data itself was highly structured (i.e., Relational Databases and SQL) in support of serially executed mostly static business processes. This structured approach worked because consumer segments in most industries were homogeneous, segregated and relatively static. Companies also felt relatively safe in their industry vertical due to the high financial and operational barriers prospective new competitive entrants would face.
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A New Chapter: “Cloud Musings en español”
Since May 2010, “Cloud Musings” has demonstrated, educated and celebrated the use of advanced technology in business. Specific subjects are sometimes varied, but cloud computing and cybersecurity seem to have become our sweet-spot. Over this period, information technology has transformed from a business support arm to being the core of just about every business model. Business transformation is also accelerating as social media and big data analytics take their place in the mix. We are also very proud to have had the opportunity to partner with industry leading companies like Dell, IBM, NASDAQ and Intel. A shortcoming, however, has been our failure to directly address non-native English speakers. Today we will start to address that issue by launching “Cloud Musings en español”.
So out of all the languages we could have picked why Spanish? The simple answer is that many of our Spanish native speakers have asked us to. We actually have a significant following in Spain, Mexico and across South America so this channel is a natural for us. Also, please don’t forget the large Spanish speaking population in the United States! We strive to continue enhancing our value so delivering advance information technology insight and marketplace observations in the native tongue of a large segment of our readers is more than appropriate and long overdue.
Since this launch is both professionally and personally important, I’ve asked my good friend Arturo Duránto supervise and guide the GovCloud Network Team in this effort. Arturo not only “walks the walk and talks the talk” (natively in Spanish), but he shares my passion around employing advanced information technology in accomplishing business and mission objectives. At the start, “Cloud Musings en español” will publish translated versions of “Cloud Musings” content. We will also look to publish IT in business stories that originate in the Hispanic business world. Cloud computing, cybersecurity and big data analytics for government and business will continue to be at our core but the application of our vision will broaden.
Please come visit use at:
We look forward to partnering with you on this exciting journey!
( This content is being syndicated through multiple channels. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of GovCloud Network, GovCloud Network Partners or any other corporation or organization.)
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Un nuevo capítulo: “Cloud Musings en español”
Desde mayo de 2010, “Cloud Musings” ha mostrado, informado y celebrado el uso de las tecnologías más avanzadas en el mundo de la empresa. Los temas cubiertos han podido variar de vez en cuando, pero el cloud computing y la ciberseguridad se han convertido en nuestro terreno ideal. Durante este período, las tecnologías de la información se han transformado, dejando de ser un brazo de apoyo de las empresas para convertirse en el núcleo de prácticamente cualquier modelo de negocio. La transformación de la actividad empresarial está igualmente acelerándose, a medida que las redes sociales y la analítica del big data ocupan su lugar en este espacio. Estamos, además, muy orgullosos de haber tenido la oportunidad de asociarnos con compañías punteras, como Dell, IBM, NASDAQ e Intel, aunque hemos tenido una limitación: no nos hemos dirigido a los lectores cuya lengua materna no es el inglés. Hoy empezamos a dar adecuada respuesta a esa cuestión, con el lanzamiento de nuestro blog “Cloud Musings en español”.
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Your Choice: Cloud Technician or Digital Transformer | @CloudExpo #Cloud #DigitalTransformation
The CompTIA Cloud+certification validates the skills and expertise of IT practitioners in implementing and maintaining cloud technologies. This is exactly what it takes to become a good cloud technician. In the past few years, however, the National Cloud Technologists Association (NCTA) has recognized that evolving market demands have changed cloud computing technology in at least 13 ways.
↧
Top "Cloud Musings" Posts For 2017
( This content is being syndicated through multiple channels. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of GovCloud Network, GovCloud Network Partners or any other corporation or organization.)
↧
The Endpoint Imperative: ID’ing and Overcoming the Stumbling Blocks to Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation is the No 1 priority for organizations large and small. It’s imperative that IT remove any obstacles to digital transformation success – including outdated PCs and mobile devices. Intel’s Kaitlin Murphy has some pointers to assure that your PC fleet and mobile devices are not your Digital Transformation Stumbling Blocks.Kevin: Hello everyone and welcome to this episode of "The Endpoint Imperative" podcast series from Intel. My name is Kevin L. Jackson and I'm your host for this series. This episode's topic is identifying and overcoming digital transformation stumbling blocks. With me is Kaitlin Murphy, director of marketing for business clients at Intel. Kaitlin it's great to have you back.
Kaitlin: Thanks, I'm glad to be back.
Kevin: In my last episode I was talking with Yasser Rasheed, and he told us about how the IT security model is changing. Earlier you had talked about even more than that is changing, and that the PC is at the center of what's being called digital transformation. Can you tell us more about that?
Kaitlin: Sure. One of the core tenets of digital transformation is building in digital environment, where employees can work wherever they want, whenever they want, and however they want. To some degree that means using the technology they want, which includes the PC. The PC is a very personal device and it's heavily relied upon on a daily basis. In fact, there was a recent global survey that said 95% of respondents chose the PC if they could only have one device to use during the workday. So, for lots of employees the PC is the thing that they need to be productive. It's literally the gateway to access everything. The tools, the apps, and data and then to be able to do things with it, not to mention communicate with others.
It isn't just a consumption device, it's a creation device too. And with each generation of new platform, new features, new enhancements are introduced, and they help employees to be able to perform the way they want. Delivering performance improvements and security improvements too. It also benefits IT and they've realized the importance of prioritizing the new devices in the transformation, so that they can take advantage of those capabilities.
Kevin: Can we zoom in on this migration to Windows 10. What does that mean to the organizations in their digital transformation?
Caitlin: The moving to Windows 10 a new hardware is one of the quickest and easiest ways to take advantage of the best of both worlds. New hardware in conjunction with the new software delivers the best performance, the best security, and ultimately the best experience, both for end users and for IT organizations. And Intel powered devices are a great way to unlock that premium performance, for things like mobility, touch and workloads. Think about battery life, you can literally have a battery that lasts you all day. You're not tethered to your desk or to a power cord. Then there's multitasking. We all multitask, and the performance today allows people to be running multiple things at the same time and not be slowed down.
Not to mention there's huge enhancements with the introduction of Windows 10. Just think of the optimization in 365 and all the touch capabilities. Especially with the tight development relationship between Intel, Microsoft and OEMs you just can't find a bunch of well integrated devices to meet their needs and how they want to work. Like the two in one options, they have dials and touch and they can use a bunch of different modality based upon what the person is trying to do and how they feel most comfortable doing it.
Kevin: It sounds like a lot of new capabilities for the end users, but what is the biggest challenge you see facing organizations as they ramp up for this transformation?
Kaitlin: For any large-scale transformation is difficult, right? It's complex and it takes time. Not just time to execute but time for the people to adjust as well, and the culture. One big issue we hear about is the proliferation of more devices. How do you secure and manage all of them? So, think about it. Digital transformation is anchored in PC's but it's actually a lot larger than that. It's about building that digital environment. In doing so also involve deploying ambient compute, things like sensors from lighting temperature control, or intelligence in the conference room so that meetings it can start faster and deliver improved collaboration capabilities. Each of these pieces of compute has to be maintained right, both security managed, and that presents a challenge.
Kevin: Wow, sounds like the digital transformation can be really hard for the organization. But now we're out of time for this episode. I'd like to really thank Kaitlin Murphy with Intel, for providing us her insights and expertise. Thanks.
Kaitlin: Thank you.
( This content is being syndicated through multiple channels. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of GovCloud Network, GovCloud Network Partners or any other corporation or organization.)
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Cloud Storage 2.0 Set to Dominate Market | @CloudExpo #GDPR #Cloud #Storage
The enterprise data storage marketplace is poised to become a battlefield. No longer the quiet backwater of cloud computing services, the focus of this global transition is now going from compute to storage. An overview of recent storage market history is needed to understand why this transition is important.
Before 2007 and the birth of the cloud computing market we are witnessing today, the on-premise model hosted in large local data centers dominated enterprise storage. Key marketplace players were EMC (before the Dell acquisition), NetApp, IBM, HP (before they became HPE) and Hitachi. Company employees managed information technology resources (compute, storage, network) and companies tightly controlled their data in facilities they managed. Data security, legal and regulatory concerns, for the most part, were very localized. The data itself was highly structured (i.e., Relational Databases and SQL) in support of serially executed mostly static business processes. This structured approach worked because consumer segments in most industries were homogeneous, segregated and relatively static. Companies also felt relatively safe in their industry vertical due to the high financial and operational barriers prospective new competitive entrants would face.
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The Endpoint Imperative: A Form Factor Renaissance
Workplace expectations are changing, and along with them, the devices we use to do our jobs. In this episode of "The End Point Imperative", Intel’s Sarah Wieskus tells us about how Intel is driving better user interface and performance while continuing to driving enhanced security and manageability.
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Another example is when we talk about having web meetings at home. Instantly with a push of a button on my phone, on my devices at home, I can connect to my friends and family very easily, see them, talk to them, with pretty good quality, but when I go to work to have a web meeting it's very complex, it's not easy to connect and you sacrifice on quality. Why is that?
( This content is being syndicated through multiple channels. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of GovCloud Network, GovCloud Network Partners or any other corporation or organization.)
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Kevin L. Jackson: Hi everyone and welcome to this episode of The Endpoint Imperative, a podcast series from Intel. My name is Kevin L. Jackson and I'm your host for the series. The topic for this episode is "A Form Factor Renaissance". With me, is Sarah Wieskus the Enterprise Sales Director with Intel. Sarah, welcome.
Sarah Wieskus:Thank you, Kevin.
Kevin: Let's talk today about the changing expectations around technology in the workplace. How is Intel driving the user experience and performance while continuing to drive and enhance security manageability? In the US, in fact, mobile workers are projected to account for more than 70% of their workforce. They're really a digital native, younger and more demanding workforce. Can you tell us about the consumerization of IT?
Sarah: Sure, Kevin. An example of that was several years ago when many consumers received amazing, thin and light, instantly connected, instantly available devices at home. They wanted to bring those into work and use them because their work devices were thicker, not as fast, not as easily connected, et cetera. IT then had to figure out how they take a consumer device and manage it in the enterprise, secure it, connect it, make sure peripherals would work with it and also, make sure the enterprise applications would even run on these consumer-type devices. Now fast forward to today we see what's almost called a consumerization of IT 2.0 where it's not about the device because there's many, many thin, light and instantly on and instantly available devices that are enterprise grade in the workplace. It’s really about the experiences that are happening at home that we want to leverage in the enterprise.
I have three examples. Example number one. Many of us use our thumb to log in to our phones at home or use our face to log in to our computers at home but then we go to work and we have to put in many passwords into many different systems and applications and websites. These passwords can get lost and stolen and forgotten. It’s much much more efficient to use your finger or your face as an example to connect to those devices at work.
Another example is when we talk about having web meetings at home. Instantly with a push of a button on my phone, on my devices at home, I can connect to my friends and family very easily, see them, talk to them, with pretty good quality, but when I go to work to have a web meeting it's very complex, it's not easy to connect and you sacrifice on quality. Why is that?
Then finally, many of us, at home are using assistive technology. That’s what we call it. Where it's technology in the room, your kitchen, your living room that you talk to, and you ask the device to help you with turning the lights on and off, advancing the music on your phone and advancing the music on your stereo. This assistive technology, I'll call her a she, will help you at work as well. Why is it when you come to work you don't have that type of experience in the space you're working in? Wouldn't it be great to walk into a conference room for example, and tell her, "Turn the lights on", "Connect to a projector", "Take notes for me"? From a high level, it's all about how do we enable some of those amazing technologies that make us more efficient, more collaborative at home and bring that into work?
Kevin: Yes, I really see myself in each of those examples. Tell me, how has Intel really amp'ed up their innovation to develop these end user devices for work?
Sarah: Well, Kevin, it takes a village. It's not something we can do by ourselves. Intel spends a lot of time working with ecosystem partners to make something like that happen at work. We have to work with the numerous software providers, numerous other technologies to make those kinds of things happen and to make them easy, that is a major key as well.
People don't care about how it works in the back-end, they just want to push a button and it works. They want to work all the time reliably and that's not an easy thing to accomplish when you are talking about a complex environment with different types of software technologies, different types of hardware technologies, different types of infrastructure that you have at work.
Kevin: You've referenced the back-end but for IT team that's their job so what does it really mean for the IT team? They used to be able to dictate the hardware and software that was used.
Sarah: Yes that is true. What we've really focused on is how can we enable those technologies and make it easy for IT. Intel has a platform brand called the vPro For Business. This brand means that all the necessary performance technologies, manageability technologies, security technologies, stability technologies are there. We're working really hard to enable these consumer-like experiences at work on top of that vPro platform brand. That way IT knows that, "Hey, vPro is here so I know this is the most secure, manageable, efficient platform for these experiences to essentially write on top of." We want to make it that easy for them, that they can look at a brand and just know that they can bank on that for business.
Kevin: We can really look to Intel to help them. Unfortunately, we're at the end of our time for this episode but thanks to Sarah with Intel for her insights and expertise.
Sarah: Thank you.
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( This content is being syndicated through multiple channels. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of GovCloud Network, GovCloud Network Partners or any other corporation or organization.)
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The Endpoint Imperative: In a Software World, Hardware Does Matter
Hardware matters. From productivity to security to innovation, make sure your machines can keep up. Intel’s Sarah Wieskus joins The End Point Imperative: A Podcast series from Intel to discuss the importance of stable, optimized hardware in today’s digital world.Kevin L. Jackson: Hello everyone and welcome to this episode of The Endpoint Imperative, a podcast series from Intel. My name is Kevin L. Jackson, and I will be your host for this series. The topic for this episode is "In A Software World Hardware Does Matter." From security to productivity. With me again is Sarah Wieskus with Intel, Sarah, welcome back.
Sarah: Thank you, Kevin.
Kevin: You know since our last talk, I've been dying to ask you about this migration to Windows 10. Everyone is doing it. And this move to as-a-service models where releases of new features occur two or three times a year is putting everyone in a tizzy. What does this mean for the hardware?
Sarah: Sure, great question. We spend a lot of time with customers helping them with this exact question. Intel is constantly innovating on the hardware side with our business brand of vPro. Again, vPro is our optimized for the business brand of hardware for the environment and enterprise. We are innovating on this platform every year, future proofing it for these new features and new releases, as an example with Windows 10 and Microsoft. Microsoft and Intel have a very collaborative strong relationship. We make sure that everything they would like to enable is supported on the hardware side as well. So that a customer can trust that from end to end, the hardware to the software, that everything is validated, verified and works out of a shoot.
Kevin: With this accelerated pace of updates and feature releases, enterprises need to think about the hardware, about how to support this new steady cadence of continued innovation. Is that about the size of it?
Sarah: Absolutely. We work hand in hand, again, to make sure the features that they are enabling every six months, so when these releases come out, run best in the enterprise, on top of our hardware. It is an end-to-end story. For example, from a security perspective, because security is one of the many reasons customers are migrating to Windows 10. We have enabled specific hardware attributes that Windows 10 can take advantage of, as an example. And security is so important for the enterprise, and again, is one of those reasons people are refreshing to Windows 10. We're making sure that if a customer is going down that path, that if they chose to run that technology on top of the Intel vPro business brand, that those hardware security elements are complementary with the software.
Kevin: This evolution, though, is accelerating. How is the Intel vPro platform keeping up? What's next?
Sarah: Great question, and as I said earlier, we are innovating on top of this technology every year. And this vPro brand really means four things to the customer. It means that it's going to have the best performance to enable productivity. That it's going to be the most stable solution we have for business. Meaning a unified driver stack. Meaning a more stable firmware. Also, as I mentioned before, that hardware security piece. There are specific hardware security features enabled on the vPro BIOS, as an example. And then finally manageability. With vPro brand we enabled something called "lights out management", or out of band management, so that regardless of the state of the system, you're able to manage that hardware and ensure the platform runs as optimally as possible.
Kevin: You know, unfortunately we're at the end of our time for this episode. But it's really good to know that Intel is making it easy for business, with vPro platform, now and for the future. Thank you, Sarah, for your insights and expertise.
Sarah: Thank you, Kevin.
( This content is being syndicated through multiple channels. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of GovCloud Network, GovCloud Network Partners or any other corporation or organization.)
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The Deer Hunters: An Information Technology Lesson
by Kevin Jackson & Dez Blanchfield
Early in the discussion, Max shared an anecdote about how his Grandmother’s personalized retelling of a Jean-Jacques Rousseau's tale circa mid-1700’s, about a group of hunters who elected to collaborate while tracking a large stag, rather than operate independently, influenced him throughout his career. He also recounted how he enjoyed a similarly defining experience working with Michael H. Jordon when the venerable leader was Chairman and CEO of EDS.
Throughout the conversation three endearing characteristics stood out about Max Michaels as a thought leader and innovator - they were:
- The extent to which he values good business judgment
- Successes he has earned through unorthodox thinking
- The critical converging of the IT and networking world
His unorthodox way of thinking was very effectively put into practice while at McKinsey, when in 1996 he led a three-person team, one among some 300 teams worldwide, to win a company-wide competition to generate new client-ready knowledge ideas called the McKinsey Worldwide Practice Olympics. Ranked #1 among 300+ McKinsey teams by showing how to apply the Black-Scholes option trading model to any strategic situation. The critical financial insight behind the Black-Scholes model is that it “eliminates risk” by showing how to buy and sell an underlying asset in just the right way. At McKinsey, Mr. Michaels showed how the identification of the right issues leads to correct strategic actions.
The insight displayed by this win is that the business world is not directly comparable to the financial world. When you invest by buying stock in the financial world, you may have little direct input into what happens to make the stock goes up or down. The business world is entirely different in that when you invest in a new product, strategy or marketing plan, the investor has a continuing opportunity to change the outcome, based on customer perception and preferences change. Throughout the conversation in this episode of the Pioneers of Possible podcast series, this approach to driving successful outcomes turns out to be key to Max Michaels’ leadership style at IBM Network Services, and the genius behind the “Always-on Initiative,” designed to help enterprises support the always-on nature of day-to-day business. The network is the enabling capability for “Always-on” and serves as a foundational element to the convergence between information technology (IT) world and telecommunications (telecom).
Before this trend took hold, companies ran IT and telecom networks separately and with separate leadership teams. With the intuition gained earlier, Mr. Michaels is now helping IBM customers move away from focusing on IT outcomes and move towards a converged business outcome. This approach, in turn, changes business models in ways which makes it possible for organizations to better leverage the convergence of IT and telecom, both within and external to their organizations.
According to Max, the average person in the US is interacting with the network for 16 hours a day. Businesses, therefore, need to deliver their products and services to these individuals through the network. Modern business models rely on the network to facilitate seamless connectivity and the convergence of cloud, the new model for delivering IT, and telecom. Networks enable the cloud, and in the next phase of the evolution of digital business and digital transformation, where the cloud, in turn, becomes the network. IBM as a cloud company is leading the way.
This very paradigm is in effect the same core driver behind the transformative effect the cognitive capabilities of IBM Watson has when incorporated into the network and the cloud, an effect as positively disruptive as a driver of change on how we all experience the world around us, both in business and in life. Through the lens of network service, this overarching principal also heightens the importance of network and cloud convergence. The explosion of data the world has experienced over the recent decade has increased the demand for everything to be software-defined, so that compute, storage and networks can all combine into a single entity which provides value to the end user. Network virtualization and software-defined infrastructure are dramatically and fundamentally changing the entire enterprise managed services world and that, in essence, is the definition of the IBM Service Platform with Watson delivers.
Please enjoy this episode of the podcast series. We look forward to your feedback and comments through social media as we continue our journey to introduce you to leading IBM innovators and thought leaders.
This post was brought to you by IBM Global Technology Services. For more content like this, visit ITBizAdvisor.
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Digital Transformation & Intelligent Automation
By Kevin Jackson & Dez Blanchfield
Digital Transformation often needs Intelligent Automation. This type of change is the focus of a recent “Pioneers of Possible” podcast. In discussion with Elli Hurst - Vice President, Global Automation - IBM Global Business Services (GBS), Dez Blanchfield finds out how her life’s journey inspires her in helping IBM clients use Intelligent Automation to enable globally integrated capabilities.
With six years at Price Waterhouse and 24 years at IBM, Elli seems to have moved a long way from her family’s restaurant business. The service industry passion that she learned from her father, however, is still deep in her heart. That care and passion areevident in how she focuses on understanding her client’s desired business outcomes. By using these targeted outcomes as a beacon for every engagement, her team helps clients align and execute on priorities in a manner that delivers a returnon investment in months.
Her being a technology company executive, it is surprising to hear her describe technology as only “table stakes." While recognizing the critical and fundamental role that technology plays, Ms. Hurst prioritizes the need for process and people elements to work together with the technology. While automation typically starts with a focus on reducing cost, it moves quickly to the delivery of value. Cost efficiencies exist, but value gained by the speed at which an enterprise can perform a business process with high quality is more important than to cost savings. According to her, attaining these types of business outcomes and values stem from a strategy that addresses:
- Impact onthe business and to the people that are performing work;
- How people interact with the technology and automation;
- How people can help enable automation; and
- What new skill setsare needed.
The answers to these points are the basis for a successful Digital Workforce Strategy.
Organizations often err by trying to automate what people do. Ms. Hurst’s insight is in knowing that automation should be designed to assist people in what they do which represents the real secret to bringing automation forward into the enterprise. Automation always impacts a workforce and jobs always change. Business value is released, however, when this change frees up innovation and unveils more exciting projects and tasks for that workforce.
The impact of automation on the workforce is not a bad thing; it is a good thing. Elli recommends “Taking it to the Positive” by getting buy-in and engaging the workforce teams impacted by automation. Experience has taught her that while point solutions may deliver 40% increases in efficiency, used in tandem with a Digital Workforce Strategy, they can simultaneously deliver a 95% increase in employee satisfaction. Establishing and executing that strategy is the key to any transformation that uses automation.
Another one of her telling observations is that automation drives the most significant disruptions to back-office repetitive tasks. By looking at the end-to-end business model through an industry lens, her teams have helped clients to impact the external world beyond the back office and through to the client’s customers. Described as enabling digital experience “concentric circles,” this process enables enrichment of a client’s entire business ecosystem.
The automation conversations usually start in a specific area, like robotic process automation, which has been spurred by a back-office disruption. Addressing any disruption like this requires a strategy because global automation is a journey that aligns business process with rapidly changing technology. The organizational strategy must be able to flex and continuously adapt its strategy. The typical 3-5 year strategy is no longer viable. Intelligent automation demands a “fail fast” strategic approach.
Ms. Hurst ended this fascinating conversation by describing the future of automation as the convergence of all technologies at the enterprise level. In her view, the enablement of self-healing, lights-out, information technology platforms will give business executives the ability to couple an integrated view of all business processes with an ability to take immediate and effective action through mobile devices.
This post was brought to you by IBM Global Technology Services. For more content like this, visit IT Biz Advisor.
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The Ascent of Object Storage
Over the past few years, the data storage market has changed radically. The traditional hierarchy of directories, sub-directories, and files referred to as file storage has given way to object storage, individual storage objects. While file storage was designed to help humans interact with data, object storage is all about automated efficiency.
User expectation of data usage drives file storage repository design. In this structured data model, all folders and names are organized to support a pre-defined business process or model. The file system also associates a limited amount of metadata (i.e., file name, creation date, creator, file type) with the saved file. Finding individual files is done either manually or programmatically by working through the hierarchy. The file storage approach works well with data collections but can become very cumbersome as data volume grows.
Object storage, on the other hand, is optimized for an unstructured data model. While this approach is not “human-friendly” it also doesn’t require prior knowledge or expectations of data use. Files are stored as objects in various locations with a unique identifier and a significant amount of metadata. The size of the accompanying metadata can range from kilobytes to gigabytes and often includes a content summary, keywords, key points, comments, locations of associated objects, data protection policies, security, access, geographic locations and more. Enhanced metadata enables a lower level of granularity when protecting, manipulate, and managing stored objects.
Specific business, technology, and economic drivers caused this significant market change. Business drivers include:
- Rapid growth in amount and importance of unstructured data
- Need to implement faster data retrieval based on identifying details incorporated in metadata that the operating system reads.
- The requirementto apply organization to unstructured data resource through the use of text analytics, auto-categorization, and auto-tagging.
- Increased legal and regulatory requirements for scalable data archiving and e-discovery
- Enhanced business process and model flexibility enabled by the use of a flat storage structure.
From a technical point of view, object storage is far superior to file systems. This advantage is primarily due to its unlimited scalability and ability to be managed programmatically. It also:
- Has fewer limitations when compared to the traditional file or block-based systems because of the flat data environment
- Ability to customize metadata through arbitrary use of any number of data attributes
- Global accessibility using HTTP(S) and REST APIs
From an economic point of view, object storage is also more cost-effective than file storage solutions, especially when storing large amounts of data. Since object storage solutions efficiently leverage unlimited scalability, organizations find that it is less costly to store all of their data. This advantage also exists in private cloud implementations where costs can be even lower than that provided by public cloud providers. Object storage is also much more durable than file-based alternatives.
The marketplace offers plenty of alternatives when object storage is the right answer. Access protocols, technology, and cost, however, varies widely. As shown in Table 1, storage cost for 1 terabyte of data for one year ranges from a high of $4,300.80 withdata stripingfrom QualityTech/QTS to a low of $47.88 from Wasabi that uses a more advanced erasure codingapproach. While location differences cause some cost variation, most of the variation can be attributed to design architecture and underlying storage technology.
Although this market survey is not exhaustive by any means, it highlights the importance of being an educated consumer when considering object storage solutions. Other solutions aspects worth investigating include:
- Complexity and performance across provider storage service tiers
- Data immutability and durability
- Speed of internal consistency across multiple copies of your data
- Elapsed time to the delivery of the first byte of requested data
- Use of active integrity checking
By all objective accounts, object storage is the right storage for large segments of an organization’s data holdings. This reality should lead to more effective due diligence and care when considering your enterprise’s next storage upgrade.
( This content is being syndicated through multiple channels. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of GovCloud Network, GovCloud Network Partners or any other corporation or organization.)
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IT Transformation with Watson
Credit: Shutterstock
by Kevin Jackson & Dez Blanchfield
IBM recently launched an exciting new project in the form of a podcast series produced and hosted Dez Blanchfield, appropriately titled the “Pioneers Of Possible. This new podcast series sets out to connect listeners from around the world with innovators and thought leaders within IBM’s Global Technology Services (GTS) and Global Business Services (GBS) business units worldwide.
Each episode offers a “fireside chat” between Dez Blanchfield the host, one of an exciting lineup of IBM GTS & GBS subject matter experts, all of whom are currently very actively engaged in the challenges associated with leading and delivering the future today. Though its initial three episodes, the show focused on connecting listeners with IBM’s subject matter experts. Getting to know these leaders personally and professionally is an important goal because, in their roles, they drive the trends, disruptions, and transformations we see across many industries today.
In episode one of the series Mickey Iqbal, IBM Fellow -Global Lead for GTS Enterprise IT Transformation Advisorsstates “In today’s world, businesses are faced with the challenge of keeping up with the accelerating rate of change.” Dez Blanchfield likened this to leaders needing to sprint just to keep up. Running in multiple lanes, in multiple races simultaneously. A key message throughout this episode in the series is that in today’s increasingly competitive environment, success lies in an organization’s ability to create new ideas and solve problems and selecting the right partner to help them through the business and technology transformation required to achieve the desired outcomes.
In episode two of the series, Nick Fuller,Senior Manager, Cognitive Service Foundations, IBM Research, talks about how “Technology immersion and actively collecting ideas both help.” His impressive professional pedigree coupled with an incredible array of 63 patents certainly give weight to his comments on such matters. In this episode, the discussion included the broad topic of problem-solving in today’s race to leverage cognitive computing and artificial intelligence. He posits that a multi-step process is required, including:
- Stepping back to look at critical conditions and parameters;
- Avoiding analysis paralysis at all cost;
- Not being afraid to put a stake in the ground in defining a new paradigm or solution; and
- Remaining open to repeatedly trying new ideas;
- Do not fear “failing fast.”
In episode three we hear from Bridget Karlin, CTO, and VP of GTS, Innovation & Automation, Global Technology Services, that “If businesses are looking to innovate during transformation, that the typical path is through the application of advanced technology in the delivery of new business values and opportunities.” Bridget and Dez discuss how this observation explains why IBM GTS is so focused on technology vision and thought leadership. In particular, Bridget outlines IBM, in this pursuit, are developing an end-to-end framework for infusing artificial intelligence into all of their new technology capabilities.
Thus far in the series, our SME’s have offered listeners tuning in an amazing look into their personal lives, professional career paths, and their roles with IBM. A key theme throughout thus far has been that IBM’s Cognitive Technology Service Platform, known as Watson, brings significant business and technical competitive value to organizations in the exciting array of new business and service capabilities it can enable.
As a transformative company itself, IBM has moved from a systems integrator model to a service integration model that is led by technology. IBM’s focus on using their digital transformation to improve the way IBM delivers services is what led to the Watson service delivery platform. This offering infuses artificial intelligence derived insights from Watson into the IBM service delivery process. In doing this, IBM leverages open source and best of breed technologies to deliver rapid outcomes. This approach also focuses on building and maintaining a service delivery ecosystem.
IBM delivers this service through an IT Transformation Advisory Team that works closely with C-suite executives to transforms clients to their next generations of systems. The advisor team focuses on the entire solution lifecycle from design to build, to manage to optimize and achieve the desired business goal.
By using the IBM Services Platform with Watson, IBM customers can leverage valuable technology automation building blocks for things like incident remediation, IT compliance, and patching. In this way, IBM clients can deploy very robust IT infrastructure automation portfolios in a very timely manner.
As a senior business or technology leader, you are invited to get to know IBM’s GTS and GBS thought leaders and innovators through this exciting new podcast series. You should also take the opportunity to schedule a 30 minute, one-on-one call with an IBM Expert and challenge them to help you and your organization make good on the promise of today’s most exciting business & technology disruptions and innovations.“Click here now” to schedule a call ormeeting at a time that best suits you.
Thank you for tuning in, we have many more great podcast episodes lined up for you.
This post was brought to you by IBM Global Technology Services. For more content like this, visit IT Biz Advisor.
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Experience “The Big Pivot”
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| Graeme Thompson, SVP/CIO Informatica |
- Roger Hale, CISO, Informatica;
- David Linthicum, SVP Cloud Technology Partners;
- Steve Durbin, Managing director of the UK’s Information Security Forum;
- Kevin Fleet, VP Professional Services, Informatica;
- Andrew McIntyre, VP Technology, Chicago Cubs; and
- Sally Jenkins, CMO, Informatica
The New CIO role
A key point highlighted throughout the series is that the CIO’s role has shifted radically. No longer focused on using IT to improve the internal productivityof business functions, today’s best information executives partner with functional peers to deliver new business models and associated revenue streams. For them, the main challenges is a constant battle with legacy technology and legacy thinking. For software companies, this painful shift could be from an established initial license purchase and annual maintenance revenue model to a software subscription model. Product-wise this may also include shifting from custom offerings to delivering fixed and standardize software services. CIOs must help the C-suite move away from functional level optimization and towards an enterprise success focus that provides scalable real-time data integration. This data foundation must also include an analytics platform that extracts application data, delivers visibility across each end-to-end business process (i.e., hire-to-retire, procure-to-pay, campaign-to-opportunity) and optimizes outcomes for customers and the entire company.
While the traditional CIO purview was mostly limited to IT infrastructure details (i.e., # of servers, wireless access points, storage devices), the new CIO must be equally aware of the number of corporate database instances, which ones have customer data and who has access to this data. Data is the foundation of digital transformation so the CIO must be as focused on the data as they are on the physical aspects of IT. They must effectively leverage digital assets and escalate the use of data above the operational function that creates it to target enterprise level opportunities. The CIO is in a unique position because they are:
- Best positioned to understand end to end processes and functions; and
- Close to emerging technologies that enable them to identify profitable IT implementation opportunities.
Manage data as currency
The Big Pivot Episode 6 presents a thought exercise that compares the CIO’s role managing data to that of the CFO managing currency by asking:
- Does the CFO let each functional organization keep and manage the revenue it makes?
- Does the CFO leave it up to the goodwill of each functional manager to share their profit with other functional units?
- Does the CFO only have a vague idea of the amount of money that flows in and out of the corporation?
These questions may seem absurd, but if data is valuable, why doesn’t the CIO manage data like the CFO manages currency?
Data is the foundation of digital business, and digital transformation success is defined by how well an organization leverages its data to create new opportunities. This viewpoint demands the use of secure, timely, accurate, correctly sourced, context applicable and appropriately organizeddata. While previous implications of bad data were small (an occasional reporting issue or individual process error), today’s businesses and entire industries are dependent on digital assets for success. Maintaining the value and reliability of underlying data is now an existential priority.
Admittedly, treating data as such a valuable business asset is problematic because most companies try to avoid the political and structural disruption that comes with breaking down the functional silos and norms of the past. A practical way forward is possible, however, by linking technology investment to quantifiable business value. Functional optimizations do not always lead to desired enterprise optimizations so the CIO and senior leadership team must work together in thinking about the best use of data for the benefit of the entire company rather than any specific function. To realize this, changes across the entire system, and not just a functional area, may be required. Avoid the practice of linking data and ownership to the same functional area because this gets in the way of sharing data across the enterprise.
The new data privacy imperative
In 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other data privacy regulations are up leveling global data security, privacy regulations and control objectives. By building a globally enforceable framework for data lifecycle management, GDPR is forcing many international companies to classify and protect every individual’s data. Some of the challenges of this new regulation include:
- The need to be able to closely track all data related to the privacy of an individual;
- A requirement to demonstrate privacy by design in the handling of all privacy information;
- An ability to demonstrate to regulators and data subjects the preservation of privacy information integrity through every stage of the information lifecycle; and
- Enforcement of the right of any individual to demand the erasure of data related to them.
To continue operating, companies must augment their tradition data protection practice of protecting the network and data center environment with operational processes that implement data protection that travels with the data. This includes operations in the mobile environment as well. Data must be secured as an asset and not just as a process by-product.
A mandatory requirement of GDPR is the appointment of the Data Protection Officer, a role that serves as a focal point for data protection activities and related educational processes across the enterprise. These individuals are responsible for handling personal data and must be able to work closely with other governance functions (i.e., info security, legal, record mgmt., audit). New data protection procedures must also be fitted into project planning, external service contracts, procurement processes, data portability, and new internal processes that uphold data erasure rights.
Analytics changes business
The most important takeaway from this series is understanding the need to tie data insights to business outcomes. At its core, digital transformation means shifting from a limited competition based on physical assets to a global competition based on digital assets. The CIO see the business uniquely because, by necessity, they think of the enterprise as a connected system of processes and applications. This viewpoint can be used to effectively and efficiently drive change across the entire enterprise because fundamental business transformations are driven by data analytics that creates opportunities that didn’t previously exist. Incremental change is no longer viable, and products are no longer a selection of features. Today’s competitive offering must be able to use data to inform itself on how it is being used, fix itself if it sees a problem and then uses that data to solve the same or related problems in every other environment in which it operates.
Andrew McIntyre, VP of Technology for the Chicago Cubs on how analytics changes business
This post was brought to you by Informatica and IDG.
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Innovation At The Seams
by
Kevin L. Jackson & Dez Blanchfield
Kevin L. Jackson & Dez Blanchfield
Today’s real business innovation is happening at the seams of industries. Moreover, after listening to this podcast between Sanjay Rishi, GM Global Cloud Consulting Services at IBM Global Business Services, and Dez Blanchfield, you will understand why Mr. Rishi describes his primary role as delivering cloud enable innovation and transformationIn this fascinating discussion, Sanjay and Dez talk about how organizations embark on cloud journeys through different entry points, namely by:
- Developing support and engagement systems for customers, employees, and suppliers;
- Migrating legacy applications into a cloud computing environment;
- Leveraging exploding technologies like IoT and blockchain to innovate and transform business; and
- Delivering business ROI with both speed and innovation.
In pursuing this goal of helping his clients strategize on cloud adoption, he has learned many valuable lessons. One of the most important centers around how enterprise leaders miss the role of organizational communications when transformation begins. The issue is that communications is quickly relegated to an afterthought and doesn’t get the correct amount of attention. In his experience, communications and change management are both essential and serve as the difference between success and failure. Sanjay’s guidance is for leaders not to forget that people’s hearts and minds must change if innovation is to deliver business results.
Another insightful nugget from this podcast is Mr. Rishi’s observation on how the CIO role is shifting from IT to business. This position is less about the back office and technology enablement and more about influencing change within organizations and becoming a catalyst for transformation and innovation. The most significant takeaway here is the need for empathy from the standpoint of understanding what challenges a CIO is going through concerning change and the speed with which change can happen. Transformation creates “haves” and “have-nots” in organizations. Those pulled into the transformation become the “haves,” and then the masses see themselves as the “have-nots.”
People are hungry for inclusion and to be informed even if they do not participate in influencing an organization’s transformation. In sharing these insights, Sanjay Rishi reinforced his observation that the essence of digital transformation lies in relationship innovation (12:12). He even provided two vivid examples, a European TELCO and a Latin American Bank, to drive home the point. In short, by innovating the organization’s relationship with customers, suppliers, stakeholders, and employees, people can be influenced and effectively led through the investment journey needed to harvest cloud-enabled innovation opportunities.
Organizations must come to grips with the reality of two-speed transformation. The first gear of change is incremental and evolutionary while the second revolutionary and built around disruption. First gear delivers needed enhancements and improvements to the existing business while the second wards off the threat of disruption from smaller players and start-ups. Business success is not about slowing down the rate of change. It is about balancing these two rates of change. The dependencies between the two are very significant, and embracing both is essential for success
Breaking out his crystal ball, Sanjay ended the exchange by telling everyone that the next big thing is an organization’s ability to sense and understand individual behavior in a way that enables the presentation of consumption choices. This vision seems to represent a doubling down on his earlier statements on relationship innovation. According to Mr. Rishi, this capability expands organizations and accelerates life changes for our benefit. Although individual sensing and anticipation of demand certainly has security challenges, he sees the change as positive in that it makes life much more efficient and allows us to harvest the many associated opportunities.
This post was brought to you by IBM Global Technology Services. For more content like this, visit ITBizAdvisor.
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(Lack of) Patch Management Highlighted in US Congress
According to the former Equifax CEO’s testimony to Congress, one of the primary causes of this now infamous data breach was the company’s failure to patch a critical vulnerability in the open source Apache Struts Web application framework. Equifax also waited a week to scan its network for apps that remained vulnerable.[1]Would you like to appear at the next Congressional hearing on patch management?
Patch management is the process of identifying, acquiring, installing, and verifying patches for products and systems. Patches not only correct security and functionality problems in software and firmware, but they also introduce new, and sometimes mandatory, capabilities into the organization’s IT environment. It is so useful, the CERT® Coordination Center (CERT®/CC) claims that 95 percent of all network intrusions are avoidable by using proper patch management to keep systems up-to-date.
This nightmare true story and compelling endorsement from CERT®/CC, however, masks the ugly operational patch management implementation complexities. Key enterprise challenges include:
- Timing, prioritization, and testing of patches often present conflicting requirements. Competitive prioritization of IT resources, business imperative, andbudget limitations often leave patching tasks on the back burner
- Technical mechanisms and requirements for applying patches may also conflict and may include:
- Software that updates itself with little or no enterprise input
- Use of a centralized management tool
- Third-party patch management applications
- Negative or unknown interactions with network access control, health check functions, and other similar technologies
- User initiated manual software updates
- User-initiatedpatches or version upgrades
- Typical enterprise heterogeneous environment that includes
- Unmanaged or user managed hosts
- Non-standard IT components that require vendor patching or cannot be patched
- Enterprise owned assets that typically operate on non-enterprise networks
- Smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices
- Patching of rehydrating virtual machines
- Firmware updates
Piling up on these purely operational tasks are the change management steps associated with:
- Maintaining current knowledge of available patches;
- Deciding what patches are appropriate for particular systems;
- Ensuring proper installation of patches;
- Testing systems after installation; and
- Documenting all procedures and any specific configurations.
This challenge can also be significantly exacerbated in an IT environment that blends legacy, outsourced and cloud service provider resources. Environment heterogeneity and the sheer volume of patches released is why any patching strategy that primarily relies solely on manual implementation is untenable.
According to the SANS Institute, meeting the patch management challenge requires the creation of a patch management methodology and the automation of that methodology.[2]The methodology itself should include:
- A detailed inventory of all hardware, operating systems, and applications that exist in the network and the creation of the process to keep the inventory up-to-date.
- A process to identify vulnerabilities in hardware, operating systems, andapplications.
- Risk assessment and buy-in from management and business owners.
- A detailed procedure for testing patches before deployment.
- A detailed process for deploying patches and service packs, as well as a process for verification of deployment.
As for the automation component, it should deliver an automated, comprehensive server lifecycle approach that can provision and configure software, update patches and implement configurations that can improve security and compliance across physical, virtual and cloud servers.
It should also encompass a policy-based approach with support for all major operating systems on physical servers and leading virtualization and cloud platforms. An ability to automate continuous compliance checks and remediate any security or regulatory shortcoming is also paramount. If appropriately implemented, IT Staff should be able to manage patching via a web interface. Having this feature increases server to admin ratio, enhances operational productivity, accelerates audit timelines and reduces incident response latency.
A leading solution in this space is BladeLogic Server Automation by BMC. It was specifically designed to address the dual enterprise requirements of (1) ensuring compliance with rules and regulations and (2) software patching to reduce security vulnerabilities. In the market for over 10 years, it is a comprehensive server lifecycle automation solution that helps organizations provision and configure software, update patches and configurations to improve security and compliance across physical, virtual and cloud servers. Advanced capabilities include script automation, compliance tracking and the ability to stage and test patches before committing them. The latter feature is used to copy patch bundles to the targeted servers before maintenance windows open.The full-function suite integrates with change management systems to facilitate change record creation. Vulnerability management and remediation are automated by importing vulnerability management scan data from vendors like Qualys, Tenable and Rapid 7, and mapping the vulnerabilities back to underlying patches in BladeLogic.
Secure IT operations start with the identification and prioritization of critical vulnerabilities paired with the capability to deliver multi-tier remediation. These reinforcing goals are why an advance patch automation solution is a “must have” for today’s modern enterprise.
This post is brought to you by BMC and IDG. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of BMC.
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Digital experience tool catches end user IT problems before they escalate
Closely monitoring endpoints to remediate incidents
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