devopsy.kinsta.cloud

Tag: c-suite

  • Digital Transformation Drives C-Suite Discord

    Digital Transformation Drives C-Suite Discord

    In the sport of rowing, each crew member has to row in synchrony or the boat risks undesired turns and even potential tipping. It takes practice, communication and discipline for each crew member to raise their oar to the appropriate height and apply the appropriate power. Obviously, those crews who work best together are more likely to win.

    When it comes to winning at digital transformation, the same is true for the executive crew or C-suite. However, the drive to  digitally transform enterprises rapidly puts a strain across C-suite relationships.

    That’s the main takeaway from a new report published by the Financial Times Focus and business management software provider Apptio, “Disruption in the C-suite.” The report is based on a survey of 555 senior executives, about half in CxO roles and from Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the U.S.

    The survey found considerable uncertainty regarding the IT department’s ability to be effective. In fact, 51% of respondents said they have concerns about IT’s ability to govern cloud adoption. And, surprisingly, less than one-fifth of companies using agile have defined performance indicators they use to track their results.

    Further, 47% of leaders surveyed agreed digital transformation has blurred work responsibilities throughout the C-suite. And the same number of respondents admitted digital transformation has exacerbated strategic differences among finance and IT leaders. In fact, 71% of finance leaders said the IT function needs greater influencing skills to deliver the change their business requires.

    According to the survey, while the CFO was the least deeply aligned member of the C-suite crew with the CIO, the lack of deep alignment with the CIO’s office and other C-level executives was shown to be disturbingly common. Only 56% of CEOs reported being deeply aligned with the CIO, the survey found.

    There are signs of hope. Eighty-seven percent of respondents in the U.S. said digital transformation has increased collaboration across C-level executives when it came to developing new products and services.

    Still, 63% of those surveyed said the IT function needs greater influencing skills to deliver the change their business requires.

    That lack of influencing skills—and lack of defined metrics to measure progress—has taken its toll. About one-third of CFOs said there is a lack of consensus among CxOs when it comes to how to measure the impact of new technologies.

    It’s interesting, 56% of respondents said they shift their IT strategy continuously as their technology leaders receive input from the business and customers. That’s hopefully advantageous, but with so much digital transformation discord among technology and business leaders within organizations, it’s a coin flip whether that’s good stewardship or blind steering.

    It’s absolutely vital that organizations get their digital transformation efforts right, and to also be able to do so successfully at the necessary speed. As we covered in the recent story, “Digital Transformation Vital for Business Survival,” 78% of organizations believe their company’s primary industry is evolving rapidly and digital transformation is necessary to survive the changes underway.

    Those businesses cited enhanced customer experience and customer relationship management, the ability to maintain competitiveness, enabling new ways of doing business, increased productivity, cost savings, increased revenue generation and enhanced product development.

    Few would doubt the accuracy of that assessment, nor that the entire C-suite crew must be in synchrony, understand each other’s roles and objectives and know where the entire team is heading. Otherwise, the entire effort is likely to veer off course.

    — George V. Hulme

  • Study Reveals Pain Points for Enterprise Workers

    Study Reveals Pain Points for Enterprise Workers

    While it may be an afterthought at some companies, C-suite leaders would do well to keep an eye on workforce trends to optimize productivity and work quality.

    A study commissioned by Workfront, a work-management software provider, offers insights into what many enterprise workers consider to be obstacles to getting their work done. You already know that unnecessary meetings and mountains of email are on the list, but you might gain some perspective from some of the study’s other conclusions.

    Released recently, “State of Work 2018-19” was fielded by Regina Corso Consulting in June and gathered some 2,000 responses from U.S. employees who work for companies with at least 500 employees, use a computer on the job and collaborate with colleagues on projects.

    Enterprise Workers Have a Love-Hate Relationship with Automation

    Almost 70 percent of respondents believe that automation will give them more time to do their primary job responsibilities. And 86 percent of U.S. workers believe that the rise of automation will help them think of work in new and innovative ways. But half of the respondents also report that they know people who have already lost their jobs because of automation. Millennials are twice as likely as Baby Boomers to worry that automation will cause them to lose their jobs. Overall, what may be the most surprising data point is that the study’s findings clearly show workers to be generally optimistic about automation.

    Recommendation: Your company needs an expert or a task force out front, reviewing business process in all parts of the company, helping to formulate automation strategy, and finding the best ways to test and rollout automation solutions. Be ahead of the curve enough to give some thought to retraining people whose jobs might be affected for new roles.

    U.S. Workers Need Help to Foster Innovation Within Their Company

    Many are frustrated by the lack of prioritization and/or structure for innovating. Almost 65 percent of the respondents reported that their companies regularly ask employees to think about new ways of doing things. And almost 60 percent said that they’re barely getting their day-to-day work done and don’t have time to think beyond today’s to-do list. Millennials are more concerned with the importance of innovation and more frustrated by their inability to free up time to focus on it than Baby Boomers. Gen X falls in the middle.

    Recommendation: It’s not enough to just tell employees you want them to innovate. Innovation requires a different kind of thinking than tactical day-to-day decision-making. They may need brainstorm sessions. You might need to give them strategic problems to work on. You might need to suggest business processes that need streamlining. But more than anything else, you need to give them permission to take a specific amount of time per week or month to work on this longer-term problem.

    Workers are Skeptical of the Quality of Their Colleagues’ Work

    This has the potential to be divisive. U.S. workers are dubious about the quality of coworkers’ work and rate themselves as being more productive than those around them. Since the majority of respondents answered that way, you have to wonder what corrosive quality of the U.S. workplace is making people think that.

    Recommendations: Workfront offers some suggestions worth passing along: 1. Ask your team members what they think of each other. Use what you learn to guide you in the following steps. 2. Provide visibility into the work that everyone is doing so that team members realize what each member is tasked with. 3. Celebrate success and accomplishment. And spread that recognition around the entire team, if possible. This requires significant effort on the part of management, but the result is pride and mutual respect.

    C-Suite: The Key to Managing Multigenerational Teams

    Workfront has produced the “State of Work” survey for five years. While it hasn’t previously gathered trend information across years, one of the clear trends is the difficulty of managing the several generations in the workplace, each with its own set of priorities, said Chris O’Neal, product evangelist at Workfront.

    “For the first time in history, we’ve got four or five generations working alongside each other in the workforce. We’ve got baby boomers all the way up to gen z,” O’Neal said. “So, every company out there needs to come to terms with the concept of melding together a multigenerational workforce. And there are differences. In broad strokes, the way we look at it is that there are digital immigrants and digital natives. They’re all important; they all bring something to the table, whether it’s experience and leadership to adaptability and just-in-time skills.

    “We believe that this multigenerational workforce needs to be led by an executive team that understands that they have different ways of looking at the world, different ways of working,” he added. “They need to be brought together by shared purpose and shared values within the organization.”

    — Scot Finnie

  • Strap in, CIOs: Analysts Predict Wild Ride for 2018-2020

    Strap in, CIOs: Analysts Predict Wild Ride for 2018-2020

    Digital transformation is the underlying theme of many of the 2018 and beyond IT predictions made recently by analyst firms Forrester, Gartner and IDC. Technologies such as cloud, AI, data analytics, big data, blockchain, IoT, conversational interfaces, DevOps and cybersecurity will also force CIOs to perform a juggling act. The rapid evolution of these technologies combined with the business opportunities they unlock will create a pressure cooker for CIOs, become an everyday topic of discussion for C-suites and possibly even a preoccupation of boards of directors.

    We’ve analyzed the predictions by the three research firms and have gathered the key themes as the seven most pressing issues for the C-suite next year and beyond:

    1. CIOs are at a Crossroads, Representing Both Challenge and Opportunity

    Forrester believes that CEOs will make digital business a top priority in 2018 and CIOs will lead the digital transformation at most companies. In a November report, “CIOs Make the Chief Digital Officer Obsolete,” Forrester summed up: “In 2018, boardroom discussions will focus on digital. Key questions will revolve around platform-based business models, new partnership ecosystems, and new ways to organize for success. CIOs will build new skills and competencies to help drive this change.”

    The challenges for CIOs during this period will demand that they step up, expanding their digital skill sets and employing technologies with both eyes focused on business value. Forrester predicts that CIOs will need to orchestrate the underlying technologies and supplier relationships for companies to manage their platform-based business approach. CIOs would also be smart to leverage cloud computing and open source software, and build on containers, APIs and microservices.

    CIOs also may need to develop new leadership skills to direct their company’s digital transformation. That includes displaying a laser-like customer focus, attracting the necessary talent, restructuring their organizations and developing the culture required to deliver tangible business results. Doing so, Forrester said, “will present CIOs with the opportunity of a lifetime, allowing them to demonstrate the level of trust and performance that their senior peers and boards require, and positioning them as leaders of the digital transformation — even the enterprise.”

    IDC’s November “Worldwide CIO Agenda 2018 Predictions” offers predictions that dovetail with Forrester’s view:

    • By 2020, 60 percent of CIOs will implement an IT business model and culture that shifts focus from IT projects to digitally oriented products.
    • By 2020, 60 percent of the CIOs who have crossed the digital divide will prevail in C-suite turmoil in competition to become digital business leaders for their enterprises.

    Advice to CIOs: Find a leadership coach. Choose one or two lieutenants you trust to delegate important roles to. Find a senior product manager-type person in your company to help you become more knowledgeable about generating business value. Make a point to talk to your CEO about the advantages of digital transformation. Develop a plan for adopting a new digital governance model. What should your digital platform look like?

    2. Digital Transformation Becomes Real for Most Companies in 2019-2020

    We’ve been hearing for a couple of years that companies are digitally transforming their businesses. The truth is that those companies represent the leading edge and they are a small minority. Most CIOs are still stuck doing more with less, the hangover from the last recession. CEOs: Your CIO needs more budget to position your company for digital success over the next few years. IDC predicted that “through 2019, 75 percent of CEOs and their enterprises will fail to meet all their digital objectives, dragged down by conflicting digital transformation imperatives, ineffective technology innovation, cloud infrastructure transition and underfunded end-of-life core systems.”

    That’s a lot of failure. CEOs and CIOs are going to need to work together to make digital transformation a reality. It’s not just about updating your technology, it’s about business innovation.

    Key points on digital transformation from IDC’s CIO 2018 predictions:

    • By 2019, 60 percent of CIOs will complete infrastructure and application replatforming using cloud, mobile and DevOps, clearing the deck for accelerated enterprise digital transformation.
    • By 2019, 60 percent of IT organizations will have deployed digital transformation platforms supporting new customer- and ecosystem-facing business models.
    • By the end of 2019, digital transformation spending is expected to reach $1.7 trillion worldwide.

    3. AI is No Panacea

    Forrester named one of its 2018 prediction reports “The Honeymoon for AI Is Over.” Conventional analytics are undergoing full disruption, largely because AI is perceived to be the solution to both programming analytics and solving the big data riddle. And while it’s likely that AI/machine learning will be able to help with both problems, you can’t just snap your fingers and make it so. Harnessing AI successfully requires specialized engineering talent, quality data, objective planning and some trial and error. According to a Forrester survey, 70 percent of respondents say their firms will have implemented AI in the next 12 months. They chose decision management as their most important use. One of the key points to remember is that the decision-making abilities of it machine learning tool can’t over calm a lack of quality data. Forrester warns: “Don’t be fooled by vendor claims that more intuitive human-to-machine interfaces are [a magic potion] that reduces the need for data and metadata management and curation.”

    Quick AI predictions from IDC:

    • By 2019, 40 percent of digital transformation initiatives will be supported by cognitive/AI capabilities, providing timely critical insights for new operating and monetization models.
    • By 2020, 85 percent of new operation-based technical hires will be screened for analytical and artificial intelligence skills, enabling the development of data-centric digital transformation projects without hiring new data-centric talent.

    4. One-Third of Enterprises will Abandon Big Data Repositories in 2018

    Has your company built a large data lake that hasn’t delivered any significant business value? Well, 2018 may be the year when you rethink that decision, according to Forrester.

    On the other hand, Forrester believes that AI will be able to resolve the longstanding issue of the boundary between structured and unstructured data because of vendors including Digital Reasoning, Expert Systems and Stratifyd.

    As you make your move to digital transformation, having more actionable data based on your pool of big data, especially unstructured text data, could deliver book valuable business insights. This might not be the best time to give up on big data. Especially if you’re actively engaged with AI.

    5. Blockchain: Confusing, Skills Gap, Steeped in Hype—but Full of Potential

    Blockchain will begin to show next year just how difficult it will be to employ but, at the same time, that it’s worth exploring.

    “By the year 2020, the banking industry will derive $1 billion of business value from the use of blockchain-based crypto-currencies,” states Gartner’s October “Top Strategic Predictions for 2018 and Beyond.” “When compared to the estimated $7.6 trillion that is the industry gross output of the world’s banking industry, $1 billion may not seem like much. However, the value is more about the tacit endorsement of crypto-currency as a legitimate option by the banking industry.” Cryptocurrency is just one application of blockchain.

    Advice: Build your blockchain ecosystem early, Forrester recommends in its 2018 prediction report, “Be Ready to Face the Realities Behind the Blockchain Hype.” “The blockchain terminology will remain confusing,” Forrester noted. “The term ‘blockchain-inspired’ is already a common descriptor for software that has some of the characteristics of blockchain or reflects some of the principles of the blockchain network, but isn’t a blockchain in the true sense.” There is a growing skills gap pertaining to software engineers and security professionals who have experience with blockchain. It’s a nascent technology; make sure your team sets realistic goals.

    6. IoT Hits Prime Time, but it Might Not Be Ready

    By 2020, IoT technology will be in 95 percent of new product electronics designs, Gartner said. IoT’s growth is very rapid, even for the computer industry. But that growth comes at a cost. The technology has not overcome what many believe to be rampant security vulnerabilities. “Through 2022, half of all IoT security budgets will be spent on fault remediation, recalls and safety failures rather than protection,” Gartner predicted.

    Forrester is far more positive about the business advantages of IoT in its report, “IoT Moves from Experimentation to Business Scale.” Its predictions are also more detailed in the several areas where IoT might gain traction in 2018. But the security issues are not lost on Forrester, either. The research firm predicted: “IoT will be at the center of broader and more damaging cyberattacks. The Mirai botnet was a harbinger of future IoT security-related attacks and breaches. … Most firms still haven’t shown a consistent commitment to mitigating IoT-specific threat vectors.”

    Advice: IoT is an accident waiting to happen. For B2C companies, the consumer backlash could be fierce if there is a major incident. Make 2018 be the year that you start plugging up those IoT security vulnerabilities and protection gaps.

    7. Most Companies Won’t Comply with GDPR in 2018

    The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) takes effect May 25, 2018. Forrester predicted in its November report, “A Year of Reckoning,” that 80 percent of companies will fail to comply with the GDPR. Perhaps more to the point, Forrester additionally predicts that 50 percent of those non-compliant firms will do so intentionally, “meaning they have weighed the cost and risk, and are taking the path that presents the best position for their companies.” The other half of the 80 percent will try to comply but will fail.

    Advice: It seems likely that some large company will be made an example of. You don’t want that to be your company.

    Takeaways

    Those are the standout IT-related issues for the C-suite in 2018 and beyond. If you weren’t tuned in to some of them, knowing is half the battle right? Well, probably not. These are tough challenges. Each organization has its own strengths and weaknesses. But generally speaking, if you parse this list by investing time and budget on the first four while minimizing the potential downsides of last three, you’ll be doing very well.

    — Scot Finnie

  • Improve IT Security by Improving Company Culture

    Improve IT Security by Improving Company Culture

    All around the world, cybercrime rates are rising, and it’s clear that traditional criminals are constantly developing new ways to attack. These days, wreaking havoc requires nothing more than internet connectivity and a pronounced lack of scruples. With a lowering barrier for entry causing an increase in the pool of malicious actors, many enterprises are struggling to protect themselves.

    Buzzwords such as “cybercrime” and “black hat” are now commonplace, and global spending to combat cybercrime reached $80 billion in 2016. Despite these efforts, only 38 percent of organizations surveyed for ISACA’s “2015 Global Cybersecurity Status Report” were confident in their ability to defend against cybercrime attacks.

    Why Does Security Still Suck?

    With high levels of cybercrime awareness and direct steps being taken to address these challenges, it begs the question: Why does IT security still suck?

    One of the primary reasons many enterprises struggle with cybersecurity is a lack of cultural support in the workplace. C-suite policies often hinder success more than they help by pushing employees to the brink and creating an environment that leaves their businesses susceptible to human error and attacks.

    While Brooks’ Law can serve well as a guide, it’s often a harbinger of bigger problems in many enterprises: When a software project is running late, leadership often brings another employee onto the project and, as a result, slows things down even more. Between the security system add-ons and services and the human capital involved in taking time to understand the issues as they arise, productivity takes a major blow—without any measurable benefit to security. This traditional tactic has attempted to ignore the crucial fact that 77 percent of professionals said that their information security policies and teams are slowing IT down.

    Compounding these issues is the fact that traditional security tools require an immense amount of time and manual labor. Because these legacy platforms do not have the ability to automate even basic functions, IT professionals are often required to monitor security tasks and patch vulnerabilities around the clock. This is a major responsibility, as the costs of an attack or other breach can be devastating to an enterprise.

    Further, IT security professionals are rarely rewarded for successful efforts. This is challenging for two reasons. First, no one is congratulated for creating a security-sound app, as the consumer expects nothing less. Second, it can be difficult to convince corporate leadership of the need for improved, automated security tools before an attack occurs. Painting a realistic depiction of a hypothetical situation (in this case, the damage caused by a cyberattack) is hard to do, and professionals often struggle to demonstrate their value without resorting to scare tactics. Scare tactics, independent of statistical supportability, have a shelf life and are subject to diminishing returns. Corporate leadership teams don’t regularly identify or prioritize security problems until it’s too late, so they don’t consider the cost to their employees who are fighting these battles on a daily basis. Together, all of these factors add up to fatigue, frustration and burnout for IT security professionals.

    It’s safe to assume that we all want to do our best work. When we don’t have the tools and support necessary to do quality work, attitudes and culture suffer.

    To stay ahead of security concerns, C-suite policies must not tackle IT issues or adjust to new regulations as they arise, but ensure that efficient, effective security practices are baked into agile DevOps processes rather than bolted on. It is essential for leadership to be proactive, rather than reactive—once an enterprise falls behind the curve, its software applications and valuable data are at increased risk until vulnerabilities can be patched.

    Perhaps not surprisingly, this proactive attitude does not always come naturally. Management often wants to do things the way they’ve always been done, but they need to become more agile as well. Security within an organization will benefit from pushing awareness across the enterprise, rather than keeping security professionals siloed within their own department. There’s a fine line between educating employees and using scare tactics, but leadership must be informed of vulnerabilities and necessary steps for shoring up weaknesses.

    However, education can only go so far; automation is the real key to taking the risk out of the hands of security professionals. Modern tools will allow your team to rest easy at night while proactively focusing on your enterprise’s rapidly evolving applications. This makes your employees happier, your security stronger and your business better.

    About the Author / Ash Wilson

    Ash Wilson is a strategic engineering specialist at CloudPassage. He has been a paid tech worker since March 2000, and a hobbyist long before that. He came to security via network engineering and systems administration. Ash spent the last five years in post-sales engineering and strategic engineering for security product companies. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

  • The Big Digital Transformation Trends Through 2017

    The Big Digital Transformation Trends Through 2017

    For a number of years now, the enterprise has been well underway in their digital transformation efforts, as they use data analytics, mobile, cloud services, IoT and other technologies to transform their organizations. But while some companies have embraced digital transformation, others have lagged. They’ll be playing catch-up in 2017, while their counterparts will be busy improving and accelerating processes where they can and building upon what has been achieved.

    Based on my interviews in recent months with CIOs, chief digital marketers and chief digital officers, here are a number of big trends in digital transformation that I see in the year ahead:

    Some CIOs continue to struggle to shake role as IT plumbers

    As enterprise digital transformation continues, even accelerates, those CIOs who focused on keeping the lights on through ensuring the infrastructure and services were in place to keep data available rather that on driving digital initiatives forward will continue to see their relevance diminish.

    Those who will lead forward with increased relevance will be the CIOs who focus on new ways for their organization to better support the business with the technologies they need to succeed and partner with the business units, rather than just provide the technological infrastructure for them to do it themselves.

    Business alignment with IT remains a challenge

    If you are a reader of devopsy.kinsta.cloud, you know alignment between the business and DevOps is crucial for enterprise success. In other words, IT leadership must deliver the technology the business actually needs and wants. Seems obvious and straightforward. And it is. It’s just proven to be a not very easy thing to accomplish.

    According to the Deloitte 2016 – 2017 Global CIO Survey, the “business expectations of IT and IT capabilities are out of sync in several areas, including customer focus, technology-enabled business growth, and business innovation. For example, even though 57 percent of the CIOs surveyed said that customers were their organization’s top business priority, less than half were involved in delivering customer experience (45 percent) or working on customer acquisition, retention and loyalty (44 percent).”

    That’s interesting enough. But the survey results got even more dismal: “Even though 78 percent of CIOs said that strategic alignment of IT activities with business strategy was critical to their success, only 5 percent said it was a leading-class capability in their IT organization.”

    CIOs that want to not only thrive but—at the very least—survive are going to need to close this alignment gap.

    Bimodal IT gains more traction

    The concept of bimodal IT is a controversial one. Essentially, bimodal IT is a descriptor from the research firm Gartner that remarks how IT organizations have a need for both agile delivery of technology services and traditional delivery modes. In the Gartner model, so-called Mode 2 teams are focused on DevOps and agile delivery methods, while Mode 1 teams focus on delivering the more established applications in traditional and more predictable ways. A brief explanation of these terms from Gartner is available here.

    Also, according to Gartner, nearly 40 percent of CIOs are currently practicing bimodal, with the majority of CIOs saying they will embrace bimodal sometime in the next three years. This signals to me that the proof of bimodal success is coming in and more enterprises will continue to follow.

    The trend toward Citizen Developers increases

    More enterprises in the year ahead will embrace the so-called citizen developer to provide some of the apps enterprises need. According to the QuickBase State of Citizen Development Report, 75 percent of those enterprises surveyed said that they develop more than three-fourths of the app and leave the “last mile” to the citizen developer. And, not surprisingly, most (65 percent) are building apps to get work done, while 42 percent build apps to run the business and 27 percent build apps targeting customers.

    “These citizen developers can go a long way to help clear the application backlog. Per the report, 29 percent have seen a 2X or more increase in application development speeds. Over three-quarters or 76 percent of respondents cited operational efficiencies as the primary reason for using the platform. And a whopping 62 percent of Citizen Developers responded that it takes less than two weeks for them to complete an application, on average,” QuickBase’s John Carione wrote in this blog.

    With increased demand for more mobile and web-based apps, and the ease with which many of these apps can be started using low-code and even no-code platforms, I fully expect more enterprises to find ways to encourage citizen development within their organizations.

    CMOs, others outside traditional IT, continue to drive more IT budget

    This trend has been underway for some time now, and I fully expect it to not just continue but accelerate. As was discussed in Sarah White’s story, “As CMOs Start to Outspend CIOs, Collaboration Remains Key,” “marketing has a growing influence on technology spending, with CMOs slated to spend more than CIOs by the year 2017. In fact, companies reported that 25 percent of their annual budget was spent on digital marketing efforts in 2014; and out of those companies, 51 percent plan to increase digital marketing budgets in 2015.”

    As that continues, that means marketing is going to have a larger say in what technology services and platforms get investment in the year ahead. CIOs in organizations where the chief marketing officer is getting more and more budget will need to partner to stay relevant.

    Digital transformation accelerates

    According to this Digital Transformation Survey, a surprising 70 percent of c-suite respondents believe they are ahead, or way ahead, of others in their digital transformation initiatives. Compare that to only 30 percent of those in the line-of-business and other employees who believe the same.

    For whatever reason, those in the c-suite are suffering from some form of cognitive disconnect when it comes to their digital transformation efforts. In the year ahead I think more c-level executives will see the reality of their digital transformation efforts and get to work on mobile and IoT and putting data analytics to better work.

    — George V. Hulme

  • Enlisting the C-Suite in Disaster Recovery Initiatives

    Enlisting the C-Suite in Disaster Recovery Initiatives

    When disasters make headlines, corporate executives often have knee-jerk reactions and call for business continuity solutions to be implemented immediately. However, when push comes to shove, those very same executives tend to put up roadblocks with concerns over budget, priorities, vulnerability assessments and security.

    Perhaps more concerning, according to a June 2015 Ponemon Institute report, there are “a large portion of companies who remain vulnerable as a result of lack of executive interest in preparing for worst-case scenarios.” This creates a precarious situation for DevOps professionals that understand the severity and breadth of threats that can trigger downtime—from human error to power outages, cyberattacks and natural disasters.

    To expedite disaster recovery initiatives, IT teams must enlist top executives that influence budgeting directly. This often calls for varied approaches that speak to specific executive concerns and issues.

    Understand Your Options: Disaster Recovery vs. Backup

    It’s very common for companies to confuse disaster recovery and backup solutions. Both are available via cloud, giving teams access to capabilities that were once only available to enterprises with huge IT footprints. When you approach any executive, it’s critical to understand various services and how they can work in tandem to deliver the most cost-effective protection.

    Backup ensures companies do not completely lose data because it is backed up with copies. While it is important to have copies of data, accessing and restoring backups can take some time. Therefore, for workloads with important but not extremely time-sensitive data, backup can be sufficient while satisfying budget restrictions. In the fast-paced DevOps world, backup usually falls short.

    On the other hand, cloud-based disaster recovery ensures minimal—if any—downtime. Applications can fail over and be up in running in seconds. Further, testing can be done at will without any impact on production environments. For workloads that demand continuity of service and aggressive recovery point objectives (RPOs), disaster recovery solutions are the better option and can also deliver cost efficiencies.

    For many operational and regulatory compliance reasons, companies may require a mix of both backup and disaster recovery. When evaluating service providers, check into how easy it is to apply backup and disaster recovery based on your development and application requirements. Take a close look at pricing models associated with each—including any support fees.

    CEO/COO – Chief Executive Officer and/or Chief Operations Officer

    While CEOs and COOs generally delegate detailed budget decisions to their teams, they are still ultimately responsible for overall company performance and reputation. Anything that threatens ongoing conduct of the business is their purview. Be prepared to discuss risks in real terms, and clarify that a “disaster” can be triggered by something as simple as human error.  They will care most about considerations such as:

    • Time to business resumption [e.g. near-zero recovery time objective (RTO)]
    • Capital investment via pay-as-you-go options
    • Ability to prioritize data and workloads, both for budgetary and business continuity purposes
    • Data loss estimates, in the case of a disaster
    • Testing flexibility, to ensure an operational, reliable solution
    • Independent validation from similar customers or analysts that a solution is reliable, proven and cost-effective

    CIO – Chief Information Officer

    Theoretically, this should be the easiest executive to convince because the CIO has a personal stake in recovery, but remember CIOs have a tough balancing act between controlling budgets and limiting exposure. The 6 Disaster Recovery Doppelgangers quiz and e-book can help CIOs approach their disaster recovery challenges across the organization. CIOs generally focus on:

    • Ability to see and manage the recovery process
    • Scalability of resources with on-demand access, often honing in on flexible terms
    • Security and compliance capabilities and support
    • Testing at will to ensure solution performs despite configuration changes to the day-to-day operational environment

    CFO – Chief Financial Officer

    Everything boils down to financials for CFOs, so they should be approached from a fiscal angle that demonstrates value backed by metrics. Be prepared with unbiased, independent information that appeals to their risk averse nature. What other financial benefits might come from leveraging cloud-based disaster recovery? For example, in some cases DevOps teams are beginning to use the failover cloud as a load testing environment that would otherwise require significant on-premise investments. Disaster recovery-as-a-service (DRaaS) environments with advanced security can also be used to check for possible vulnerabilities to cyberthreats.

    CFOs often care about:

    • Flexible pricing options that can be tailored at a granular level based on services required
    • Pay-as-you-go pricing models that avoid upfront capital investment
    • Geographic constraints on their data, particularly if backups or failovers need to be maintained in a specific location due to jurisdiction requirements
    • Extended DR use cases that could offset other costs like security testing and quality assurance

    CMO – Chief Marketing Officer

    On top of branding, advertising and public relations responsibilities, CMOs have key objectives that pertain to customer loyalty and overall corporate reputation. They may not be interested in the details of services, but can be a powerful advocate that can speak to the need for business continuity solutions that will protect brand image, reinforce messages about your technology innovation and maintain excellent customer support. Familiarize yourself with real-world stories that demonstrate how media—both traditional and social—cover outages and their negative impact to business. One need not look further than the recent Delta and Southwest outages.

    The concept of DevOps is about culture as much as it is about technology, and communication and collaboration are key. By understanding the needs and responsibilities of all stakeholders involved, teams can cut through politics, efficiently protect business and begin to leverage cloud-based DR technologies for initiatives far beyond recovery, alone.

    About the Author / Lilac Schoenbeck

    iLand Head Shots 4/22/14

    Lilac Schoenbeck is vice president of Product Management and Marketing at iLand. She has nearly 20 years of experience with product management, marketing, strategy, business development and software engineering in the grid, virtualization and cloud domains. She is currently vice president of marketing at iland, a global enterprise cloud hosting provider. Prior to this role, she led cloud and automation marketing for BMC Software and has worked for IBM, Fortisphere, Innosight and the Globus Alliance. Lilac holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and a Computer Science degree from Pacific Lutheran University.

  • Are Companies’ Digital Transformations Near Complete? The C-Suite Thinks So

    Are Companies’ Digital Transformations Near Complete? The C-Suite Thinks So

    Enterprises have been busy in their digital transformation efforts for a number of years. They’ve been using data and software in efforts to renew and attempt to rejuvenate entire lines of their business, from streamlining deeply entrenched processes to creating entirely new business models. Interestingly, while many developers and IT leaders believe their efforts are mediocre and lagging their contemporaries, the C-suite seams convinced their digital transformation efforts are going great. That’s according to a recently released survey by QuickBase.

    According to the Digital Transformation Survey, a surprising 70 percent of c-suite respondents believe they are ahead, or way ahead, of others in their digital transformation initiatives. Compare that to only 30 percent of those in the line of business and other employees who believe the same.

    Such a wide discrepancy among top executives and line-of-business employees isn’t unusual. When it comes to IT security, for instance, c-level executives are not always in sync with their security teams regarding how mature their cybersecurity efforts are. This older, but relevant, story details what I mean. In the story, “Are you an IT security leader – really,” research revealed that of the more than 9,600 business and technology executives from around the world who took part in the survey, 43 percent believed their organizations are IT security leaders. However, when those responses were vetted for such leadership indicators as reporting structure, strategy, ability to respond to a breach and more, less than 5 percent of respondents actually made the cut.

    However, in that survey—much like the recently released QuickBase survey—front-line practitioners were much less confident in the maturity of their program.

    There have been signs of this discrepancy in digital transformation efforts in other surveys, such as, “The Persistence of Enterprise Tech Failure Rates,” and, “Developers Cite Startling Lack of Digital Leadership.” In the latter story, 40 percent of developers surveyed said that they have experienced failed development efforts due to lack of funding, and a third reported being concerned that current projects could be pulled for budgetary reasons.

    Interestingly, it’s not c-level execs who typically are calling the shots when it comes to the digital transformation efforts in their enterprise. According to the survey, 47 percent said corporate IT was in charge of digital transformation, while the rest identified operations (30 percent) and line of business IT (21 percent) as the digital transformation leaders. Also, according to the QuickBase report, two-thirds of respondents said traditional IT app developers developed the digital transformation applications, while working with business users and managers occurred only 33 percent of the time. Not surprisingly, non- technical business users developed apps on their own less frequently.

    Interestingly, the study found the barriers to adoption are lack of budget, management resistance and then lack of IT staff.

    That lack of IT staff, the report concludes, is a reason why enterprises need to embrace their citizen developers. “Citizen developers, those in the line of business or operations who have the power to help transform their organizations from the bottoms up. These are the people who are closest to the work, but are often passed over in favor of more traditional IT leadership,” the report states.

    The survey did show, disappointingly, that only 23 percent of non-IT staff in operations are developing the apps they need to make digital transformation in their departments a reality. But as we covered previously, the reality is that citizen developers can be the factor that help enterprises drive their digital transformation efforts swiftly and further forward.

    Another persistent challenge is the lack of the skills enterprises need when it comes to digital transformation. Salesforce’s “State of IT” report, which we recently covered here, found that the IT skills demand gap is only getting worse. And as enterprises accelerate their digital transformation efforts, and invest more in mobile, data analytics and IoT, there will certainly be even less IT talent to go around. Roughly 30 percent of those in the report said their enterprises are having a very challenging time keeping the necessary IT skills sharp. Also, 72 percent said that IT skills development and training will be absolutely critical, or very important, for their team in the next five to eight years.

    When it comes to leading successful digital transformation efforts, there’s no doubt that citizen developers are critical for enterprises to get done what they need to get done. Likewise, there’s also little doubt that the c-suite also needs to get a real realistic view of the work ahead regarding their organization’s digital transformation efforts.