Drive Innovation by Leveraging Your Inexperience!
What makes someone truly qualified to work in information technology? In recent months, my news feeds have been teeming with passionate, and at times toxic, debates on the level of experience required for an IT career. These … Continue reading
Digital Privacy: Why We Need Clear Notice & Consent Protocols and Trust Frameworks
Read the fine print When was the last time you read the full terms of service or privacy policy for an app? Have you ever read them? When you received … Continue reading
The Importance of Digital Hygiene
As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is broadening globally, both the private sector and the public sector have taken action to address its public health impact and to dampen … Continue reading
What Musical Theatre Can Teach Us About Business Strategy
Musical theatre actors are amazing strategists. The similarities between the types of strategic decisions by a single actor in a musical and someone running a large organization are striking. Those … Continue reading
You’re Not Failing if You’re Learning
How “learn-fast” thinking can improve innovation and combat fear of failure “We’re a large organization. We can’t fail fast and break things!” It’s the type of statement I frequently encounter, … Continue reading
The innovation pot of gold you may not know you already have
There’s nothing like success to suck the innovation out of a great team. I have seen it many times. A team has a great, innovative idea. They have that magical … Continue reading
Supplier partnerships are a strategic weapon in the application economy
What being a cloud provider taught me about licensing and supplier relationships. “Please don’t make me count.” Just as we were celebrating that we had solved a tremendous business agility problem with … Continue reading
Security Becomes an Innovation Driver in the Application Economy
“Hi. I’m Al. I work in IT Security. My job is to suck the fun out of life.” That was how the instructor of one of the first security training … Continue reading
4 Reasons Cloud Adoption Rises While Security Concerns Increase
I have read several articles recently that suggest CIOs are moving to the cloud while ignoring security concerns. Some note that cost savings or profits trump fear; or that people … Continue reading
Beware! Aggregated Data Can Harm Your Business
This is truly an exciting time for people in the information technology industry. We have more capability than we’ve ever had, and we are more connected than we’ve ever been. … Continue reading
7 Reasons to Consider Hosting Your Cloud In Canada
Thanks to Edward Snowden the cloud computing conversation has finally started in earnest in Canada, according to thestar.com. Even before Snowden seemingly shook up the cloud computing world there was … Continue reading
In 2014 Cloud Computing is So Last Year
Let’s face it. Cloud computing just isn’t that exciting anymore – mainly because it’s no longer something people feel compelled to debate or question. Not only do we continue to … Continue reading
No Unicorns or Rainbows for Cloud Computing in 2014
As someone who suffers from an inability to predict the past I reluctantly agreed to stare into my crystal cloud again this year. As I prepared my 2014 cloud computing … Continue reading
Cloud Computing’s Shockwave and How It Can Benefit Your Business
The value of cloud computing is becoming widely understood, with many reporting that it has delivered beyond their expectations. But there is an opportunity for even greater return from cloud … Continue reading
Cloud Computing: Salesforce.com Attends Camp Hybrid
This week during its never-disappointing Dreamforce event, Salesforce.com announced a partnership with HP to deliver a new service named Salesforce Superpod. According to the announcement, Salesforce Superpod is a “dedicated instance” … Continue reading
Cloud Computing: Embrace Diversity and Avoid The Money Pit
If we have learned nothing from the recent Snowden revelations and stories of cloud outages the one irrefutable lesson we have learned is that you should always choose the most secure, most resilient cloud service, right? … Continue reading
Prepare for More Cloud Outages
A recent outage at Amazon, which was caused by a network device failure, has reignited discussion and debate about the reliability of cloud computing services. While I believe that cloud services can … Continue reading
Privacy is Dead. Long Live Privacy!
Recently Ben Way (@bway) tweeted the following question to me: That is an outstanding question, and since this topic is so broad, the greatest challenge is where to begin. Though … Continue reading
Cloud Computing: Regulatory Complexity Requires Systems Thinking
In a recent article Peter Wayner cautions that “No one knows which laws apply” in reference to the fact that a customer may be in one jurisdiction and the cloud instance they … Continue reading
Harnessing Cloud Power: Quantum Cloud Computing Project Delivers Promising Results
This April Fools’ Day article was posted on April 1, 2013. Last week researchers at the Center for Theoretical Physics Quantum Computing Laboratory provided a small group with an early look at … Continue reading
The 4 MYs of Cloud Computing and IT Transformation
It is often stated that technology is easy and people are hard. Whether or not you agree with that, the sentiment must be heeded. Otherwise, even the best technical solutions … Continue reading
Cloud Computing Myth 7: Cloud Only Makes Sense for Large Deployments
In recent weeks there appear to have been an increasing number of articles written about cloud computing myths. I am not complaining about that. In fact, I have written a few … Continue reading
Preparing for the Cloud Computing SLA Cold War
In a recent article, “Cloud Providers Ready to Strike With Nuclear Option“, Simon Phipps stated that issues related to cloud service level agreements (SLAs) are “under acknowledged and overdue for … Continue reading
Here’s to 2013, The Year of the Customer
Recently CA Technologies released our top IT predictions for 2013. There are, of course, many other interesting predictions from our customers, colleagues, and competitors alike. As I was about to close … Continue reading
Cloud Predictions for 2013: Cloud Computing’s Sophomore Year
While I am sure there will be many exciting cloud computing developments in the coming year, perhaps the most exciting one will be that cloud computing will no longer be … Continue reading
Measure the Cloud for Business Value
Despite decades of talk about how IT needs to align to the business, in many organizations, IT and the business are not speaking the same language — if they’re speaking … Continue reading
There’s No Free Lunch at the Cloud Buffet!
Consumption styles can dramatically impact cloud benefits What do cloud service consumption patterns have in common with the way people approach all-you-can-eat restaurant buffets? During a recent discussion of some … Continue reading
The Great Cloud Debate Rages On
Cloud computing has been steadily, some might say “rapidly”, gaining traction as a strategic business weapon. Every day brings new articles about businesses that have discovered how to leverage cloud … Continue reading
How To Get Customers Thinking About Hybrid Cloud Services
Originally posted at CRN.com April 27, 2012. Join the conversation there. Hybrid cloud services provide an excellent point of entry for service provider customers For many companies planning to adopt or expand cloud services, … Continue reading
Cloud Computing: Have You Hugged a Rogue Today?
Embrace, Align, Assist, and Leverage Rogues… or Lose Them Forever Recently I participated as a panelist in a “#CloudViews” Twitter chat regarding Rogue IT. (A full transcript is available via … Continue reading
Why Some Clouds Fail to Deliver
Recently in ZDNet, Keith Allen of CA Technologies gave his perspective of how cloud computing can have a positive impact on customer satisfaction, and perhaps even reduce the likelihood of rogue IT. … Continue reading
Cloud Computing: “Working Together Is Success”
What capacity planning taught us about the value of alignment with Business There has been quite a lot written about the benefits of IT-Business alignment, and even more written about … Continue reading
Cloud Computing: “…and business always wants it in a week”
I agree, Chris O’Malley, business should align with IT Recently I read a post by Chris O’Malley, Nimsoft CEO wherein he makes the point that, while IT must align with their business consumers, … Continue reading
Peeling the Cloud’s Green Onion
Does cloud computing really make things greener? The Green Onion’s Three Layers Recently my colleague Dhesi Ananchaperumal and I were invited to speak at several conferences on the topics of … Continue reading
Cloud Computing: A look at yesterday paints a picture of tomorrow (Part 2)
What I learned at Cloud Exchange 2011 In Part 1 of this series I discussed the first three of the top five topics of discussion during this year’s Cloud Exchange events (security, … Continue reading
Cloud Computing: A look at yesterday paints a picture of tomorrow (Part 1)
What I learned at Cloud Exchange 2011 Having completed my last road trip of the year, I dusted off the notes I took during this year’s Cloud Exchange events (and … Continue reading
Emptor Scire (Buyer Aware)
What is different about today’s consumer-driven IT? As I prepared for an upcoming CA World panel discussion on consumer-driven IT, my thoughts took a 90 degree turn. While I had primarily … Continue reading
Is All This Hype Giving Cloud the Business?
Is cloud computing disruptive innovation or great marketing? For what feels like forever there have been debates regarding whether cloud computing is a game-changing approach or simply an unbelievably well … Continue reading
IT Self-Service Improves Customer Experience and IT Efficiency
Can we be of better service by providing less service? “There is unrest in the forest” During a recent Cloud Exchange event the discussion turned to business consumers bypassing their IT colleagues and … Continue reading
Cloud Computing: You Can’t Always Get What You Want
Give your customers what they need. It’s not always what they ask for. Soft skills a key ingredient to cloud computing success Last week I had the pleasure of joining … Continue reading
Cloudy Views Bring Sunny Outlook for Cloud Consumers
“#CloudViews” Cloud Outage Chat Participants Put Their Customers First Last Thursday I participated as a panelist in Cloud Commons‘ “#CloudViews” Twitter chat (partial session archive here or page through the full archive here). The following … Continue reading
Clouds Are Not Secure, Clouds Are Not Reliable
Dispelling two very common myths about clouds Late last week, I read a Bloomberg Businessweek article titled “Cloud Security Is Looking Overcast” discussing several of the reasons many businesses either … Continue reading
Cloud Computing: The LAN That Time Forgot
Four caveats for those evaluating the costs and benefits of cloud solutions Recent announcements ranging from mergers and acquisitions, to movement of key personnel, to changes in licensing models have … Continue reading
Cloud Computing: When Life Gives You Lemons… “Go Mobile, Go Social”
What IT can learn from a lemonade stand Recently I had a very interesting conversation with an aspiring entrepreneur. She told me about the demands a changing environment had been … Continue reading
Cloud Computing: Time to Rock the Boat
You can have everything you need to protect your business, and still fail. A River Runs Through It Last weekend while my son and I were enjoying Father’s Day in … Continue reading
Private Clouds Deliver No Value (Part II)
People who live in glass houses should throw dashboards In Part I of this series I discussed some of the challenges and value (or lack thereof) perceptions facing private cloud … Continue reading
Private Clouds Deliver No Value (Part I)
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing” – Oscar Wilde As a private cloud provider I dealt with widespread perceptions that private clouds (and internal … Continue reading
If a Cloud Falls in the Forest…Nobody Should Hear It
Resiliency is not a byproduct of cloud computing About a week ago while thinking of cloud services I realized that I had been having a recurring thought for several weeks: … Continue reading
Cloud Computing: A Tale of Two Write-Downs
It was the best of times, it was a cell with a view Recently there has been a lot of discussion and debate regarding the capitalizing and amortizing of cloud-related … Continue reading
Cloud Computing: Keep your friends close, and the Finance Team closer
I agree, Dick Benton, a partnership with Finance is critical to private cloud success Dick Benton recently published a two-part article on “Calculating Cloud ROI” in which he states that … Continue reading
Innovation, Technology, and Life in the Cloud 