Every so often, a well-understood category in IT becomes completely up-for-grabs in terms of answering the question: what's next?
Clearly, how we think about enterprise desktops and delivering end-user computing is now very much in play. The many announcements coming from VMworld only underscores this point.
What's an enterprise IT planner to do?
Let's Step Back A Bit
I don't know what the exact number is, but I'd bet that hundreds of billions of dollars are spent globally every year to provide end user computing services to organizational users.
Add up all the hardware, software and people -- it's a mind-numbing annual investment to contemplate.
The level of investment is no surprise -- end-user computing has driven staggering levels of productivity and competitive advantage in the workforce over the last few decades. No matter how much we gripe about email and calendars and all the other end-user apps -- we can't imagine getting work done without them.
So let's look at the landscape in a bit more depth -- because change is in the air.
We've got a wealth of new delivery options to consider, so there's significant change there.
At the same time, how we want to use these enterprise services is changing quickly as well.
And, finally, the organizations we've built to run today's enterprise desktop environments won't likely be doing the same sort of work in the future.
To make matters more interesting, you probably won't have a lot of time to figure out what you'd like to do, because -- as we'll see in a moment, the legacy approaches are quickly becoming a "burning platform" forcing a timely reconsideration of overall approach.
Considering The New Use(r) Models
Our decades-old approach to providing end-user computing in organizational setting was largely conceived using an underlying model that now seems quaintly painted in soft sepia tones that evoke nostalgia.
"Work" was mostly seen as functional, transactional or task-oriented. Users were provided with access to the core applications that supported their primary role, with a smattering of standard collaboration and personal productivity to fill in the gaps.
"Work" was presumed to occur mostly in one physical location, and day-in and day-out usage patterns were pretty predictable. Users were generally not adept at using the technology, and needed both a constrained set of options, as well as substantial support resources.
We all got Widnows desktops, and then laptops, that were provided and managed by the IT department. We used mostly Microsoft applications on these devices. And -- far and away -- that was the dominant model.
My, how things have changed.
"Work" is now mostly seen as done by knowledge workers who do a variety of structured and unstructured activities during the day. We all have a smattering of core applications that we have to work with, but most of our time is increasingly spent analyzing, collaborating and communicating -- not only within our organizations, but increasingly outside them as well.
We're inherently mobile -- even if we don't travel extensively, we typically go from meeting to meeting within our workplaces. Work and life have blurred for most of us. We live where we work, and work where we live.
Our work patterns (and demands from our end user environments) vary considerably with the ebb and flow of new projects, new teams and new roles to play. Contractors, consultants and external partners are increasingly important participants in our notion of work as well.
Collectively, we're far more adept at acquiring and using personal computing technologies than just a few decades ago. We want technology and environments that work the way we do. We don't need -- and often reject -- the "nanny" approach that was required in decades past.
Although it's always nice to have an expert to help out once in a while :-)
At the same time, IT organizations are now far more accountable for controlling information access in this new world. Data leaks, information thefts, etc. -- the stakes have risen to new and previously unimaginable levels.
Bottom line: any reconsideration of the "enterprise desktop" ought to have clear ideas around these seismic shifts, and how they apply in your organization. Simply re-implementing the familiar legacy model with newer technologies appears to be a recipe for strategic failure from my perspective.
Considering The New Technology Options
Classical desktop and laptop technology have matured to an enviable level. The devices are mature, the applications are mature, the processes and workflows have matured, and so on. If your goal is "proven approaches", there's no argument that simply refreshing all of your traditional Windows devices with a new round of tech can be appealing to many.
But, at its essence, there are two simple reasons people aren't jumping to this answer as they have before: (1) it's relatively expensive, and (2) the requirements have changed. Maybe you can find a way to rationalize #1, but #2 is very hard to argue with.
For example, virtual desktops have been actively discussed and implemented for several years. The basic idea is that end-user computing is done using shared resources, with less dependence on the end-user device. Most people are coming around to the point of view that this approach can potentially do a much better job at (1) saving money, and (b) meeting new requirements.
Indeed, much of the news coming out of VMworld was around this theme: a new, more capable release of VMware View 4.5. More thin application capabilities. New security and GRC capabilities from VMware and EMC as examples. New management platforms and workflows.
Even pre-integrated infrastructure (like Vblocks) to go run them on.
More intriguingly, at VMworld there was also a bit of a peek at "Project Horizon" (links here, here)-- the ability for IT organizations (or their service providers) to provision and control rich, web-oriented end user experiences that integrate legacy and newer SaaS deliver models to provide what is provisionally dubbed an "end user cloud experience".
I think that this graphic clearly explains what's going on -- the desktop as we know it is being "pulled apart" by the cloud
Change is in the air.
How You Might Want To Think About The Problem
There's this odd bit of human nature that attempts to find the single correct answer to any question. Maybe it's an artifact of all those multiple choice tests we took as kids :-)
I think a more practical way to think about the problem for most people will be as a more gradual shift: away from the traditional legacy model, through the current round of virtualized shared end-user services and infrastructure model (as evidenced by VMware View), and eventually onwards to the managed-cloud-experience model as hinted at by Project Horizon.
As a result, for the next few years, it's very likely that some portion of your organization will be using the traditional model. And it's also likely that some portion of your organization will be using the virtual desktop model. And, before long, it's very likely that some portion of your organization will be using the "managed cloud experience" model -- that is, if you're not already.
Observation: I now spend more time on application platforms that are outside of IT than those that are inside IT. How about you?
It Won't Be About Technology, Though
Faced with radical shifts in legacy technology models, many IT people react instinctively.
"The technology isn't really ready yet", they'll say. Or the old chestnut "there aren't any widely adopted standards". Or something similar.
The reality often turns out to be very different. For most people, the technology is usually there and workable long before most IT organizations can figure out how to deploy it. Technology is rarely the gating factor to radical shifts in IT delivery models. It usually boils down to people, process and supporting skills.
How to best get through the transition knot hole? Especially when it comes to something as big and important and entrenched as end-user computing? This particual shift is going to take some unique skills that generally aren't plentiful in many enterprise IT settings.
Without doing an overly blatant plug, I want to use EMC Consulting as an example of a progressive consulting organization that's offering many of the expected (and sometimes unexpected) services and skills required as organizations start to make this particular journey. I've been involved in a few engagements with them, and -- well -- I'm impressed.
Do You Really Understand Your Users?
How long has it been since you've thoroughly surveyed your user communities? Identified the emerging trends and nascent unmet needs? Figured out what the new high-value work might be, and how best to support it with end-user computing technologies? And hopefully use this new understanding to create a new productivity model for end user computing?
Hint: most IT organizations haven't done this in a very long time -- if at all. Many who do end up expressing the answer in terms of specific named technologies and sterile "requirements" rather than new business needs. Or they don't really reach out to the leading edges of the organization.
Either way, your organization is gonna spend a lot of time and money aiming at some sort of new target -- why not take the time to understand what you're aiming at?
Talking to my EMC Consulting peers, this usually results in a series of targeted interviews and focus groups that can extract what's really going on with your users today, and what they'll likely want tomorrow. Using an independent firm to do this work ostensibly works better than the entrenched IT team trying to do it themselves.
Doing it with a firm that directly understands what the technology is now capable of doing -- even better.
Can You Make The Case For Change?
It's one thing for a few people in IT to "get it" with regards to what should be done, and how best to go about. It's another thing entirely to gain widespread organizational support for significant and potentially disruptive change in how people go about using technology to get their work done.
There's always a lot of money at stake, and -- of course -- everyone has an opinion. Even the CEO. And not everyone is always up for a change in the status quo.
Simply formulating the business rationale for change (and the likely level of investment required!) is a complex and nuanced task in and of itself. Some IT organizations are up to the challenge, but others benefit from external help. Constructing a realtively complex model of different end-user communities, current approach, envisioned approach and likely pluses and minuses -- well, that's a hairy project in itself.
And, once again, EMC Consulting is starting to notch up a number of successful engagements in this category. The work I've seen usually starts with the external assessment of the organization, its competitive context, and the secular trends obvious in the workforce as a result. From there, it's a logical journey to some key takeaways that prompt a vigorous discussion outside of the IT organization.
Because without a vigorous discussion, nothing much is going to change :-)
Creating The Big (People) Plan
Once the business case is understood (by business people, that is), the usual consequence is a sequence of projects to create one or more new environments, and targeting them towards subsets of the user community. Call them pilots, call them proof-of-concepts -- it's most definitely *not* a big-bang transition.
Most people think of this as a technology justification and implementation problem. In reality, it's more of a change management problem -- you need to find a way to get people to change the way they do things.
Identifying early adopters -- and securing their ongoing sponsorship and engagement -- is no simple task. But experience has shown that simply pushing new technologies at cranky users is no recipe for adoption and success.
Once again, there turns out to be a nuanced art to identifying and engaging with the official and unofficial leaders in each of these early adopter communities -- and using their early successes and enthusiasm as leverage to move the rest of the organization along ...
Building, Operating and Transferring -- The New Skills
The team operating the desktop and end-user environment today is usually completely maxed out.
These people often don't have the required cycles to design, implement and learn the new technology operational skills they'll need in the new world.
At the same time, the internal team needs to be an integral part of the process, as they'll be ultimately responsible for the environment once it's deployed. How do you break this logjam?
EMC Consulting has come up with a clever approach to this -- introducing temporary resources into the day-to-day desktop operations that frees key personnel to become an integral part of the next-gen end-user project team, and work side-by-side with other external professionals on key aspects of the project. As a result, the internal team understands what it is, how it works, and why things are being done the way they are.
Additionally, the EMC Consulting team also has access to the wide range of EMC Proven Solutions for virtualized desktop environments. These basically shorten time-to-value by providing pre-characterized and pre-qualifed architectural blueprints for basic sizing, security, management and other key aspects of the new infrastructure. These documents have turned out to be a convenient starting point for further customization by the IT organization.
Migrating The Legacy Components
So often, there are bits of legacy application code that haven't been touched since before Windows XP and IE 6. There's not enough of a business case to reconstitute these applications with more current technology, so they have to be migrated.
This "migration bubble" can often be considerable. And if targeted users don't get their familiar applications on day 1 (regardless of vintage or business relevance), adoption may slow or stall entirely.
Once again, EMC Consulting has figured out a clever answer to this -- they've established a cost-effective and highly predictable "migration factory" (using various on-shore and off-shore resources) to grind through straighforward conversions from old to new and without adding new functionality.
Users get what they're used to on day 1.
Establishing Cost Transparency
Most IT organizations can figure out what they're spending (in aggregate) to support their end users. The problem comes in establishing incremental costs and level of effort per additional new user or new end-user function supported, and being able to communicate those granular costs back to the people who ultimately make the tradeoff decisions.
During this transformation process, it's usually desirable to create a more robust services catalog (both of applications and delivery mechanisms) that create a rich menu of end-user choices for the business -- along with baseline and incremental costs.
Doing this after the fact can be difficult. Doing it as an integral part of the end-user computing transformation process is much, much easier. Indeed, we've got hard evidence that -- when presented with real and understandable costs -- most end users (or the people they work for!) will make intelligent tradeoffs.
Preparing For External Options
We're going through a period where more and more attractive options are coming to the table for doing various aspects of end-user computing externally. Email and certain forms of collaboration, for example, are on the table in an increasingly frequent number of engagements. Self-service computing for application development is another external option that's becoming more attractive, as well as various forms of self-service analytics.
Maybe even the end user computing environment itself :-)
Whereas evaluating the attractiveness of these are separate projects unto themselves, some forethought needs to be reflected into the end user computing transformation -- having the architectural flexibility to seamlessly incorporate external services as they make sense -- while still retaining control over security, usage, compliance, resources, etc.
A little planning here can set the table for a menu of potentially interesting scenarios down the road. And EMC Consulting is starting to insert this particular dynamic into more and more of their client engagements -- by identifying potential candidates, and architecting the control mechanisms that will be needed to potentially use them.
Putting It All Together
If you're a technologist like me, you probably get it: when it comes to end-user computing, change is in the air. And there's a plethora of cool technology from VMware (and EMC) in just about every aspect of this new world.
But at some point, cool technology alone isn't enough to carry the day and drive substantive change to a considerably entrenched legacy model that's grown up around us.
You'll likely need what are essentially consulting skills -- regardless of whether you grow your own, or look outside for people who can help.
Could the average IT organization make this transition, given enough time and money?
Yes -- but business people usually don't want to waste either -- especially when it comes to big changes that can dramatically impact the productivity of an entire organization.
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