Chuck's Blog

Want To Share Your IT Transformation Story?

I think I'm pretty fortunate that I get inside glimpses on how IT leaders are taking their teams forward to succeed in the brave new world.  

And I do what I can to share what I've learned -- both in person, and via this blog.

But I know I've only just begun to scratch the surface.  I suspect there are many more great stories out there -- chock full of great insights -- waiting to be told.

In each of them, there's something special to learn from -- one key insight or another that can probably help others with one aspect or another.

So here's the pitch -- if you've got a story to tell, would you be willing to invest an hour of your time to share with others?

The Inherent Difficulty Of Managing Data Growth

One of the most difficult questions I get asked by customers is painfully straightforward: how should we manage the explosive data growth going on in our organizations?

I wish I had a simple recipe.  Do these three ridiculously easy things, and you're set -- for example.  

No such luck.

You'd probably think that EMC would have some sort of semi-official position paper with deep insights on this thorny topic, but -- alas -- that's not the case either.  Truth be told, we tend to be somewhat divided amongst ourselves on the topic.

So, in an effort to be helpful, let me share with you how I'm answering the question when asked.

The Top Ten Pitfalls In ITaaS Transformation

By now, the story should be starting to be more familiar.  

The business needs more from the IT function, but IT can't easily deliver.  Inevitably, business leaders start searching outside of IT to get the flexible and easy-to-consume services they need.

I T leadership suddenly realizes that they're now being forced to compete for internal business , and IT isn't a monopoly any more.

Fail to compete successfully for your internal IT customers, and the future is not bright.

And so begins the uncomfortable process of IT groups transforming to look more like modern IT service providers, and less like the inwardly focused, siloed IT departments of yesteryear.

What started a few years ago as just a modest handful of customer examples quickly expanded to dozens, then hundreds and now many thousands.  

Personally, I think this has created a great opportunity for IT leaders to learn from each other as they each embark on their own transformational initiatives.  

But -- as with most things -- you tend to see patterns: where things work, and -- sometimes more importantly -- where things tend to bog down.

So, allow me to share my personal list of sand traps where IT leaders occasionally get stuck.  

Why?  Because knowing where the problems might lie is often half the battle ...

When Technology Transformed Education

In this blog, I end up writing a great deal on how information technology has the potential to change the world around us.  

From big data to mobilization to social to cloud: there's no shortage of fascinating examples where the potential for great changes are visible -- if we choose to pursue them. 

Like many of you, I am drawn to examples where technology can change people's lives for the good: health care, poverty -- and especially education. 

In this morning's New York Times, we read about the example of Mooresville, North Carolina who have used rather conventional technology to re-engineer the educational experience.

As a result, they are drawing considerable attention -- not so much because they're using technology -- but because they're changing their entire approach to education around what the technology can do.

Lightning, Thunder ... And Reverberations

Well, a relatively interesting week here -- at least from my narrow and biased storage vendor perspective.

EMC launches Project Lightning (now VFcache) with immediate availability.  

We preview a near-term follow-on technology -- Project Thunder.  

The web then reverberates with reactions from extremely positive to somewhat negative to occasionally "meh".

It was a pretty interesting show if you watch this part of the tech industry closely.

Now it's Friday.  

What have we learned?

Beyond IT: Building Your Digital Business Model

Not too long ago, I introduced the growingly attractive notion of a digital business model -- one that focused on creating content and experiences that customers and partners preferred.  My thanks (once again) to Dr. Peter Weill for introducing this powerful concept.

Since then, I've been quietly looking for stories where abstract theory have become funded projects.

Many of these stories are coming to me via EMC Digital, the boutique consulting specialty within the broader EMC Consulting organization.

And -- at the end of the day -- this particular story illustrates how a combination of innovative thinking and strong leadership can transform the seemingly mundane into a potentially compelling competitive advantage.

New IT, New Roles, New Tools

The conversation ought to be familiar by now.  

Many IT organizations are taking a hard look at themselves, and are realizing they have to learn to compete for internal customers.  

To do so, they need to start looking more like a modern IT factory, and less like your father's IT shop.  

A successful transformation essentially boils down to organizing for success: reformulating many existing IT roles, and creating entirely new ones.

Transforming even a moderate-sized IT shop takes a unique brand of leadership.  The journey isn't quick or easy, but it does offer substantial rewards to all involved.  

And, to put it gently, in many cases your options to ignore or postpone the inevitable aren't all that appealing :)

New IT inevitably means new roles and new processes, which -- of course -- implies the need for newer tools that are oriented around creating easy-to-consume services vs. simply monitoring the underlying technical components.  For example, most VCE Vblocks are shipped with UIM as an "orchestral enabler" that can expose infrastructure and allow it to be consumed as a service.

But not all clouds are Vblocks, and not all IT environments can be managed using a single paradigm.

Into this transforming IT world, EMC will be launching IT Operations Intelligence v9 early next week.  

While the product has plenty to like on its own merits, I'd like you to consider this a preview of some of the bigger ideas finding their way into next-gen IT management tools -- both from EMC and others.

The Other Side Of Big Data

Yes, I admit it.  I am caught hook, line and sinker on the transformative potential of big data analytics to not only change business, but change the world we live in.  It grows more heady and more intoxicating with every passing week.

Red pill, blue pill ...

But there's another important aspect to the big data discussion that shouldn't be ignored -- and that's the plethora of big data models that aren't entirely based on advanced analytics, but are still strategically important big data applications in their own right.

Our cohorts at Isilon have done a masterful job at accelerating value for our customers in this space, which occasionally tends to get overshadowed by the more flashy topics.

So, in the interests of inclusiveness, I'd thought I'd share with you the other side of the big data story.

From Lightning To Thunder

We all know that thunder closely follows a big lightning strike, and with today's unveiling of Project Lightning (now VFCache), there's thunder as well, as in Project Thunder.

To get a real appreciation for what this is all about, I'd strongly encourage you to read this background post first, and then my overview of VFCache.

Now, with all of that out of the way, let's dive into this interesting technology preview.

VFCache Means Very Fast Cache Indeed

Big news today for IT infrastructure professionals. 

EMC has taken the wraps off of the much-talked-about Project Lightning, and there's much more there than most people expected :)

In my previous post, I did my best to set context as to what was going on, why this was important, and so on.  Unless you're a storage technologist, you really should start with that post.

In this one, we're going to get into the details: what it is, what it does and how it's different than what's come before.

And in my next post, I'm going to preview its sibling -- Project Thunder -- which, as you'll see, is a natural extension of what Project Lightning accomplishes.