Chuck's Blog

The Big Picture

This year, I was very honored to receive multiple invitations to speak at customer events. 

Many of the larger IT organizations EMC works with have their own internal kickoffs for the new year.  Frequently, they go looking for someone who can bring an outside perspective -- a context -- to their situation. 

Somehow, they find me.  And I am very flattered to be considered worthy for that task.

But it's not an easy gig.

You can't just show up wearing your IT vendor badge, and blather on about your various products and technologies.  I've seen vendors do that before, and I'm pretty sure they won't be invited back.

Nor can you go too "big picture" either -- you can start with big ideas, but you have to bring those same concepts back to their world and make them relevant and somewhat actionable.

And, of course, you've got to do all of this in about 25 minutes, while holding people's attention.

Unfortunately, this year I only was able to accept a few of these invitations. 

For everyone else, I thought I'd do the next big thing -- share my 2013 keynote presentation via this blog post.  If you're a regular reader, you'll certainly see familiar material -- just re-assembled and re-packaged to be more consumable.

Even if you're not part of a large IT organization that's having a kickoff, you might find this material worthwhile to consider as you start the new year.

Thanks For The Chocolate

Perhaps a better title for this post is "Why More Data Is A Good Thing".

As we engage with our customers around big data analytics, one of the harder points to get across is why more data can lead to better predictive insights.  Perhaps they suspect we've got an agenda to sell them more storage? :)

One of the big uptake vectors for the new school of big data and predictive analytics is the dismal science of marketing.  Big data and predictive analytics are quickly transforming how marketing gets done, even here at EMC.

We're all the target of marketing pitches: some well-aimed, some not-so-well-aimed.

Recently, I was the recipient of a lavish marketing pitch.  Through the old-school lens, you could understand just why I was involved.

But through the lens of big data and predictive analytics, you start to realize just how far we have to travel.

Does IT Need A New Concierge?

There's a new business model brewing in the ranks of the enterprise IT marketplace.  In some ways it's a new idea; in other ways it's a linear extension of familiar concepts.

As with any emerging model, you'll hear it described in many different ways: a cloud services broker, ITaaS-as-a-service, a new variation on the outsourcing model, front-desk-and-back-office, and so on.

The core idea is conceptually simple: a new, external IT service that makes other external IT services easier to source and easier to consume by the broader enterprise. 

An "IT services concierge" service, if you will.

Will some IT leaders be interested in such a thing?  Inevitably. 

Does the model have long term growth prospects?  That's more debatable.

Building A Executive Digital Literacy Program

Being perceived as a visionary is a relatively easy task.  All you have to do is identify a handful of clearly visible trends, extrapolate a bit, and then loop back with practical advice on what to do about it now.

Example: I have a friend who's currently looking at oceanfront property.  He showed me a place that was right on the water.  I suggested he might consider a house with a bit more elevation?  Sure, it might not be a visible problem now, but if you think out a few years ...

Here's the point: there's rapid and unprecedented climate change in the business world.  Our society is forcefully transforming to a digital world.

Our current business models -- designed for the physical world -- now have to be dramatically re-engineered to adapt and thrive in this new economy.  A palpable sense of urgency is at hand.

IT can supply the platforms and tools, but do our leaders and management teams have the necessary skills and context required to lead the way forward? 

If you can answer "yes", you're quite fortunate -- the rest of us have some heavy lifting to do.

Just like we had to learn to thrive in a global economy, and a sustainable economy -- we now have to learn how to thrive in a digital economy. 

And that's something they didn't teach us in business school.

I wish I could point to a proven body of knowledge and delivery mechanisms to achieve this important goal, but no such luck

I've been looking, and there isn't much out there at the executive level -- sure, there are pieces here and there, but they certainly don't fit together as I'd like to see.

At some point, this will surely change, but in the meantime, it's a roll-your-own proposition.

I've now been asked several times -- if I were constructing an agenda for mid-to-senior level leaders -- what would I put in it?

So, in an effort to kick-start the discussion, here it is:

Why There Shouldn't Be A Single Version Of The Truth

Legacy thinking can get you in trouble in so many ways.  The challenge is that -- well -- there's so much of it around.

Maxims that seemed to make logical sense in one era quickly become the intellectual chains that hold so many of us back.  Personally, I've come to enjoy blowing up conventional wisdom to make room for emerging realities.

I'm getting into more and more customer discussions with progressive IT organizations that are seriously contemplating building platforms and services that meet the broad goal of "analytically enabling the business" -- business analytics as service, if you will.

The problem?  The people in charge have done things a certain way for a very long time.  And the new, emerging requirements are forcing them to go back and seriously reconsider some of their most deeply-held assumptions.

Like having "one version of the truth".  I've seen multiple examples of it get in the way of organizations who need to be doing more with their data.

EMC Joins OpenStack

Today, our EMC logo went up on the OpenStack Foundation's web site as a corporate level sponsor.

You'll see many other logos up there as well -- all good.  I'm sure each participant sees OpenStack through their own lens. 

With this post, hopefully I can share a bit of EMC's perspective and motivations.

Because -- as with most things -- the pattern should be familiar by now.

Charting The Digital Universe: IDC's 6th Annual Study

Climate change has been hotly debated for well over a decade now. 

The evidence is largely in, what remains is a discussion around root causes, and what -- if anything -- can be done. 

Personally, the topic became particularly urgent when I saw a recent documentary ("Chasing Ice") which features stunning time-lapse photography of massive glaciers and ice sheets melting before your very eyes.

Seeing is believing.  Our world is changing, faster than we thought.

In many ways, the most recent IDC Digital Universe study provides clear evidence that our world is also changing from a physical one to a digital one, and much faster than we previously thought.  In addition to attempting to quantify and forecast how much information we collectively generate and consume, it highlights particular "big picture" topics of concern to many.

Many of us now live our lives primarily in a digital world.  We work digitally, socialize digitally and spend our off hours digitally. 

Our children are being raised and educated largely in a digital world.  Businesses are in hot pursuit to re-invent themselves in this digital world, followed closely by public sector.  "IRL" (in real life) has started to become the exception rather than the norm.

Our world is changing, faster than we thought.

But unlike climate change, our digital world is mostly good for all involved -- a major leap forward for us as a society: richer lives, better answers to social problems, and -- above all -- easier access to the information riches the world now has to offer.  Like all transformations, it presents its own unique challenge.

In many regards, I see the IDC study as useful and important -- it measures the "digital footprint" of this unprecedented transformation.  And, as in past years, there's much more insight to be gained other than just appreciating some really big numbers.

E&Y: Trust And The Cloud

I'm lucky to meet a wide range of IT organizations scattered across all sorts of industries.

Some are bravely charging ahead into the new world of cloud-based IT service delivery: transforming their internal operations, consuming more external IT services, and learning quickly as they go.

But others are holding back, and for what turns out to be very sound reasons. 

A tough set of regulatory concerns, for example.  Challenging security and data privacy laws.  Compliance and auditability.  High-risk IT applications that can't afford any sort of a bad day. 

These IT groups believe they can't move ahead unless *all* of this is sorted out -- ahead of time.

If you're reading this and nodding your head, you know who you are.

For these organizations, the move to a modern IT model has to be done with trust and confidence.  It's not an IT thing, it's a business thing -- and it's not optional.

Enter Ernst & Young

More known for tax, audit and regulatory consulting, they've developed an interesting set of IT transformation consulting services precisely targeted at these more risk-sensitive industries. 

While perhaps not known as a technology powerhouse, they do bring deep expertise in establishing the required "trust assurances" across the organization needed for a move to any form of cloud.

As I've started to work with their team, I've gained a new-found appreciation around a an entirely new path to the cloud. 

By focusing on a tough set of business concerns first and foremost, they may end up being far more successful in helping their clients get to cloud than us technology-focused types.

There Is No Automation Pill

So many discussions these days with customers around IT transformation -- three of them yesterday alone.

While every discussion has its own unique nuances, there are observable patterns where people frequently can fall into a predictable trap -- not just IT organizations, but us as IT vendors as well.

And, not surprisingly, one of those topics is automation.

Here's the trap: since automation is "good", let's start by simply adding automation to what we're doing today.  More automation -- that's what we all need!

The customer goes for it.  The IT vendor goes for it.  And then I often have the uncomfortable and unpopular task of unwinding everyone from a mutually agreed goal.

Unfortunately, good automation is always the result of substantial process redesign.  It's the outcome of hard and persistent work to understand the real value at hand, how things get done, realigning tasks, workflows, measurement and more.

Good automation is an outcome of a massive process re-engineering effort.  More broadly, it should never end -- you should always looking for a better or more efficient process design, and hence always should be revisiting your automation approach.

There's no magic "automation pill" that I've ever found. 

Want to lose weight?  Eat less and exercise more -- but that's hard work, isn't it?

Lost In Translation?

Part of my role here at EMC is to spend time with writers, bloggers and journalists on various topics.  It's a global endeavor, often crossing language and cultural barriers.

Most of the time, it turns out pretty well.  What ends up in print is a reasonable reflection of what I said - maybe not perfect, but close enough.

Once in a rare while, the result can get jumbled.  When it does, I certainly share a decent amount of the responsibility: was I clear, did I speak slowly, did I make it simple enough?

A few days ago, a write-up of a recorded interview appeared in Storage Newsletter.  I was dismayed that it had a bad case of that "lost in translation" problem. 

I'm not quite sure how it happened.  The questions were reasonable; I thought my answers reasonable -- but the result wasn't ideal.   To make matters even more problematic, one of the industry bloggers pounced on one of the many misquotes as "evidence" of a broader set of issues. 

Nothing goes unpunished on the social web. 

So, in the interest of continual improvement, I thought I'd reprint the entire interview here, along with an improved transcription of what I said.  The answers are the same, they're just a bit easier to read.  I've also added some expansion points (clearly indicated) as needed.