Chuck's Blog

Learning To Get Comfortable With Sensorship

No, that's not a typo.  

That's a twist of a clever phrase that our own Thom Lytle used to describe our increasing participation in sensor networks of all kinds.

In a world of big data analytics, what we think, what we do, how we behave -- are incredibly valuable inputs.  There's a powerfully strong incentive to capture our digital exhaust as we move through life.  

In so many of these models, there's no practical way anyone can opt out.  We're increasingly being sensored whether we approve or not.

Not to be overly negative, but there's scant chance of our legal systems ever hoping to catch up to where technology has so quickly brought us.

So I believe the topic of "sensorship" -- our willing and increasingly unwilling participation in data gathering exercises -- is going to be an important one.

Big Data Hits The Big Time in Davos

If you're a rock musician, you know you've "made it" when you get inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

If you're a societal mega-trend, you know you've hit the big time when you've become the main show at the World Economic Forum being held in Davos.  

I suppose this is just another indication that big data analytics -- and its breathtaking transformative potential -- has officially hit the major leagues.  

Big data is now officially "big".

The profound societal implications of big data analytics has now overflowed the neat category of the  tech world, and is quickly spilling into pointed discussions around such weighty  topics as global health care, economic development, education, governance, agriculture, privacy, national security and more.

One useful observation is that information is becoming the "new currency".  We're seeing the early days of how aggregated information is becoming the new source of innovation and improvement, power and wealth.

And what better place to discuss this new "information economy" than at the World Economic Forum?

Analytically Enabling The Enterprise via BI As A Service

Many amazing things being done in our EMC IT group these days.

The original premise was that -- once we had made enough progress on transitioning to an ITaaS model -- the value-added strategic IT initiatives would start to come hard and fast.  Well, they are.

Why?  

Almost everything IT does now is based on variable, re-usable (and competitive!) services: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS etc.   IT friction is dramatically reduced as a result.

Business users are now marketed to, and not simply told what they can and can't have.  

A financial governance model based on price signals and an internal marketplace is now starting to optimize IT decisions.  

It's a very different IT game here at EMC than just a few short quarters ago.  Perceptions have changed; enthusiasm is everywhere.  And I get the privilege to share it with all of you ...

In a previous post (The Journey To Big Data Analytics), I outlined the process by which most companies we thought would likely acquire and leverage new analytical capabilities.  At a high level, we now feel prepared to start our own internal journey in earnest, much like we're simultaneously tackling the challenge of mobilizing our extended enterprise.

In this post, I'd like to begin to share with you how we're organizing for success around this particular topic.  Yes, we're using plenty of EMC technology (naturally!), but the real key to anything transformative is the organizational approach.

Of Clouds And Perceptions Of Risk

I was on vacation last week, but I couldn't help noticing all the furor over the Amazon outage.

"OK", I thought, "an infrastructure provider had a bad day -- it happens."  Just the same as any power utility, or an airline, or a phone service, or a railroad, or any other provider of shared infrastucture services. 

But the Amazon outage had deeper significance, as for many it now has become a symbol of All Things Cloud, especially the public, commodity kind. 

And, like many public events, our collective reactions probably say more about us than we'd like to admit.

Understanding Advanced Persistent Threats

Next week is the big and uber-cool RSA security conference.  In preparation, I was chatting with Brian Fitzgerald and Nirav Mehta to get a quick synopsis of what they had planned for the show.

Half-jokingly, I asked "what's the big new threat that no one is prepared for?".  A lot of the conversation at the RSA Conference is inevitably along those lines, as you'd expect.

In a millisecond, Brian shot back: "APT -- advanced persistent threats".  

I had no idea what he was talking about.

He started to explain the basics.  I was fascinated, and asked him to send along some more info.

Maybe you'll be fascinated as well -- or at least, maybe a bit concerned?

Should Information Be On The Balance Sheet?

This painfully viral meme comes to you courtesy of none other than James Governor of RedMonk Consulting, perhaps better known as @monkchips.

He infected me badly at the recent EMC megalaunch event in London.  The words escaped his lips, and I had to go think about it -- a lot.

And maybe you should, to.

Investing In Risk Management As A Core Competency

One view of an IT function is breathtakingly simple: give people the capabilities they need to run the organization effectively.

Whether that capability is order processing, collaboration, business intelligence, logistics management, et. al. -- the primary job of IT is to deliver thsoe information-based service in an efficient, effective and flexible fashion.

Is getting better at understanding and managing different forms of risk important for people across the business?  

It's hard to argue otherwise.  One could make the strong case that the more risk-based information you can intelligently expose to leaders and managers, the better their decisions regarding risks will be.

And -- in a nutshell -- this is the rationale behind EMC's eGRC strategy announcement today.

Of WikiLeaks and Information Ownership

I happened to kick off a rather spirited discussion yesterday, when I tweeted that there were strong parallels between WikiLeaks and Pirate Bay -- both decided to widely distribute stolen information, and both are now in trouble for it.  

From my point of view, I couldn't see much of a difference.  I quickly found out that there were many alternative views on this topic, which -- for me -- makes it even *more* interesting!

Looking Ahead To 2011

Yep, it's that time of year when pundits and wannabe pundits start making their prognostications about the year ahead.

Since I'm in the latter class (wannabe pundit) part of me feels obligated to offer up my somewhat unique and biased views.  In some sense, you can see this as a preview of many of the themes that I'll be inevitably exploring during 2011.

Who Will Be The CFO Of Information?

Like I've said before, I get the privilege of meeting with all sorts of IT organizations that span just about any categorization axis you'd care to imagine.

A precious few of these IT organizations have been working on the whole virtualization / cloud / IT-as-a-service thing for quite a while.  They did it the way most early adopters have to do it -- the hard way, using the tech that was available to them at the time.

Their stories are inspiring, to say the least.  

Not only a radical re-think of the technology stack, but the associated operational models as well.  And, of course, presenting an entirely new catalog of attractive consumption options back to the business.

They've done the whole private cloud thing already, in essence -- or have done it well enough that it's no longer near the top of their IT leadership agenda.  And -- as a result -- they're ready to move on to the Next Big Thing.

So, what do these unique IT thought leaders often want to tackle next?