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What's all the hot air about cloud? [ITWeb](ITWeb Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) According to Forbes (Top 10 Strategic CIO Issues, 2013 – 1), merely having a "cloud strategy" is no longer sufficient; the board and the shareholders are asking for more. Key phrases like 'business transformation enabled by the cloud', 'unleash your company's intelligence', 'simplify IT', 'lead the social revolution' and 'future-proof your IT architecture' represent organisations' growing demands of the CIO. These themes are further echoed in this year's list (Top 10 Strategic CIO Issues, 2014 – 2), seeing the addition (or refinement) of hot topics such as: "Mobile-first, cloud-first, social-first", "don't fight tomorrow's war with yesterday's technologies", "tie employee compensation to knowledge worker productivity", and "design and deliver the transparent enterprise". All these 'strategic issues' talk about the refinement of technology [to reduce cost, and increase agility], increased transparency [across the organisation], deep integration with key fabrics such as social and cloud, and leveraging [and expanding] our employee's knowledge, rather than desperately trying to retain it at all costs. So, how can cloud help organisations transform their IT budget to release more funding for innovation and growth-oriented projects? The traditional model of enterprise software sales has changed. Typically, the promise of an enterprise software package value is illustrated through brochures, case studies [or testimonials], demonstrations, and short [very] focused proofs of concept. Unfortunately, ultimate value recognition is only achieved after the finalization of the sale. By the time that organizations are intimately aware of the limitations or "quirks" in the software, they are too far down the road to change. How has cloud changed this? With the prevalence of cloud software, organisations are able to perform full-scale production testing without a purchase [or the commitment to buy], and without the need for large-scale infrastructure deployments. Essentially, organisations are now able to become intimately engaged with the software prior to the purchasing decision. Imagine being able to truly test and understand the suitability of a software package before buying it? With cloud, you can. Using the cloud to provide employees an always available knowledge management platform that is familiar [to them] and engaging [enter Twitter, Facebook and blogging] allows an organisation to reward employees for contributing their [technical] knowledge or [process] wisdom while reducing the cost [and time] of deployment and adoption. Ubuntu Technologies understands the difference between theory and practice. The company's [knowledge and] application architects follow a tried and tested cloud maturity road map for assisting organisations to embed and embrace cloud [and social] solutions to traditional knowledge [and information] management challenges. Addressing change management and [common] friction with the adoption of tools such as these through employee empowerment, gamification, and continued education, is key to truly deriving value and ensuring that a good knowledge management strategy is much more than a white elephant. Whatever your stage of knowledge and information management maturity, we have tools, processes and success stories to assist you on your way to becoming mobile-first, cloud-first, social-first. 1 – Forbes.com – "The Top 10 Strategic CIO Issues for 2013", Bob Evans;2 – Forbes.com – "The Top 10 Strategic CIO Issues for 2014", Bob Evans; (c) 2014 ITWeb Limited. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |