Many organizations today are organized into silos, Systems, Networks, Security, Storage, Help Desk, and so on. Has worked for years, and easy to manage into these groups. Why won't it work anymore?
Look at the changes in the technology and how it is really becoming the converged infrastructure. FCoe - Fiber Channel over Ethernet - touches on network, storage, security - so who owns it? Who manages it?
Take a look at VBlock from EMC, Intel, Cisco, VMWare - now you have systems, storage, network all in one solution. Virtualization is really changing the playing field, and the emerging of technology is bringing new skill requirements to the IT department.
I propose to you that the old silo structure no longer works, and should really look at what services your IT group is going to deliver to the business. The private cloud, which brings virtualization, self provisioning, data consolidation, and central management tools, creates new focus teams. I had one colleague recommend you have hardware team, virtualization team, transport team, and application team. Ok, I can work with that, but you need management, performance/capacity, and user support. Telecommunication is now a transport and application, as a converged technology. So I think you see the picture now, it is all blending together.
Take it a step further, do you really want to be in the hardware support? Is there where cloud infrastructure as a service comes in? Do you out source your data center and become a virtual data center? There are a great deal more options today, and the technology and trends are changing ever so quickly. You need to really develop your road map, talk with the business, and put a technology solution in place that supports the business goals. There is nothing wrong with a hybrid solution, on premise and cloud solutions. In any case, your organizational structure and staff skills sets are changing. You ready?
Lastly, don't force your new strategy and goals into an organization of yesterday. You will frustrate your staff, develop work arounds, and process failures. You need to change your organization to support the new technology, strategy and goals.
Keep it positive!
Scott Arnett
scott.arnett@charter.net
About Me
- Scott Arnett
- Scott Arnett is an Information Technology & Security Professional Executive with over 30 years experience in IT. Scott has worked in various industries such as health care, insurance, manufacturing, broadcast, printing, and consulting and in enterprises ranging in size from $50M to $20B in revenue. Scott’s experience encompasses the following areas of specialization: Leadership, Strategy, Architecture, Business Partnership & Acumen, Process Management, Infrastructure and Security. With his broad understanding of technology and his ability to communicate successfully with both Executives and Technical Specialists, Scott has been consistently recognized as someone who not only can "Connect the Dots", but who can also create a workable solution. Scott is equally comfortable playing technical, project management/leadership and organizational leadership roles through experience gained throughout his career. Scott has previously acted in the role of CIO, CTO, and VP of IT, successfully built 9 data centers across the country, and is expert in understanding ITIL, PCI Compliance, SOX, HIPAA, FERPA, FRCP and COBIT.
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