Monday, January 7, 2013

Keeping IT Strategic In 2013 | The Truth About Cloud Differences

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  Monday, January 7, 2013
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Chris Murphy
Chris Murphy
 
How IT Can Keep Its Strategic Role In 2013

Galen Gruman at InfoWorld is offering a dire warning: 2013 is the year IT may lose its "seat at the table" in helping set business strategy. Gruman's warning is worth a read, but he ignores the most important remedy: an IT focus on a company's end customers.

Gruman is downright gloomy in asserting that IT organizations have failed to become a strategic asset:

"IT didn't fundamentally change in the last decade -- and has largely lost its chance to claim its spot at the strategic executives' table. Sadly, despite all the talk about being strategic, IT's focus in most companies has remained on core transactional and financial systems, and where its role has broadened has been in security enforcement, not enablement."

He cites as evidence IT's resistance to trends such as consumer-friendly smartphones, tablets and cloud services:

"IT organizations largely resisted, first claiming doom-and-gloom scenarios, then raising security objections [that] didn't even apply to the desktop. The pace of consumerization only accelerated, as it became clear that IT's claims were of the Chicken Little or Boy Who Cried Wolf variety -- not Cassandra's warning of the Trojan Horse."

Gruman's right that IT whiffed on the mobile revolution, too often reacting instead of leading. In a recent column on 6 Ways IT Still Fails The Business, I included mobility high on my list. But BYOD policies aren't the difference-maker between relevant and irrelevant IT organizations today. The difference comes from whether IT is helping the company provide services that are highly relevant to its end customers.

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THIS EDITION
• Hard Truths About Cloud Differences
• Reading This Column Will Cost You 0.4 Micromort
• 5 Things VMware Should Do In 2013
• Research: 2013 InformationWeek Outlook Survey
• Why Linux Virtualization Is Ready for Prime Time
• CES 2013: 9 Cool Gadgets
• Is Your Network Ready for BYOD?
• InformationWeek 2013 U.S. IT Salary Survey

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Posted By JPolk:
"I don't think the cloud is the future. It's over-hyped and simply isn't a real problem solver. How over-hyped? I heard a tech pundit actually say, 'The enterprise is waiting for the cloud in the enterprise!' Really?"
In reply to: "Will SMBs Suffer If HP Dumps PCs?"
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WEBCASTS
Is Your Network Ready for BYOD?
Simply preventing personal devices from accessing your network might not be the best option for your business. A well thought out BYOD policy and the proper wireless security strategy can empower your employees, save costs, and increase productivity while maintaining security and control. Join us January 24th and find out what you need to consider when implementing a BYOD policy. More Information & Registration

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InformationWeek 2013 U.S. IT Salary Survey
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