Year: 2010

It is nice to see the transformation of hype into reality. As someone who has spent a lot of years in technology sales and marketing, hype sometimes has a negative connotation in our industry. There have been times when hype has gotten ahead of technology’s ability to deliver and times when hype has led to misplaced expectations for what new technology can in fact deliver. However technology hype (I think enthusiasm might be a better term) is not a bad thing. It creates excitement for and focuses attention on new innovations that have potential to improve business operations and service delivery. Hype is always going to be ahead of reality… it is important that far more often than not, reality needs to rise to meet the expectations of  hype (enthusiasm)

The hype (or enthusiasm) for cloud computing does not need any more gas dumped on the raging fire. I think cloud computing instead needs to see the foundations of business benefit beginning to take shape in the form of successful projects and realized business benefits. I am very pleased to report that we are starting to see the reality of cloud computing supporting the sky-high enthusiasm and expectations.

One TBL client in particular has, in essentially 120 days, transformed their entire operations from a quintessential 1990’s operation into a fully operational private cloud, and the business benefits are starting to flow. What has changed and improved? Lots. A better question might be what hasn’t? Tactical/transactional costs to “add more of the same” to the prior infrastructure  that were very high are now gone. Growth by acquisition was stymied by an infrastructure that was inflexible and difficult at best to scale. In fact growth of any kind was expensive to support and even more expensive if not impossible to maintain with any degree of integrity. Now, the private cloud is a facilitator of cost-effective growth and is a point of leverage for future acquisitions. Business recovery services that were simply an auditor’s check-mark in the past will be fully dynamic and deployable in the coming 60 days. Cost effective growth is now standard operating procedure. Business differentiating agility is now baked into the business through the private cloud. This company can now turn on a dime, reacting to new needs in the market and deploying new services in record time.

None of this happened by accident. New leadership and staff has shown remarkable foresight in developing a winning strategy combined with superb ability to execute. TBL engineers have helped architect and deliver replicable best practices in deploying a private cloud. And not to be overlooked, the technology that delivers the private cloud has lived up to every iota of its hype, its potential, and its expectations. Cloud is certainly the biggest hype of the past several years. It is gratifying and exciting to see hype morph into reality for our clients and see business benefits emerge as promised.

I try to read a lot of blogs, books, and articles that provide insights into what is going on in the market and how we in the technology business can help our clients best adjust to evolving economic, consumer, and technology changes. I’d love to claim credit for this new term and am a bit frustrated that I didn’t think of this before given some of the blog entries I have posted…

People speak and write of “the new normal”  when describing the horizon for our business and economic future. I read an article this week that described instead “The New Abnormal”.  The net of the article was that there really is no “normal” but that there is a new abnormal in consumer behavior that is odd (abnormal) given all we know about the state of our tepid economic recovery and the worries about profligate government spending. The new abnormal is characterized by families taking expensive vacations to exotic destinations and then worrying about saving money by eating out at McDonalds or shopping at Target…while at an exotic port of call. Further evidence of the new abnormal can be seen in the sales results of high end car companies like Mercedes and BMW who are reporting excellent sales volumes, while dollar stores are simultaneously thriving. I think on the way home I may swing by a Dollar Tree store to see how many new Mercedes and BMW’s are parked out front.

I have not sorted out the direct correlation of the New Abnormal for our business and for our clients yet, but it seems to me on the surface to be another pillar supporting the case for massive business agility. I hesitate to make yet another connection to cloud computing in all of this, as everything up to and including the rodents eating in my garden seem to be drivers for cloud computing. However, I think this underscores what we have discussed with our clients that the unpredictability of the future of markets and the economy has never been higher. Ironies in consumer behavior may not be a basis for an I/T infrastructure decision, however the schizophrenic nature of the economic cycle that drives such consumer behavior may be. We stand by our recommendations to our clients – optimize what you know, plan for what you anticipate, and prepare to be wrong. Therefore, make investments that are fluid, that can expand and contract with your infrastructure needs. The great news in all of this is that technology exists today to help you prepare for any economic outcome…and by any historical measure, that is indeed abnormal.

I had lunch with a local CIO today. This was an ideal event as there were no pending deals on the table, no crisis to mend, no specific “ask” from either party. It was simply lunch to catch up and discuss the ideas of the day. I love these types of meetings because when there is no pressing agenda to cover, the ideas flow. The only thing that might have lubricated the conversation further would have been a nice glass of 12 year old scotch…but we all eventually had to get back to work, so sobriety was a companion in our discussions….for better or worse:)

During our conversation, our lunch guest made the following comment…”it takes me longer to get Chinese takeout now days than it does to spin up a new server.” He elaborated on what made this possible, but the really interesting discussion revolved around what does this mean for business. It was his view, and I completely agree, that it is easy to get caught up in the tactics of virtualization – capital and operational cost savings, data center reclamation, energy savings, etc. Heck, I have written a couple of blog posts that speak to these tactics. He submitted that when we get wrapped around the axle about tactics, it is easy to miss the bigger opportunity with virtualization which is virtual operations. Virtualization can certainly cost justify itself on tactics, but more importantly, it can revolutionize your business operations and redefine what is possible. What if all of your servers and all of your desktops were no longer devices, but rather files – that can be accessed anywhere, anytime on a thin client, tablet device? What could you do with your business processes, worker productivity, customer satisfaction, business continuity? I don’t know the answer for your business specifically, but I can state with 100% certainty that it would make them better, and not just incrementally better, but lots better. 

Virtualization changes everything, it affects everything, and it can improve everything. Interesting conversations discuss how many servers or desktops you can consolidate in your operation and how many kilowatts and RU’s you can save in your data center. Innovative conversations ponder how virtualized servers, desktops, and storage can change the way you do business and set your operations, services, and value propositions well apart from your competitors. As I have posted before, the job of firms like TBL is not to sell you products, but to deliver ideas that have the potential to impact the nature of your operations and your business.

Ten years ago, when I ordered Chinese takeout, I could get it in about 45 minutes. Ten years ago when I wanted a new server, it might take me a month to get it up and running. Today, it still takes 45 minutes for takeout to arrive, but while waiting for my takeout, I can spin up 4 new servers and have them running before I tip the delivery person. How does this change your business? What are your competitors doing with this new technology? What new services could I deliver in this scenario? Virtualization and optimized operations….it’s what’s for dinner.

Unless you are in Las Vegas tossing dice in the craps pit or flipping cards at the blackjack table, most people, especially most business people don’t like risk and they detest uncertainty. In the Vegas example, risk is contained – limited to the size of my current bet and hopefully the depth of my good judgment. (On a personal aside, while I am not a big gambler I always calculate the value of my free drinks in my Vegas cash out reconciliation:))Uncertainty however, is not a concern in Las Vegas, because I know the rules and trust the system. While my returns are uncertain to be sure, the way the games are played are well known and understood. In short, risk and uncertainty in Vegas have a finite and measurable impact on my net worth.

There is a subtle but very important distinction between risk and uncertainty. Risk implies a risk/reward relationship. While there is a downside to something that might be considered risky, there is also a measurable upside – a return that should be commensurate with the downside risk. Boeing took tremendous risk when it embarked upon its project that would, in retrospect, completely outflank its competition with the then revolutionary Boeing 747. While there was clearly great risk (it almost bankrupted the company) there was also a very large upside which delivered strong financial returns to Boeing investors for several years.

Uncertainty on the other hand, is almost all downside. Uncertainty is looking in the abyss and seeing only darkness looking back. It is a driver of inaction and retreat. It is the one thing that business and markets almost universally detest. Uncertainty is manifest not in an inability to predict the future directions of the stock market or interest rates. Uncertainty is a fear in the fundamentals of the market and of the rules of the game.

I think this important to consider because as a nation and an economic community we are facing a potential stretch of uncertainty. We are not certain how all of the changes that have been enacted in the past 24 months are going to impact the rules of our markets and the players in our game. We can guess, but for the first time in a long time the influence of the government is totally unpredictable, the state of economic activity abroad is not reliable, and the impact of legislation both passed and proposed is not well understood and therefore uncertain.  

While all of this sounds a bit scarier than I intended, I think it may be reality for a while. I also think those of us in the technology business can help. The I/T industry is unique among industries competing for business investment because we help businesses and organizations invest in and optimize themselves. Our results and impacts can be pretty well quantified and predictable over time. I/T projects,in a time of great uncertainty, allow you to invest in what you know best…yourself, your business, and your colleagues.  From virtualization of servers and desktops to driving rich collaboration over your existing network, I/T can make what you do better, more efficient, and more adaptive to uncertain market conditions. While I am no market guru and certainly no predictor of economic direction, I feel comfortable in speaking with our clients about their investment strategies in their business, recommending that they look to optimize themselves beyond what was “best of breed” but a few short years ago. There is little uncertainty and little risk in driving costs out and productivity into your business or organization. That is what we do for a living at in the I/T industry and at TBL Networks.

While risk is inherent in any business activity and levels of market uncertainty will ebb and flow, we know that the drum beat of technology has been smaller, faster, cheaper for the past several decades. Instead of worrying over things we cannot control, take a hard look at optimizing the things you can control. Optimize your infrastructure to thrive in any market condition. While maybe not as much fun as an evening at the craps table, it is likely to yield better results that last for a longer time…and you don’t have to calculate the value your free drinks to figure out if you broke even:)