Technology Decisions Jun/Jul 2015

IT leadership & innovation

COPING WITH DOWNSIZING Headaches for IT team managers

JUN/JUL 2015 VO L .3 NO. 5 PP100009359

Futureproof your enterprise

Build your own cyberlab

The digital paradigm shift

It’s easy to become a little cynical about what appear to

j u n / j u l

‘digital transformation’ is a buzzword that has become part of the furniture, and it has come to mean many different things to different people. For some, it is the move away from manual, paper-based procedures to electronic processes. For others, it means moving data and applications into the cloud to make them more easily accessible to far-flung staff.

A clear indication of the importance of the digital transformation is the federal government’s intention to establish a Digital Transformation Office to improve productivity and service delivery and make government/ public interactions easier. Those same ambitions apply equally to SMEs and larger private enterprises.

In conducting the interviews for this issue’s From the Frontline feature on digital transformation, I was struck by the impact new technologies are having on

2 0 1 5

INSIDE

be the latest ‘fads’. The term

10 | 12 | 16 | 18 |

Tablet devices boost field service efficiency

29 | 32 | 34 | 37 | 38 |

Network monitoring ensures smooth operations

Go on the attack with your own cyberlab Agile systems ride the wave of disruption Australian healthcare - a SMART IT approach End-to-end delivery with service management Cyberattack Service management solution Futureproof your enterprise ... or pay the price

enterprise operations in terms of efficiency gains; staff and customer satisfaction; and bottom-line performance.

Digital transformation is far from being a ‘fad’ - it’s a driving force in today’s ICT world.

cover image: © Aurelio/Dollar Photo Club

Jonathan Nally, Editor

F E A T U R E S 04 | Small sacrifices

22 | Paradigm shift Organisations are downsizing their IT departments, creating headaches for those leading the teams.

26 | Converged infrastructures Choosing the right networking infrastructure means reconciling contradictory technology trends.

Old business models and methods are tumbling as digital transformation changes the world.

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3

w w w . t e c h n o l o g y d e c i s i o n s . c o m . a u

Small sacrifices Coping with downsizing Andrew Collins

Organisations are downsizing their IT departments, creating headaches for those leading the teams.

4

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Hugh Ujhazy, a director at IDC Australia,

These spending figures also signal a change

explained the results regarding executives’

in the broader function of the IT depart-

priorities in 2015: “The highest of the CEO

ment within the organisation.

goals in 2015 was operational efficiency (19.5%), followed by a desire to increase

“Combined with a trend to move non-core

the share of customer wallet (16.1%) and

functions to either managed solutions

the ability to deliver company-wide cost

(Office365 for office and email functions,

savings and increase the level of customer

WebEx and similar solutions for audio and

engagement.

video, collaboration solutions by Microsoft Lync and Cisco UCS) or completely to the

“This trend follows from what we have seen

cloud, [this means] that IT is less about

in the past as companies seek to do more

technology delivery and more about ena-

with less and leverage their relationship

bling of business function,” Ujhazy said.

with existing customers and channels to build market share and revenue without

According to IDC’s analysis, the majority

necessarily increasing spend,” Ujhazy said.

of the overall IT budget is still being allocated to governance and IT operations.

Interestingly, the concerns and goals of

But, Ujhazy said, “IT departments are

executives responding to the survey “re-

universally recognising their need to act

“Companies with larger IT departments are pushing their people into the market and looking towards managed services

© peshkov/Dollar Photo Club

and the cloud as a way to offset skills shortages.”

T

mained pretty well aligned across company

more as an innovator than as an account-

size and industry vertical”, Ujhazy said. In

ant in supporting the business.”

other words, this desire to squeeze value from every dollar was observed across

This brings us back to the shrinking IT

the board.

department.

The shrinking of the IT department - as

“The net effect of all this is that IT de-

well as the “outsourcing of IT functions

partments are tending to be smaller across

he IT department is shrinking,

to the line of business” - follows on from

the board,” though this is most prevalent

as a result of a wider move from

that executive desire for value, accord-

in companies with between 100 and 500

senior management to squeeze

ing to Ujhazy. This handing off of IT

employees, Ujhazy said.

value from every dollar the

responsibilities from the IT department

organisation spends.

That’s according to the latest C-Suite

to the rest of the business is evident

Those companies with larger IT depart-

in the spending figures for different

ments are pushing their people into the

departments.

market and looking towards managed services and the cloud as a way to offset

Survey from analyst firm IDC. The survey canvasses the opinions of C-level

“In Australia, we are seeing that 40% of IT

the skills shortages that are still in effect

executives, asking them about their goals

spending is driven by the line of business

in Australia and New Zealand, Ujhazy said.

and challenges in the coming year. This

and that CIOs are increasingly partnering

year it included more than 300 people in

with COOs, CMOs and CFOs in driving

“We expect this trend to continue as de-

Australia and 1400 across the Asia Pacific

the technology solutions they implement,”

mands from the business for a technology

(excluding Japan).

Ujhazy explained.

partnership with IT increase and managed

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5

also be comfortable collaborating in mul-

CAPEX model for technology services to

tidisciplinary teams, rather than functional

a much more OPEX focused one,” he said.

or technical silos,” she wrote.

Those IT departments that have shrunk are

Even in that ideal scenario, with such talented

experiencing several ramifications. IDC is

and capable workers, small IT departments

seeing fewer people (especially in the mid-

“will never have the bandwidth to pursue

© Aurelio/Dollar Photo Club

cloud solutions enable the move from a

market) focused on maintaining network, compute and storage infrastructure, as their companies move towards the cloud and offpremise for things like email, office function and collaboration. “As a result, IT people

all six disciplines as extensively as more generously endowed organisations”. As such, these smaller departments must understand what constitutes a “good enough” standard in each of the six areas and be “comfort-

are accelerating the move toward business

But that’s not really the case, at least according

able leaving well enough alone” once that

outcomes as their guiding metrics,” though

to analyst firm Gartner. In a recent research

standard is reached, Young said.

Ujhazy notes that this is a move that started

paper, Gartner analyst Colleen M Young

some years ago.

argued that small IT teams actually have

How to cope

to do most of the same things as large IT

It’s not all doom and gloom, however. If

“That being said, IT is not in danger of

teams, but without the resources the larger

your department has been downsized, but

becoming a collective of management con-

teams have access to.

you’re still expected to meet the same needs

sultants anytime soon and the transition is

as you did before, the analysts reckon it’s

taking time. We see it accelerating in 2015

Young said that there are six “pillars of

possible - but you’ll need to make some

but by no means done.”

capability” that every IT organisation must

changes to how you run things.

have in order to succeed, regardless of its He added that the nice thing for the IT teams

size, industry or geography. There are three

The following is a collection of advice from

is “they have a wider range of solutions to

primary pillars (enterprise architecture, IT

two analysts - IBRS analyst Alan Hansell and

choose from, which means that their only

service management, governance) and three

Gartner’s Colleen M Young - on running a

response is no longer a CAPEX justification

secondary pillars (project management,

small IT team while trying to address the

- they can now examine key technologies

program management, investment portfolio

same problems that big teams deal with.

and make a determination of how business

management).

Note that the advice isn’t necessarily geared

needs are best met (in source, on premise, off premise, cloud, SaaS and so forth)”.

at downsized IT teams, just small ones - so In organisations with plenty of resources

it may also be useful to those who haven’t

to throw around, there would be a team or

been downsized, but are simply in charge

One size fits all

structure dedicated to and responsible for

of a smaller team that’s being asked to do

Keeping an IT department going after a

each of these six areas, according to Young.

big things.

downsizing can be tough. How’s an IT

Each team would have specialised expertise

department meant to keep the lights on

and pursue best practices and continuous

First up, Hansell provides 10 tips to help

- and hitting all the performance metrics

improvement within its own area.

small businesses and agencies better manage

handed down from on high - when senior management keeps showing staff the door?

their use of IT. He recommends that smaller But smaller organisations “don’t have the

IT departments:

luxury of dedicated teams, functionally To answer that question, forget downsizing

aligned resources or top-heavy ‘best prac-

for a moment, and think more generally

tices’”, Young wrote.

about the differences between large IT de-

6

1. Minimise the number of vendors and service providers for business systems, operating systems and services.

partments and small IT departments. At

“They must pursue the core, required ca-

face value, it may seem that the two are very

pabilities more organically, and their people

2. If evaluating an ERP, choose a vendor

different beasts, with different expectations

must be literate in multiple areas simulta-

that provides ERP as a service to avoid

from the business and different problems

neously. Workers must be both extremely

supporting the technical environment,

to solve.

capable and extremely versatile. They must

including release upgrades.

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7

3. Ensure the CIO or equivalent is a member of the SLT (senior leadership

“How ’s an IT department meant to keep the lights on - and

team) so they can shape the leadership’s

hitting all the performance metrics handed down from on high

thinking about how IT can help gain a

- when senior management keeps showing staff the door?”

competitive edge.

4. Make no changes for functional enhance-

available resources, and that optimisation

Avoid process reference models. According

ments to business systems, in order to

requires a clear understanding of purpose

to Young, small IT teams can’t afford process

maintain software version currency and

and outcomes. There must be a very clear

improvement for the sake of it, “which is

facilitate fast resolution of operational

definition of what needs to be done, the

what reference models like ITIL, COBIT

failures.

priority of each of these needs and how

and Capability Maturity Model Integrated

the success of these tasks will be measured.

(CMMI) tend to devolve into”.

to identify how to best use the technology

For change programs and projects, success

These models “lack performance context”,

and business system and maximise the

should be quantified in terms of specific

Young said. They assume that the specific

expected benefits.

goals or outcome measures. The success of

set of processes they address are the most

5. Attend vendor briefings and user groups

services that IT offers to the business, on the

important and that any improvement in

6. Use external providers for specialist

other hand, should be judged in terms of

those processes is worthwhile.

services such as network architecture,

measurable service-level agreements (SLAs).

“They implicitly advocate a management

development of tenders and to acquire “Together, the project metrics and SLAs

orientation of continuous process im-

constitute the performance management

provement. As a result, none of them are

7. Give staff an incentive to develop multiple

context against which IT orchestrates its

comprehensive, covering the full range of

skills so there is support coverage in an

resources and capabilities. Without these,

IT processes, and none of them will tell

emergency or major systems outage.

resource optimisation is literally impossible,”

you whether you are working on the right

Young wrote.

processes, when they are ‘good enough’, or

disaster recovery capability.

when to stop,” Young wrote.

8. Use cloud for delivery of commodity services such as email and workplace

‘Projectise’ work. Young advises that the

collaboration solutions to avoid deploy-

best way for small IT teams to make full use

She advises that small IT teams should not

ing scarce, but skilled, staff.

of every resource is to “projectise as much

invest further in processes that support goals

work as possible”, and the best way to do

IT is already achieving. “If you are achieving

that is to adopt a “professional services or

your goals, then those processes are already

repertoire IT model”.

good enough. If they aren’t broken, then

9. Adopt a zero-based budgeting approach for workforce planning, to justify why the

don’t try to fix them.”

work days that are expected are needed, and to stop marginal value projects.

A model of this nature involves “acquiring a portfolio of skills or competencies,

That said, if IT is not meeting its defined

10. Make IT initiatives as transparent as pos-

understanding the depth and breadth of

goals, then “understanding the processes that

sible so all stakeholders are kept informed

people’s individual and collective capabili-

drive your outcomes, and which ones are

of developments - for example, when a

ties, and developing work intake processes

broken, is crucial”. If you find that a broken

project’s priority is changed by the SLT.

that ensure enough is understood about the

process is indeed addressed in a reference

nature of demand so that the right resources

model like ITIL, then Young suggests you

Gartner’s Young also has some advice for

with the right skills can be assigned in the

leverage that reference model.

the smaller IT department. She recommends

right quantities to the right work streams,”

that small or resource-constrained teams:

Young wrote.

Define clear performance goals. According

This approach helps ensure that available

almost certainly make process improvement

to Young, running a small IT team is all about

resources are optimally allocated to the

your goal rather than a means to a defined

optimising what you can get out of your

established priorities.

performance outcome”.

But until you know what’s broken, Young advises you avoid those models, “or you will

8

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work

Tablet devices boost field service efficiency

E

lectricity distributor and retailer Ergon Energy has

Jason Ledbury, program director for field force automation,

launched a major field operations automation project,

Ergon Energy, said, “We as an energy provider have a responsibility

with the first phase seeing the rollout of 500 Panasonic

of providing the most efficient services to the community. We

Toughpad FZ-G1 rugged tablets into a wide array of

also realised there is going to be much more competition in the

varying vehicle types and configurations. The Toughpads had to

retail electricity market driving more customer service work,

meet strict selection criteria to ensure they were fit for purpose

and with our old processes it would have been difficult for us

in the harsh environments that workers face on a daily basis.

to scale up without requiring more resources. Therefore, we

A Queensland Government-owned corporation, Ergon supplies electricity to around 700,000 homes and businesses

identified the need to revamp our processes by empowering our workforce with technology.”

across nearly 97% of the state. For many years, it has conducted

Ledbury said that the new Toughpads - coupled with an

its field operations through manually intensive paper-based

extensive systems integration solution and enhanced processes

methods. Work was distributed through a process involving many

- are already saving Ergon workers up to as much as 45 minutes

people, which culminated in work dockets being printed out at

on the job per day.

depots around the state and then handed over to the field crews.

A critical factor for Ergon was that the Toughpad needed to

The field crews then travelled to grid locations to fix faults

be safely and securely mounted in a wide array of field vehicles. In

and captured new information from the site on paper. Once

collaboration with partners Data#3 and Advanced Mobile IT (AMIT),

the work was completed, paper records were returned to the

Ergon’s technology provider, SPARQ Solutions, worked closely with

depot staff to be updated in the central system. The process

Ergon field crews to develop a mounting solution for each vehicle

was time-consuming and, because it was paper-based with

configuration that would meet strict government safety standards.

multiple people involved, it was easy for information to be lost

The Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 is made specifically for

or recorded incorrectly.

harsh environments such as those the Ergon field crews face daily. It is designed to endure high temperatures, drops and knocks, thick dust and heavy rain.

For a business, the ability to use enterprise-ready software is as important as the hardware itself. Data#3 supported Ergon by managing the software implementation and delivery with ready-to-go Windows 7 and Ergon’s own mobility solution, ABB Service Suite. Ergon has re-engineered its processes, removing multiple handling and resulting in better prioritisation and allocation of work.

Using the devices’ 3G/4G mobile connectivity module, the field crews are now able to access information that was previously only available in the office or through a library of paper manuals held in their vehicles. Additionally, access to live data, emails, intranet and internet also assists in improving the flow of information to and from the field.

“We have noticed an increased efficiency through optimised processes and are now in a position to cope with a greater volume of work. We will continue to roll out new work types using the Toughpad FZ-G1,” said Ledbury.

10

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2

PEER PEER The testing of applications and hardware becomes easy with a virtual lab.

Go on the attack with your own cyberlab

M

anaged service providers

As an example of what you can find

(MSPs) or IT departments

with your own cyberlab, I spent the past

wanting to research and

month assembling some typical SME

provide security services

hardware devices and examining their

and solutions should seriously consider

security features, and found that not a

setting up their own cyberwarfare research

single device demanded a change from

lab that replicates their small business serv-

the default password. As a basic pay-

ers and workstations. The idea is to then

ment card industry (PCI)-compliance

‘virtually’ infect the servers, break worksta-

requirement, all of these devices fail

tions and experiment with configurations,

out of the box unless you spend some

vulnerabilities and features. It’s a bit of an

time changing defaults. These features

undertaking, but it can be invaluable in

all ‘work’, but what they don’t do is

understanding all the complex layers of

work securely.

the modern network while providing the MSP or IT department the opportunity to

SME IT departments and MSPs are going

plan and document security best practices.

to be successful only if they can provide secure, predictable and reliable systems

With customers and security professionals

for their customers. The opportunity to

demanding more integrated solutions, se-

experiment with configurations and sys-

curity features are increasingly being built

tem changes with no risk to production

into network printers, UPSes, wireless ac-

networks is a huge value-add. So simply

cess points, switches and, of course, actual

being able to understand what typical

firewalls. These features are switched off

network activity looks like between a

by default, which has given rise to some

domain controller and workstations

interesting internal vulnerabilities - such

can help troubleshoot the most difficult

as lockouts, bricks or denial of service of

customer support calls.

devices and networks.

The ability to test back-up and disaster

12

Ian Trump is Security Lead at LogicNow, a global provider of cloud-based IT security and solutions for the managed services provider community.

From a practical learning perspective, the

recovery plans, new or updated applica-

SME network looks the same no matter

tions and new hardware becomes very

what sort of business it is. Every business

easy with just a small investment in

has some sort of server/file-share set-up,

your own virtual lab. It is important

with workstations and firewall/router and

to replicate the environment that you’re

core switch - even if that switch is the four

likely to encounter so you can observe

ports on the back of a router. Most SMEs

the consequences of dangerous configu-

also have wireless of some sort, possibly

rations, hostile infections and malicious

built into the router or firewall. Today,

activity. The key here is to look at the

it would also be a pretty rare scenario

mitigations against those threats and

where the business did not have at least

understand how the environment might

one network-attached printer.

be secured.

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KEY

Agile systems needed to ride the wave of disruption

WORDS

Y

ou would have to have been living

3. Facilitate customer service, includ-

under a rock to have not heard

ing new services and apps. Can you

about Uber and Airbnb and the

optimise your service operations with

disruption they are causing the

integrated enterprise service manage-

taxi and hotel industries around the world.

ment (ESM) software with mobility

No industry is immune from the Uber ef-

support? If not, how will you empower

fect. Potentially disruptive technologies go

your customers?

way beyond online information services and

4. Present information tailored to

include 3D printing, drones, next-generation

people’s roles in an easy-to-use way.

batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, wearable de-

As more information becomes available,

vices and the Internet of Things.

can you easily distil it down to what is needed for a particular job role or project

Your organisation needs three things to

and present it in a user-friendly way?

benefit from disruption and not fall victim

5. Support digital devices that can be

to it: you must know your business and be

used everywhere and anytime. Is your

prepared to change; be agile and respond

ERP system accessible and useable across

quickly, as changes are hard to predict; and

all devices - from PCs to laptops, tablets,

employ low-drag systems which push you

smartphones and smart watches - and

forward, not hold you back.

easily extendable to new devices?

6. Quickly integrate new technologies

Basically, to ride the wave of disruption

relevant to your business. Integrating

- which can supercharge business growth

disruptive technologies into existing

when identified and employed effectively -

business systems presents challenges. Is

you need an agile system and you need to

your supplier continually demonstrating

work like mad. How do you know if your

new solutions to overcome challenges

system is agile? In IFS’s experience, your main

as they arise?

run-the-business system or ERP application

7. Be easily tailored to adapt to changes

should meet the following seven criteria.

in your business. Expensive customisa-

1. Give visibility into and integrate infor-

tion - when deploying systems or adapt-

mation across the enterprise. You can’t

ing them to business changes - are a drag

change or improve what you can’t see.

on agility. To enable change, minimise

To truly know your business, you need to

customisation and use systems that are

consolidate all your financial and operational

easily configured to meet new business

information into a single system.

requirements.

2. Provide a ‘single source of truth’ for

16

operations in real time. If information is

Ensure that your ERP system meets

not real time, it cannot drive new services

these seven key criteria and, like Uber,

or processes in real time. Capturing infor-

you will be well on the way to riding

mation at the source and communicating

the wave of disruption and not being

it immediately is vital.

wiped out by it.

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Rob Stummer is Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand for global enterprise applications company IFS. He holds a Master in Information Technology from Melbourne University and has acted as a consultant to many of the region’s top 500 companies.

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W W W

.

S I E M O N

.

C O M

A N A LY S E

THIS

T

Australian healthcare a SMART IT approach

he role of IT across Australian

S - Scalable. Healthcare providers are in-

healthcare has evolved over the past

terested in solutions that enable quick and

few years, from merely enabling

easy expansion. Systematic deployment of

automation to effecting integration

IT across departments, connectivity between

across the healthcare delivery value chain.

disparate systems and rapid expansion of

Data is considered the single most important

provider facilities all contribute to the need

resource; therefore, healthcare providers are

for scalable solutions and are driving the

most interested in collating accurate and

market for cloud in healthcare.

comprehensive patient information.

M - Measures-oriented. A key objective The Australian healthcare IT sector is ex-

of investment is data collection and per-

pected to reach a value of $1.2 billion by the

formance benchmarking. Well-designed

end of 2015, making it the second-largest

analytics solutions that capture vital infor-

market in the Asia-Pacific after Japan. Spend-

mation to affect process improvement are

ing on IT, however, is not in proportion with

in demand, creating a need not just for the

the benefits or improvements experienced

solutions but also consulting services.

across the health system. A high degree of fragmentation is plaguing the industry.

A - Accountable. Quality of healthcare

Health data and services are not seamlessly

continues to be questioned in spite of

connected across regions, facilities or various

a much higher level of data capture for

levels of care, and consumers face challenges

accountability purposes. Australia needs

such as unwanted repeated diagnostic tests,

patient-centric data-capturing mechanisms

misdiagnosis, delayed treatment, insufficient

that include indicators of the care quality

long-term care and even medical errors.

and customer experience.

Another challenge is the large amount of

R - Real-time. Demand for real-time data

wastage across healthcare providers. There

at non-conventional sites is increasing

are grave inefficiencies across hospital

fast amongst health professionals. Mobile,

inventories, management of devices and

smartphone and tablet access to patient data

consumables, and even staff scheduling. Even

and hospital solutions is the call of the day.

processes are reported to be inefficient, with staff spending their time on unproductive

T - Transformational. Expectations from

activities such as searching for devices or

IT systems have risen beyond providing

manually capturing patient notes.

efficiency to transforming the way care is delivered, particularly in remote areas

18

In meeting these challenges, vendors need to

where healthcare access is a challenge. New

think about the value that their technologies

models of care delivery and payment are

bring not just to a single client but to the

expected to be supported by the necessary

healthcare system as a whole. This is where

combination of devices, sensors, software

SMART IT comes in.

and connectivity platforms.

This issue is sponsored by — www.eaton.com/powerquality

Natasha Gulati is an Industry Manager with the Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific Healthcare Practice. She focuses on monitoring and analysing emerging trends, technologies and market behaviour in the connected health industry across ASEAN, Australia-New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, and works closely with teams in India and China.

19

FROM THE FRONTLINE Paradigm shift

How digital is transforming business

Jonathan Nally

Old business models and methods are tumbling as digital transformation changes the world.

22

This issue is sponsored by — www.eaton.com/powerquality

T

he term ‘digital transformation’

where it is heading, it’s Greg Stone, leader of

come back and they’d have a paper-based

has been coined to describe the

digital services at building and engineering

system,” he said. “But now we have the ability

move towards the provision of

firm Arup. Until recently, Stone was chief

to send a drone up and down the tunnel

services via digital means. It’s a

technology officer for Microsoft Australia,

with a multisensor camera… and then we

term that means different things to different

and he reminds us of the distinction between

can use big data and artificial intelligence

people. For some, it means going paperless;

digitising information and digitalising it.

and machine learning to start understanding

for others it means new ways of gathering

what the changes are in that data.

information; and for still others it means

“A lot of people have understood the benefits

new ways of communicating.

of digitising something,” he said. “So you

“That kind of example is emblematic of

see that manifested in people taking offline

what kind of advantages you can get when

And it’s being taken seriously by entities of

forms and then digitising them so that

you go digital in the right way,” said Stone.

all shapes and sizes. The Australian federal

they’re PDFs online, and people can then

government is establishing a Digital Trans-

download them or fill in a web form. But

Keeping in touch

formation Office that “will be responsible for

actually not a lot changes - it’s just a more

A very different kind of business is Feros

digital service delivery across government”

efficient way of doing what they did before.”

Care, a not-for-profit organisation that

and “transform government services, making services available digitally from start to finish”.

provides healthcare and monitoring services And then there’s digitalisation, where swathes

for thousands of people nationwide, using

of information from, for example, mobile

technology that helps them stay safe in their

In 2009, the federal Department of Human

devices, can be collected and saved in the

own homes for longer. Feros Care is imple-

Services - which has more than a third of

cloud, and “taken up and be used in many,

menting Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

federal expenditure under its management -

many different ways, other than just a repli-

and Office 365 throughout its network of

and the CSIRO formed the Human Services

cation of a form collection”, Stone said. “All

villages, at-home services, allied health and

Delivery Research Alliance to “inform digital

of a sudden now with digital, we have an

wellness programs and tele-healthcare.

transformation with hard evidence and

ability to create new business models and

multidisciplinary research”, with the aim of

new forms of engagement that transcend

Previously, Feros Care was using a few differ-

improving “the customer experience and at

devices or locations or communication types,

ent systems. “We were trying to manipulate

the same time improve efficiency and service

because once it’s in digital form it can be

a client management system to do a lot of

levels”. The results of a three-year study by

repurposed… to further aid personalisation

customer relationship management, so there

the collaboration are available on the CSIRO

in a way that’s not possible with simply

were a lot of spreadsheets,” said Glenn Payne,

Productivity Flagship website (csiro.au/en/

digitising something.”

CIO. “We’ve moved from a very manually

Research/DPF).

intensive operation to a cloud-based, accessFor the built environment, which is Arup’s

anywhere system.

Digital in the built environment

main focus, Stone gives the example of looking for cracks inside tunnels. “In the

“From a collaboration standpoint especially,

If there’s anyone who should have an intimate

old days they’d send someone out who’d

we’re seeing that Yammer has cut down on

knowledge of digital transformation and

look at the thing they’re surveying, they’d

email traffic. I think that was quite surpris-

O U R PA N E L

Greg Stone, Leader of Digital Services, Arup

Glenn Payne, CIO, Feros Care

Amanda Kennan, Strategy & Development Management Consultant, MacKenzie Strategic

Ben Hutt, CEO, The Search Party

23

And then I ‘Nitro Clouded’ it so that the

“All of a sudden now with digital, we have an ability to create new business models and new forms of engagement that transcend devices or locations or communication types.”

vendor could sign, and I had the signature back and I had moneys transferred literally within two-and-a-half hours. It would have taken days previously.”

“In a world that’s going ever-more paperless,

ing,” said Payne. “It has enabled us from

Strategic had tried using Adobe document

it just makes paperless easier,” said Kennan.

an IT perspective to give people real-time

management software, but found that staff

“You just don’t worry about it. So we’re not

information and updates on things that are

and clients didn’t really take to it. So they

[even] keeping a mail register anymore.”

going on in the company… and cut down

switched to an Australian-developed docu-

on our need for so many staff meetings.

ment management solution, Nitro.

“Our whole idea was to create a remote

With Nitro, “clients don’t need any special

business that began in 2011 and developed

workforce that felt that even though they

software - they just get an email from us

The Marketplace, which is a way of deliver-

are working from home, they’re part of

that says ‘Here’s a link, we’d like you to sign

ing for the recruitment industry what Uber

the business,” he added. “Office 365 and all

or view these documents’”, said Amanda

delivers for transportation. The Search Party

the collaboration tools have really brought

Kennan, MacKenzie Strategic’s Strategy

now represents more than 15 million can-

that to life. It has enabled us to have a

and Development Management Consultant.

didates connected to about 200 recruitment

remote workforce that feels connected to

“They click the link and it tells them they’re

agencies in 25 countries.

the central office.

going to Nitro Cloud, and then it’s literally

The cloud’s silver lining Ben Hutt is CEO of The Search Party, a

just follow the bouncing ball.”

Recruitment via traditional methods takes an average of 81 days, costs a lot of money

“Our CEO has a real drive for technology, she understands it, she wants it,” said Payne.

“From a business perspective, we’re not

and most of the time doesn’t work out. The

“So from my point of view of being a CIO,

having to print when we need authorisa-

Search Party says that its talent pool and data

having a CEO who understands and really

tions, we’re not having to check and see

science techniques, plus the role of inter-

embraces and wants to use technology makes

where things are at, because we can see on

mediary recruitment agencies, reduces the

it a much easier job for me.”

Nitro where the documents are sitting,” said

average time-to-hire to less than two weeks.

Kennan. “I can set a workflow [for different

Going paperless

people to sight or sign the document] and

“That’s only possible because of the vision we

MacKenzie Strategic is a South Australian-

it literally moves that document around so

have always had around scale and leveraging

based chartered accounting firm, which

that the manager can review it, the direc-

data science and the benefits of cloud to

also operates a wealth management con-

tor can sign it, it can go to the client for

really extract genius information from raw

sultancy and an investment administration

signature, it then goes back to our admin

data, and make it accurate and insightful to

support business. With 30 staff working

team for completion and for lodging, and

the time-poor hiring manager,” said Hutt.

in its Adelaide hub and five others across

then the client can get an email to say, ‘All

several offices around South Australia, it

good, all done.’

over Australia.

24

It’s also fair to say that without the cloud, The Search Party’s business model simply

is a small-to-medium firm with clients all “I had one example two weeks ago where

wouldn’t work. “We’re a massive fan of

I had a business sale contract that came

the right tool for the right job… [for

As you would expect, the company needs

through to us, 20 pages in a PDF, and I knew

instance our] anonymisation engine uses

to transfer lots of legal documents to and

the amendments that needed to be made,”

a machine learning algorithm… and it’s

from its clients, and traditionally this had

said Kennan. “The lawyers were all looking

doing around 80 or 90 trillion effective

been done on paper. Documents would be

at me saying, ‘I’ll get a secretary to retype

comparisons over a span of about 20 hours.

mailed, signatures added and then mailed

it.’ And I said ‘No,’ and I literally OCRed it

It certainly would not be possible without

back. But that required quite a lot of effort,

straight into Word, had the amendments

cloud architecture,” said Hutt. “It’s not just

and lots of phone calls to chase documents

done and it was back to me within 20 minutes

a minor improvement, it’s a paradigm shift

that had not been finalised. MacKenzie

and I had a contract out and ready to go.

for everyone involved.”

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T E C H N I C A L LY

SPEAKING

Converged infrastructures vs SDN Should you integrate or disaggregate?

Wilson Lai, Technical Director, Asia-Pacific and Japan, Extreme Networks

S

tatic architectures are ill-suited

promptly. Yet organisations are faced with

for today’s highly mobile and

the inherent decision of determining what

virtualised environments. The

should be outsourced and what should

proliferation of data and growing

be insourced. Although costs will be an

number of devices requiring network sup-

underlying factor, the need to separate

port requires networking to be agile; thus,

investment into parts of the infrastructure

organisations will be looking to leverage

that are strategic to the business, while

network infrastructure agility to deliver rapid

outsourcing the rest, will be crucial.

responses that support business growth.

26

Choosing the right networking infrastructure means reconciling contradictory technology trends.

With Gartner projecting worldwide IT Network agility enables applications and

spending for 2015 to increase by 2.4%

services to be added, removed or adjusted

over 2014 to US$3.8 trillion, how will new

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pieces by deploying software-defined

For a start, it is difficult and time-consum-

networking (SDN)?

ing to change and adapt infrastructure due to network complexity. The same can be

Challenges

said about the constant implementation

The accelerating IoT wave is seeing a

of new technology features that require

deluge of connected devices accessing

time before end-user benefits are realised.

the network, resulting in a vast influx of data, transactions and users. By 2020,

Furthermore, network intelligence tends to

the number of connected things will have

be too siloed from applications, preventing

surged exponentially to an estimated 40

organisations from benefiting from the

billion. This increase in connected devices

presence of valuable and relevant data

“The accelerating IoT wave is seeing a deluge of connected devices accessing the network… By 2020, the number of connected things will have surged exponentially to an estimated 40 billion.” will have a huge impact on organisa-

in the respective systems. Networking

tions’ strategies for the data centre and

hardware is too often closed or static,

network infrastructure. Data can become

limiting future scaling or enhancements

unstructured, leaving a percentage of very

of the data centre.

insightful, high-quality data that is not stored anywhere.

The network should be an asset that drives an organisation’s innovation forward, yet

Data centres will need to become the

too often it holds other efforts back or

modern-day railroad - in other words,

slows them down. How can organisa-

be able to bridge the movement and

tions address these issues between the

storage of data. With existing network

differing trends of deploying converged

complexities, further network growth

infrastructure or SDN?

and expansion may pose significant chal-

applications, users and services be removed

lenges for management and provisioning.

Closed integration

Once more, organisations will encounter

Deploying converged infrastructure re-

a recurring concern - why should data

moves a layer of complexity when data

be moved to a new platform, to a point

centre configuration is abstracted, by

where it might be impossible to leave

preassembling the components so organi-

that platform?

sations don’t have to deal with the pieces.

or merged within the organisation’s own IT infrastructure?

This ensures that tighter integrations are The answer might be simpler than we

built, along with preconfiguring of the

think. The volume of data flooding a net-

pieces - storage, networks and computer

By now, it has been established that the

work as result of IoT will need a place to

servers - with different applications and

network infrastructure must be flexible,

be stored, exposing the traditional network

uses in mind.

rather than static, to keep pace with

problems - many are not agile enough,

rapidly changing markets. So the question

much less ready to support the flow of

With the pieces being integrated and

organisations should be seeking to answer

data or the pace of the ever-changing

working collectively at optimal capacity,

is: do you bring the pieces closer together

business landscape. This situation will

organisations are able to streamline the

by deploying converged infrastructure,

encourage organisations to recognise the

day-to-day management of their data

or disaggregate and have more moving

issues with traditional networking.

centre. They may also stand to benefit

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27

complexity, but also to increase agility and choice, thus addressing many of the challenges listed above.

To the uninitiated, these may seem like opposing approaches: integrate and bring the pieces closer together, or disaggregate and have more moving pieces. Yet there from reduced costs that would otherwise

increase agility and levels of control and

are different advantages in the deployment

be spent on single-use components that are

automation. SDN enables the option of

of each trend.

required in managing or troubleshooting

separating networking intelligence from

these pieces. By consolidating resources

networking hardware, which cannot be

Enterprises interested in getting systems up

and outsourcing the network complexity,

achieved with traditional routers and

and running quickly may go to the most

time taken to build and scale the data

switches that have mutually exclusive

converged infrastructure available, while

centres is reduced significantly.

software embedded in the hardware.

those interested in open and dynamic

Open disaggregation with SDN

Since the software will not be bound

faster will look to SDN. At face value

to a networking operating system or

these are conflicting trends, yet ultimately

Then there is SDN, which, in most archi-

control plane, opportunities to leverage

it boils down to the different needs and

tectures, disaggregates networking and IT

new innovations faster will arise. The

approaches of an organisation, all of

intelligence into separate pieces in order

most extreme incarnation of the SDN

which seek to achieve the goal of greater

to create more layers of abstraction and

model has the potential to not only add

business agility.

networks that can leverage innovations

28

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Network monitoring ensures smooth work operations

H

ume Bank, which operates in north-eastern Victoria

for instance, the bank is alerted immediately so that the problem can

and southern NSW, has a network of 19 branches

be resolved quickly; similarly, if there is an issue with EFTPOS links

and 47 ATMs and approximately 150 staff.

in Sydney, the bank will be alerted to take action and repercussions

The core of the bank’s customer-centred approach

for its customers or the wider business can be kept to a minimum.

is the provision of fast and convenient service. With this in mind,

PRTG Network Monitor has given Hume Bank much greater

Hume Bank sought to gain greater insight into its IT networks

insight into the availability of its systems, network and the availability

to help maintain a highly available platform for the business and

of services it provides. As a result, it has helped the organisation

its customers.

predict and resolve issues before they become bigger problems that

Following recommendation by a third-party supplier, Hume Bank

could potentially affect viability to internal and external customers.

chose to trial a free version of Paessler’s PRTG Network Monitor

As a result, the bank has made significant time and financial savings

to gain insight into traffic availability on its branch network. On

through reducing IT administrative time and cost of outages.

seeing what the solution could do and the benefits it could bring

“PRTG provides us with an always-on second set of eyes that

beyond simply monitoring network links, the bank reviewed the cost

lets us know when something in our network isn’t right. As a result

and scope of the solution’s features versus the competing products,

of our viability of services being measured, it helps us better allocate

and chose to fully implement the solution across its enterprise.

time and resources to improving areas that may need attention,”

Paessler’s PRTG Network Monitor is a monitoring solution

said Mennen.

for LANs, WANs, servers, websites, applications, URLs and more.

The product is capable of monitoring virtually any kind of device, application or service, helping IT professionals identify potential outages before they occur as well as removing system bottlenecks and maximising use of system resources.

“PRTG Network Monitor is very simple to deploy,” said Brad Mennen, systems administrator, Hume Bank. “We were even able to customise the software to suit our own business needs; for example, we customised some of the reports we receive from PRTG and developed custom executables for sensors and the issuing of alerts via SMS message.”

Hume Bank installed PRTG on a Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system within its virtual infrastructure, supported by two CPUs and 8 GB of memory. Monitoring a whole host of servers, switches, routers and applications - and even printers, ATMs and EFTPOS - all aspects of network monitoring for the bank were covered using just under 900 sensors.

“With PRTG we can even keep an eye on response times for loading web pages for the public-facing internet banking site, via both desktop and mobile, so when a problem arises it can be dealt with swiftly and efficiently to reduce any impact to our customers,” said Mennen.

Each data centre and all of the bank’s branches and ATM networks are covered by PRTG. If an ATM goes down in Albury,

29

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delivery B O D Y End-to-end the role of service management TA L K Enterprises forget basic service management principles at their peril

T

he service delivery challenge is

This can also relate to losses in market

to change decision-making pat-

share when we think of that as being not

terns, within an organisation’s

so much ‘accounts’ or business entities, but

broader IT framework, from

rather the people behind them to whom

what are often hierarchical to those that

the service management fraternity owes

are much more ‘process driven’. It should

a duty of care in the provision of timely

be viewed as a solution to the issue,

solutions and sound strategic thinking.

providing end-to-end management that

And it is entirely likely - perhaps more

extends beyond the ‘project’ phase and

than likely - that these customers and key

into the ongoing operational phase of the

relationships will be internal.

business cycle. Thus ‘service management’ is able to provide a blueprint for the

In this scenario, service management

implementation and subsequent support

is sometimes seen as being sandwiched

for the provision of IT services at both

between project management at one end

the ‘back end’ and increasingly ‘front of

and change management at the other, but

house’ as well.

its role and potential is significantly shortchanged by this view. So while the service

This has a potential downside, though,

managers tend to be responsible for the

and on occasion CEOs may conclude that

service desk, this neither represents the

service management provides the blueprint

entire scope of their work nor its most

for operational IT within the organisa-

important component - simply its most

tion. In other words, it descends from its

visible role, hence that which lends itself

rightful place as a strategic partner to a

to definition.

tactical one where it, and its practitioners, are regarded as the solution to problems

More important is the role of service man-

of a day-to-day nature, such as, “Hey, I

agement in the provision of each link of the

can’t turn my screen on”.

chain, starting with the routine provision of problem solving at the provision-of-

Alan Hollensen, CEO and Marketing Manager, itSMF Australia

32

itSMF

At its best, the service management team

service end of the spectrum, right through

will pivot quickly to both take advantage of

to infrastructure and to what may be

new opportunities and also to head off new

fundamentally non-IT business services. It

threats and, to use the current terminology,

is this last sector which is seeing dramatic

‘disruptions’. These later issues may be due

growth in many organisations as they come

to the advent of emerging technologies

to appreciate that intelligent people, trained

that generate strong initial enthusiasm,

in the provision of service management,

along with a ‘change for change’s sake’

are well placed to deliver solutions within

mentality where the best and worst of

the ‘portfolio’ regime. These same capable

the new are jostling for attention in the

individuals are, of course, often at the

same organisation.

forefront of change management as well.

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as well as IT solution providers and consultants an intimate environment for a focused discussion of key new drivers for IT innovation. cio.com.au/ciosummit/ Service Management 2015 20-21 August 2015 (Sofitel Sydney Wentworth) Bringing together today’s and tomorrow’s IT enterprise leaders. smconference.com.au Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit 2015 24-25 August 2015 (Hilton Sydney) For business and IT professionals involved in enterprise-wide security, risk management or business continuity. gartner.com/ap/security Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2015 26-29 October 2015 (Gold Coast

Convention & Exhibition Centre) Delivering the strategies, insights and tools you’ll need to lead the next generation of IT and achieve business outcomes. gartner.com/technology/symposium/ gold-coast/ Reimagination Thought Leaders Summit 17 November 2015 (The Star, Sydney) Forum that converges experts and digital disruptors from business, government, education and research sectors. reimagination.acs.org.au Comms Connect Melbourne 2015 1-3 December 2015 (Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre) National conference and exhibition delivering vital information for missionand business-critical communications users and industry. comms-connect.com.au

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33

T E C H N I C A L LY

SPEAKING

Cyberattack

Thwarting the new threats Shane Bellos, General Manager, Enterprise Security Products, HP Software, HP South Pacific

C

ybercrime has evolved from

future government policy and national

simply stealing informa-

responses to cyberattacks perpetrated

tion for financial gain to

against countries or companies.

ruthlessly infiltrating in-

dustries with the goals of destroying in-

Motivation plays a big role in who is

tellectual property, damaging reputation

targeted by these threats and how they

and crippling vital operating functions.

are executed. Although the Sony hack has garnered significant attention, its impact

34

Cybercrime can lead to financial loss, reputational damage and physical harm.

As one of the most recent and malevolent

pales in comparison to the implications

examples, the Sony Pictures Entertain-

of an attack on critical infrastructure and

ment hack brought global attention

facilities, which has the potential to be

to the issue of cybersecurity that will

politically, economically and physically

likely have a significant impact on

devastating.

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Cyber Crime Study found the average

The breach was accomplished using a

annualised cost of cybercrime incurred

technique called spear phishing - a simple

by a benchmark sample of Australian or-

attack that utilises social engineering

ganisations was $4.3 million, representing

to provoke the user to open an email

an 8.4% increase over the average cost

appearing to be from a trusted source

reported in 2013.

but designed with embedded malware.

Once hackers compromised and gained

The study found that the most costly

access to the system, they applied sophis-

cybercrimes resulted from denial of

ticated technical knowledge to override

service attacks, insider threats and use of

the control systems and caused massive

malicious code - with the highest cost per

destruction.

“In December an unidentified group of hackers led a cyberattack on a German iron plant that caused physical damage to the machinery.” industry reported in the energy, utilities

This breach is significant because it is

and financial services sectors.

the second publicly confirmed case of

© lollo/Dollar Photo Club

a cyberattack causing physical damage

Securing and defending the network

to a system - the other being the 2010

With 2015 expected to be another

uranium gas at an Iranian facility.

sabotage of centrifuges used to enrich

landmark year in terms of both the frequency and impact of cyberbreaches,

It is important to emphasise that a cyber-

organisations and officials cannot ignore

attack on physical infrastructure poses a

the potential risks associated with these

unique threat - not only to an organisa-

threats - risks that go beyond the digital

tion’s network and data, but also to its

world and cause actual, physical damage.

physical and human capital as well as the surrounding population. These threats

As the number of devices connected to

require distinct procedures, standards

the internet increases into the tens of

and proactive protections.

billions in the coming years (Morgan Stanley estimates the number to be as

Industries need to implement a cyberse-

The FBI has said the Sony hack was ei-

high as 75 billion), the risk from network

curity strategy that outlines best practices

ther perpetrated or sponsored by North

intrusions, mechanical sabotage and data

for employees, sets comprehensive pro-

Korea, and it is guaranteed that other

loss all increase as well.

tocols outlining a response to a breach

nation states and organised non-state

and, most importantly, encourages the

actors are paying attention to see how

For instance, in December an unidentified

necessary steps to ensure active network

the US responds.

group of hackers led a cyberattack on a

and data security.

German iron plant that caused physical Extensive cybercrime beyond the US has

damage to the machinery and was executed

The Council on CyberSecurity and the

involved theft of payment cards, personal

in a way that prohibited plant workers from

National Institute of Standards and

internet credentials, intellectual property

intervening in the override. This resulted

Technology (NIST), for instance, have

and online bank accounts. Conducted by

in multiple components of the machinery

both outlined critical security controls

the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by

malfunctioning, causing massive damage

as well as public security measures that

HP Enterprise Security, the 2014 Cost of

to the system and the plant’s output.

organisations can take to better secure

This issue is sponsored by — www.eaton.com/powerquality

35

and defend the network, data and vital

Strong cyberdefence relies on the strength

This is why threat-indicator sharing and

business assets. To address the full array

of multiple layers of security targeting

collaboration is such a necessary and

of cybersecurity threats, near-real-time

underlying software security assurance,

crucial step - not only for the protec-

solutions in the form of continuous

data encryption, network defence and

tion of individual organisations, but also

systems monitoring and risk mitigation

near-real-time monitoring to quickly

entire industries, critical infrastructure

are required.

identify a breach and respond before

and national security.

damage can be done.

Real-time awareness

Cyberattacks are no longer simply practi-

When an organisation lacks the aware-

Without comprehensive situational aware-

cal jokes or non-lethal schemes of siphon-

ness to determine who has access to its

ness of an organisation’s network, intru-

ing information for monetary gain. An

network and sensitive data, it is forced

sion prevention and detection systems

attack on critical infrastructure presents

into a reactive posture where breaches

are limited to stopping only the attacks

a clear and present danger to human life

are dealt with after the fact, leading to

they have been programmed to identify.

as well as life-sustaining industries.

diverts further resources away from threat

Pairing near-real-time monitoring solu-

Breaches are an inevitable and expected

detection and prevention. In today’s

tions that have been calibrated with the

occurrence in the digital age. Now we

environment of advanced threats, being

latest threat intelligence can afford IT

must place the priority on how we can

proactive is essential. It is inevitable

managers a comprehensive picture of

prevent and respond to these threats

that bad actors of some kind will gain

their data environment, so threats can

together, which can mean the differ-

access to an organisation’s critical data

be detected and mitigated before they

ence between business as usual and a

with enough persistence.

cause harm.

national crisis.

a state of perpetual damage control that

36

This issue is sponsored by — www.eaton.com/powerquality

Service management solution saves work time and money

T

he University of Canterbury caters to over 15,000

own incidents and have full visibility of their progress. The

students and employs more than 1500 staff. It

result has been an 8.5% incremental increase in self-logging

offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in

requests on a monthly basis.

over 50 disciplines and has a number of specialist

research centres.

Library Services has been impressed with the uptake of the assyst Self-Service Portal, seeing an uptake of 50% within

The university had been using an IT service management

only six months. Overall, the university saw a 15% uptake on

(ITSM) solution to handle the management of incidents, change

the Self-Service Portal for IT and Libraries. This reduces the

requests, service requests and problems. However, the software

pressure on the Service Desk by allowing staff and students

enforced lengthy workflows which could not be modified,

to log and track their own requests - and feedback has been

wasting valuable time and resources to enter incidents and

very positive.

service requests. Reporting was also inefficient and inflexible.

During a restructure of operations, it was decided that a new solution was needed to meet the needs of the Learning Resources department, which encompasses IT as well as Audio-Visual, Facilities Management and Library Services. A single service desk was required to meet the needs of Student Services, HR and Finance.

The university implemented Axios Systems’ assyst Incident Management and Asset and Configuration Management.

Combining all processes into a single solution has provided it with full visibility across its business, plus the ability to control and manage all assets and services.

Using assyst’s Reporting Wizard, along with the real-time information via dynamic dashboards, the university has gained actionable business insight. The Reporting Wizard provides report templates for accurate, fast and reliable data. Designated

“The implementation of the Self-Ser vice Portal has

users also create custom reports to see the information they

significantly improved our engagement with our customers

need, when they need it.

and has produced savings in time and effort through reduced

Due to the success initially seen when rolled out to IT, the university is now rolling out assyst to other departments

processing of email requests,” said Andy Keiller, the university’s CIO.

and adopting the assyst Self-Service Portal for remote request

Finally, assyst has enabled reporting on cost per call

logging by staff and students. Over time, the Self-Service

and number of calls per day, allowing the Service Desk

Portal will be rolled out across the entire university for all

to appropriately manage its resources. Reporting has also

administrative service areas, covering both staff and students.

highlighted further efficiencies, such as saving time, reducing

The university is now managing more than 8300 assets

support costs and improved end-user satisfaction.

within assyst, with numbers set to double over the next year.

“The Axios Systems team had clearly addressed the

Incident logging has become much more efficient and the

requirements set out in our RFP documentation,” said Keiller.

time taken to log a call has drastically reduced, with staff on

“Not only did they answer the question of assyst’s capability,

the service desk more at ease with the process. Both staff and

but also commented on how we could expand the use of the

students now have the ability from web or mobile to log their

same functionality in the future phases of our implementation.”

This issue is sponsored by — www.eaton.com/powerquality

37

OFF THE

CUFF

B

Futureproof your enterprise…

or pay the price

ig data, cloud, mobility and

Businesses need to understand the ‘value

security have transformed the

creator’ that IT can be and see it as the

way we do business. These four

route to greater productivity, innovation

themes have been dominating

and growth. IT has become a unit of the

the IT landscape, ushering in a new era

profit-making business, no longer just a

and bringing with it new capabilities and

supporting function, and it is increasingly

new expectations. We’ve seen the develop-

important to the bottom line.

ment of new waves of workloads; changing architectures and deployments; and new

Take a holistic approach. Historically,

ways to consume IT from the data centre

businesses managed their IT in silos

to the end-user device. Your IT depart-

with the various elements not necessarily

ment and infrastructure must have the

complementing each other. Businesses

agility and flexibility to keep up with an

have a complex network of IT solutions,

unpredictable and fast-moving future to

some that work together and some that

ensure yours is a ‘future-ready’ enterprise.

don’t. But there is a better way. Integrated infrastructure is built to work from device

Before you start shaking at the thought

to the data centre to the cloud, seamlessly

of the costs associated with becoming

and securely. This is imperative when you

future-ready, stop - being future-ready

consider how cloud computing, big data,

isn’t a rip-out-and-replace solution. Rather,

mobility and security are reshaping the

it acknowledges today’s rapidly evolving

world in which we do business.

environment and enables your business to quickly adapt to new technologies now

Say no to lock-ins. As consumers, we

and into the future.

have never liked being locked into contracts - witness the new plans on offer

Businesses need to be deliberate with

from phone carriers who have had to

their IT infrastructures, building a bridge

adapt to their customers’ wants. So why

between their current IT solutions and

would businesses lock themselves into

the innovative technologies of tomorrow.

expensive proprietary systems? Businesses

Building this flexibility in now will enable

have more IT options than ever before,

businesses to continue to grow while

so if your business is already locked in,

optimising their existing IT applications

it’s okay. Vendors are devoting massive

and performances.

amounts of time and resources to innovations that are bridging the gap, creating

There are three relatively simple guidelines

enterprises of the future which are open,

to follow as you prepare your IT for the

modular and flexible.

opportunities ahead.

Using these three guidelines, the time is

38

Make IT front of mind. The realm of

ripe for all businesses to look at their IT

where IT sits within a business has shifted.

infrastructure and ask: are we future-ready?

This issue is sponsored by — www.eaton.com/powerquality

John McCloskey is the General Manager of Enterprise Business at Dell Australia/New Zealand. He is responsible for developing and executing the go-to-market strategies for the server, storage, networking, software and services lines of business.

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