Changing IT Trends
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Ever get nostalgic and think about how far technology has advanced?
Those are the days when I cuddle up on the sofa, get some popcorn and blow the dust off my VCR to watch one of my favorite tech/thriller movies of all time. Remember War Games with Matthew Broderick and the scariest villain of all time—the WOPR (War Operation Plan Response)?
The WOPR (pronounced Whopper) was the culmination of technology–a monster mainframe computer with artificial intelligence programmed by an endearing but slightly suicidal genius. The WOPR was a huge government computer that could think by itself and morphed into a power-hungry beast intent on nuking the entire world. Remember counting down until launch time? “three, two, (deep breath in…don’t do it, don’t do it) one!” Then the darkness and unknown outcome…duh duh duhhhhhh!
But what may be even scarier is the current technology at hand. Unbelievably, a 4G iPhone holds the same amount of data as the WOPR mainframe from the 1970’s. We have put the same amount of data that used to be stored in a mainframe warehouse server into a chip as big as my fingernail. And if that wasn’t freaky enough, it’s so user-friendly that my sixteenth month old baby can actually navigate it. She can slide it open, find the iTunes icon and scroll to the Chill playlist.
The truth is…technology is changing at warp speed. And it’s changing so fast, IT departments can’t keep up with refreshing and replacing infrastructure even if they had an unlimited budget. By the time corporate wide upgrades are actually installed, it seems the technology is already irrelevant.
So what’s driving this relentless change? Bruce Michelson, Distinguished Technologist at HP would say that we, as a culture, have transitioned away from a standardized hardware centered ideology to a modern New Millennium or Planet Me paradigm.
Planet Me revolves much less around the strict TCO principles of days past. The standard consolidation of the 90’s has become irrelevant as momentum surges more towards satisfaction of the end-user.
So what does that mean for IT?
It means future IT buying must strategically integrate the end-user within an optimal portfolio of access devices, in light of service levels and associated risks.
Many factors have shaped the transition:
- Consumer experience
- new technologies
- mature management tools
- integrated software tools
- globalization
- Home Offices
- Real Estate
- Level 0 Support,
- Decisions(conscious and unconscious)
- Green initiatives, focus on security
The truth is…the acceleration of change in IT is changing faster than the core centers of traditional change.
Things to consider before your next refresh:
- Older PC’s offer less protection against PC and data theft. 70% of all reported security breaches are due to insiders. Source CNET News.com 2005
- User segmentation is now the best TCO vs. standard consolidation (pre recession)
- Reassess levels of risk with user segmentation according to the accommodation of user selected appliances.
- Consider that most devices will be used for both work and personal application. Social media, phones, and media rich content will define the next five years.
- By 2015 average person will use 10 devices daily.
- Employees are entering workforce more technically savvy. Many will bring their own devices with them and expect full integration.
Will you be ready?
Related articles
- Google Can Try, But It Can’t Change IT…Yet (news.dice.com)
- Even the data center is mobile driven (zdnet.com)
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